Occupy Lehigh on Saturday may have disappointed organizers who had hoped for hundreds of Lehigh residents who they wished had joined them. Instead the crowd grew to about 25 people, some with signs, others just there to show their support. The crowd had dwindled down to 16 in an hour.

The Occupy Lehigh assembly was held on the pavement near the grassy area at the Welcome to Lehigh Acres Sign.

Organizers Jesse Garcia and his wife, Kelly, who helped to organize Occupy Lehigh Acres, were the first to arrive at the appointed time noon.

Kelly pushed a baby stroller and her husband and another small son followed along to the stop light at Lee Blvd. and Homestead Rd., where they carefully crossed the street to find a couple of people who had shown up to support the group.

Nearby were two or three Sheriff’s Office deputies parked to make sure no trouble or safety problems were to come about. They did not mingle with the demonstrators the 90 minutes or so that Occupy Lehigh demonstration was held.

While the event drew far from what was hoped for by organizers, many driving by honked their cars in apparent support for the demonstrators. At least one motorist shouted obscenities as he drove by.

Jesse Garcia, 21, who says he has no job and has been looking for a long time, said he and his wife have two children to support and they are finding it hard and are moving from place to place, often having to depend on family to get by.

His wife, Kelley, said they brought their small children with them because they didn’t have babysitters.

Jean Grego of Lehigh Acres who attended the demonstration said there should have been more Lehigh people there.

“If they want to see Lehigh grow and change for the better, they should be with us,” she said.

“Where are all the people who were supposed to be here? I am disappointed,” said Linda Lucas of Lehigh, who has been a resident of Lehigh for two years. “They had said there may be hundreds here.”

She said many of those in Fort Myers probably didn’t show up in Lehigh because of all the publicity given them in Fort Myers. Many there have occupied Centennial Park in Fort Myers for more than a week and have been given citations costing upwards of $125 for not packing up their gear at night and leaving the park. A sign forbids anyone from being in the park after sundown. However, Fort Myers police have not interfered with the demonstrators.

One gentleman in the Lehigh protest was waving a sign that read: Democracy Not Plutocracy.

“Know what that means,” asked Lee Weng of Lehigh who was holding the sign. “It means we are being ruled by the wealthy.”

When asked why he thought the crowd was so small in Lehigh, he said he believed people in the community agree with them but “many are nervous about expressing themselves”

Doug Patterson, George Schmidt, Mary Beth Broderson, and others said they were there to show their support.

Broderson carried a sign against the “imperial wars” in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan.

Dana Moller of Lehigh Acres was among the demonstrators. She said she had participated the week before at the much larger demonstration in Fort Myers in Centennial Park.

Kelly Garcia and her husband, Jesse, said they had chosen the location at the intersection of Lee Blvd. and Homestead Rd. because it was the spot where most traffic travels and was “a spot more visible to motorists.”

“It’s the center of traffic, the main traffic area,” Jesse Garcia said.

The demonstration was peaceful. None of the demonstrators could be heard to scream. Once in a while, someone waved to a passer-by motorist because they knew him.

While some may say the Occupy Lehigh demonstration fizzled out, organizer Jesse Garcia didn’t agree.

“If we can get the message across to one person, it was worth it,” he said.

Where does Occupy Lehigh go from here?

Garcia, who had been wearing a mask of sorts, removed it and said they were considering a march next time, but there have been no permanent plans.

“I think we got our message out to a lot of people today with all the traffic coming by, both down Lee and those coming from Homestead Rd. I think we were successful.”