But unlike the legendary Boston Tea Party, nobody actually threw tea into the water. TEA stands for "Taxed Enough Already," and TEA parties took place all over the nation last Wednesday -- ¬tax day to protest increased taxes, government spending, bailouts and federal government involvement in private enterprise.
"We're here in protest of excessive taxation, spending and regulation," said Vinnie Lijoy, a Middle Country School District teacher from Patchogue who attended the event.
Alexandra Kozakiewicz, daughter of former Riverhead Supervisor Bob Kozakiewicz, held a poster that read, "I'm 8 years old, Obama. Don't rob my piggy bank."
There were actually two TEA parties taking place simultaneously on the riverfront in downtown Riverhead.
One was sponsored by the American Family Association, a nonprofit organization that promotes "traditional family values." It featured mostly members of the Riverhead Republican Committee.
The second, and larger, TEA party was organized by the Riverhead Glenn Beck Meetup Group, led by Bob and Mary Meyer of Riverhead.
Glenn Beck is a FOX News analyst who promoted the TEA parties. Mr. Meyer said his group started organizing the protest on Sept. 27.
"We kicked off a grass-roots organization that's against all the spending that's taking place," Mr. Meyer said. "They're bankrupting our children's future."
Riverhead Republican chairman Martin Keller, who said he was the "head facilitator" of the AFA protest, said it was "a nationwide protest against tax increases and overspending by government, whether it be the federal government or the state government."
Mr. Keller said the state has approved $8 billion in tax increases and taken away STAR rebates, while the federal government has a $4 trillion budget and "deficit spending like we've never seen before."
He said the protest also targets bank bailouts, the stimulus program spending and government involvement in running private automobile companies like General Motors.
"It's just a matter of time before everybody will be paying this back," he said.
"The stimulus is close to $1 trillion and they are taking over banks and General Motors and everything else," Mr. Keller said. "It's not the way to run a capitalist country."
Mr. Meyer said his group didn't intend to have politicians speaking.
"We said from the get-go that this is an event for the people by the people," he said. "If they want to have politicians speak, that's OK, but we were just going to have regular citizens speak at our event."
"We want to send a message to the powers that be that this is not a partisan issue," Ms. Meyer said. "This event was organized by everyday, average American working people. People that live in the community that are just fed up, and that haven't necessarily joined a political party. For some of the people here tonight, it might be the first time they've ever attended a political protest."
"A lot of the people in this group feel that both political parties are taking us down the same road toward socialism," Mr. Meyer said. "The bailouts are unconstitutional. The federal government doesn't have the authority to pick winners and losers in the free market with our tax dollars."
Mr. Keller said many of the participants brought tea, but rather than tossing it into the river, they threw it into a giant teacup, which will be donated to the Riverhead Senior Center.
"There will be no tea bags floating in the Peconic River," he said. "We'll give it to the senior citizens so they can have tea on us."
In defense of the presidential administration, U.S. Congressman Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) said he could understand people's frustration with the recklessness that led to the housing and Wall Street collapses, but he felt the TEA revelers were misinformed about perceived tax hikes.
"As we're sitting here in April 2009, 95 percent of Americans have gotten a tax cut thanks to this administration and Democrats in Congress, and not a single person has had a tax increase," he said, noting that in 2011 the president plans to propose higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
He also said the maligned stimulus bill is providing some $5 million to Riverhead schools, thereby keeping local taxes in check and the schools properly staffed.
tgannon@timesreview.com
Editor Michael White contributed to this story.