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Dozens of protestors, many toting large American flags or waving signs with anti-tax slogans, stood in a brisk wind and blowing dirt Wednesday afternoon at the corner of Bridge Access Road and the Kenai Spur Highway, showing their displeasure with federal government spending.

The crowd of demonstrators in Kenai was not thwarted by a city street sweeper that decided Wednesday would be an opportune time to sweep up sand that had accumulated at the intersection over the winter.

Another anti-tax rally was planned for later in the day at the "Y" in Soldotna.

Similar rallies, fashioned after the Boston Tea Party tax protest, were conducted across the country on the national deadline day for filing federal income tax returns.

A notice sent to the Clarion said the "Alaska Tea Party" gathering is to send a message to leaders of both parties that taxpayers are angry about the bailouts, increased debt, pork projects and other wasteful spending rampant in Washington, D.C.

"We're not anti-tax," said Carol Keller, one of the organizers of the Soldotna rally. "We just know the new taxes coming down are going to be overwhelming."

Keller, like all those interviewed at the Kenai demonstration, had already paid her 2008 income tax.

"We're tired of the overspending; it's out of hand," Keller said. "At some point it's got to stop."

Sterling business owner Tony Bosela, protesting in Kenai, said, "Whenever you have economic cutbacks, you need to cut spending."

Bosela, who has a spray urethane insulation business, said 30 years ago, urethane insulation cost $600 per 1,000 pounds of material and he could charge 60 cents a foot. Today it's $2,100 per 1,000 pounds and he can only charge $1 a foot.

"The government needs to cut across the board," he said. "Every department has to trim something."

When asked what specific areas of the federal budget needed cutting, he said the government should not cut health care for veterans or cut military spending per se, but "a lot of things in health care can be cut."

"Maybe you don't need to do all the tests, or complete every piece of paperwork," Bosela said.

When he was in the U.S. Navy between 1982 and 1986, he said at the end of each year, if his unit had a surplus of money in its budget, it needed to be spent in order to avoid having the budget cut in the following year.

Soldotna resident Pat Murphy said he was on the corner in Kenai Wednesday "to try to get people to realize the federal government is stealing from us."

Demonstrating alongside Murphy was Theresa Wrabek, also of Soldotna, who said the federal government "has put us in a financial position that is endangering us."

Husband and wife John and Marty Ragan, of Nikiski, referred to President Barack Obama as "Movie star Obama," saying the president "is spending more time on talk shows and flying around the world now that he has his own plane."

"Like all Americans, we're protesting the excessive bailouts and the taxes that are on the horizon," John Ragan said.

"I think our government has sold our country to China," said Marty Ragan. "And each taxpayer will have to come up with $13,000 to bail us out. That's the figure I've heard -- $4 trillion divided by 300 million taxpayers.

"This is not our first downturn," she said. "Every decade has had one."

Carol Keller, whose husband, Bill, also was demonstrating Wednesday, said, "This started long ago with the Community Reinvestment Act.

"Barney Frank made (banks) give out all those loans because 'Everybody should have a home.'

"That sure sounds nice," she said. "It's not responsible."

As the demonstrators held their ground despite the cold wind and blowing dirt, there was no shortage of horn honking from passing motorists showing their support.

Phil Hermanek can be reached at phillip.hermanek@peninsulaclarion.com.