Atheist Billboard Celebration

Yesterday a group of Minnesota Atheists gathered at The Public House restaurant for an evening of socializing and celebrating the two billboards that are nearing the end of their month-long run. There was one couple who was attending this as their first MNA meetup; they had donated to the billboard fund and wanted to gather for the last hurrah.

I sat next to a group that discussed  the joke that was Darrel Issa’s hearing on the constitutionality of the HHS rules on contraception and the now infamous aspirin as contraception quote from Foster Friess (aka, keep your legs shut you filthy sluts), then we chatted books. One of the guys tried to keep us on track about the “serious” books we were reading, but then someone mentioned the Hunger Games and all was lost (ohmigawd – only a little over one month until the movie comes out!). We were also sitting next to the producer of Atheists Talk, the MNA radio show that airs every Sunday morning at 9am on KTNF AM950, so we talked about some of the upcoming guests – it’s quite the lineup!

There was a fun 10-question quiz about religion, atheism and separation of church and state. One of the new attendees ended up winning the free Minnesota Atheists t-shirt prize. The shirts were also available for sale – $6.66 each. And then we all trooped outside into the brisk Minnesota weather to take a group photo under the billboard. I haven’t seen the photo posted up on the meetup site or mnatheists.org yet, but here’s a pic that was taken earlier this month when the sign was being put up:

Billboard by Minnesota Atheists

Billboard in Minneapolis by Minnesota Atheists. Photo by Lynn Fellman.

I can’t properly describe to you how this photo doesn’t do the billboard’s SCREAMING YELLOW!!! justice, especially at night when the board is illuminated by three powerful lights. I’ll post the photo that we took last night when it become available.

Both billboards – this one and the one in Saint Paul – come down on Monday. They’ve been up for the month and the committee overseeing the billboards are very pleased with the reception, the media attention, and the increase in people who have signed up on the MNA meetup group. And from the water cooler gossip being tossed around last night, it sounds like this might be something that MNA is interested in doing again in the future.

Atheist Billboard Celebration
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