Organizers of the Independence Day Tea Party at Southfork Ranch said Sunday that it and other rallies have helped energize their grass-roots anti-tax movement.

"We wanted to get people out who normally wouldn't want to attend a protest," organizer Philip Dennis said of Saturday's event. "Many people came up and said it was their first tea party they went to."

The withering heat kept away early crowds, but as many as 35,000 eventually showed for the speeches, music and night-time fireworks, organizers said.

"I was standing on the stage and couldn't see the end of the people," said Debbie Meyers, president of the event-planning business Bravo Entertainment.

Parker police did not return calls seeking verification of attendance numbers.

Meyers said most people arrived after 7:30 p.m. Saturday, avoiding the day's high temperature that peaked at 101 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

The event, which some backers predicted could draw 50,000 people, was one of hundreds of tea parties on the Fourth of July to fuel the tax protest movement and push for economic freedom.

Dallas tea party organizers say their movement is not about partisan politics. Their vision, they say, is to harness the roiling anti-Washington, anti-spending and anti-big government sentiment and direct it to grass-roots, neighborhood, get-out-the-vote and hold-their-feet-to-the-fire activism.

Dennis said he was happy with the way the event turned out.

He said vendors seemed pleased with the amount of foot traffic coming by their booths, whether they were selling merchandise or signing people up for various causes.

One of the organizers' goals is to continue the momentum from the events. Dennis said a neighborhood coordination effort will hopefully keep attendees engaged and informed.

"We want to get people out and active during primaries," Dennis said.

Saturday in Austin, GOP Gov. Rick Perry joined some other Republican officeholders in speaking at a tea party on the lawn of the Texas Capitol. He drew scattered boos, notably about his advocacy of toll roads to relieve traffic congestion, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

"Washington needs to hear you loud and clear with one simple message," Perry said. "Cut the spending! Cut the taxes! Shrink the government! Read the Constitution of the United States!"

People held signs with messages such as "Say no to Socialism and Obamaism," as well as "Call 911 – We are being robbed." Many people in the crowd wore stickers that read, "I resist Socialism."

Republican Sen. John Cornyn was booed at the start and close of his remarks assailing federal spending and taxes, the Austin paper reported.

Many shouts concerned Cornyn voting last year for the federal bailout of Wall Street approved by Congress, the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

"You're the problem!" one crowd member hollered. "You voted for TARP," yelled another, probably referring to the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Cornyn later tried to distinguish himself from the Washington scene that the crowd and speakers were protesting.

"I'm not part of Washington," he said after his speech. "I happen to work there, but on behalf of Texas, and I can vote no on these reckless spending bills, on the refusal to cut taxes."

The tea parties – tea stands for "taxed enough already" – followed a national effort that drew thousands of activists to events across the country on April 15, when income taxes are due. Organizers said the July 4 events were planned in more than 1,500 cities.