Lackawanna, N.Y. (WBEN) -One by one the crowd grew at an event billed as a 'Friendsgiving' in Lacakawanna where the theme was all about opposition to COVID business closures, restrictions and the policies of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Dozens brought dishes to pass and gathered around a fire outside and in tents set up in the parking lot of The River of WNY Church on Pulaski Street.
"We're just here to express our Constitutional freedoms," said Pastor Mike Derrick with River of WNY who willingly opened up the lot for the gathering Saturday afternoon where social distancing and masks were scarce amidst the crowd.
"The evidence I see and read out there in research do not back this up to be to the point where we shut down our lives and we stop functioning," said Derrick.
Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw was maskless among the crowd at the event and told WBEN, "I just want to support businessmen and like-minded patriots who think the lockdowns are destroying families." Mychajliw says the COVID restrictions are inconsistent, saying, "I don't buy the fact the entire economy has to be shut down, but yet you can have thousands of people in area malls and big box stores crowding around each other and that's ok."
Mychajliw says the event is representative of the silent majority that feels, "The cure of COVID is worse than the disease."
When asked if he had any concerns about the lack of masks and social distancing at the event, Mychajliw said, "Zero concerns." "We're all adults. We can look at logic and facts and reason and make our own choices."
The event was in defiance of current COVID restrictions on mass gatherings but Mychajliw said he was confident the county would not intervene and attempt to shut down the gathering. "The county never came into a Black Lives Matter protest. The county never stopped a Biden rally on Bidwell Parkway, so government should not pick and choose."
As the event continued on Pulaski Street, a short and noisy parade of vehicles traveled down the street into the lot where speakers took the the microphone to deliver their messages of protest. Among the speakers were Mychajliw, Athletes Unleashed gym owner Robby Dinero and local conservative and political activist Carl Paladino.
Dinero told the crowd gathered he is meeting with legal counsel after he was fined $15,000 by the Erie County Health Department for hosting a crowded protest inside his gym last week. Dinero says he will not pay the fine and had told WBEN he will reopen his gym Monday, but told the crowd he will not take that step on the advice of legal counsel.
"These guys know what they're doing," Dinero said.