… this time, the balloons were there to make consumers think, not just react — to think about the people who pick the food they eat and the poverty behind the Publix produce aisle.

More than 50 workers and their children from Immokalee traveled north to Sarasota this past Sunday for the protest at the new Publix store, where they were joined by four times their number of Fair Food activists from across the Southwest Florida area…

… all with a simple message, one they have been calling on Publix to support for two years now: A penny more per pound.

As the new Publix store was located on a corner between a McDonald’s restaurant on one side…

… and a Taco Bell restaurant on the other, the protesters were sure to remind the thousands of motorists and consumers who came across the demonstration that those two fast-food companies had long-ago signed Fair Food agreements, while Publix — Florida’s own grocer and so far closer to Florida’s shameful history of farmworker exploitation than the Illinois- and California-based companies — remains stubbornly opposed to the first real hope for farm labor justice in the history of the state.

Fueled by frustration with Publix’s indefensible opposition, protesters surrounded the store, filling the sidewalks…

… on both sides of the new downtown location with double-file pickets and colorful signs…

… accompanied by a constant drumbeat…

… that kept the protesters’ feet moving and their spirits high.

Of course, as always, Publix’s own spirit crew was on hand…

… bringing their own special sparkle to the event.

But even their best efforts could not dampen the spirits of the allies gathered in Sarasota on this day. Here, a Charlotte County Fair Food activist hands over a bag full of receipts to a Publix employee as a concrete representation of the purchases he and his friends in Charlotte County, south of Sarasota, will no longer make at Publix if the company continues to shun the Fair Food Program.

Other allies came out in force for the afternoon protest, including Unidos Now, the Sarasota-based immigrant rights organization that is giving immigrants throughout Florida a voice both in local communities and in Tallahassee.

The Executive Director of Unidos Now and former Sarasota mayor Kelly Kirschner said in a statement this spring: “The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a trusted partner of nine major food retailers including the leaders of our nation’s fast-food and food-service industries, is developing a smart approach to address Florida’s long record of farm labor abuse. Knowing Publix’s longstanding commitment to community and to Florida, I feel confident they will lead the way for our state’s grocery chains in doing the right thing as a model corporate citizen, standing on solid ground that paying Florida’s farm workers a just wage is not only the right thing to do, it is the only thing to do.”

Also on hand were dozens of students from nearby New College and Ringling College…

… adding their own youthful brand of energy to the protest mix.

It’s hardly surprising that the students should be leaders in the Campaign for Fair Food, but it is testament to the undeniable justice of the campaign when college presidents, like New College President Gordon Michalson, take a strong stand in favor of farmworkers. President Michalson recently told The Catalyst: “Students have provided very important positive support to migrant workers, which is an easily exploited population. When it comes down to cash value, what it would cost for a big entity to do something that would vastly improve the lives of migrant workers – the cost never, to me, seems that high for the benefits it would produce. The role of public conscience that our campus introduces to all of this is a positive feature of New College ethos. It’s a surprise to me that [Publix] seems to be a bit of a holdout. Dialogue never hurts.”

Of course, the students were far from alone as they marched with the workers from Immokalee. People from more than a dozen different faith congregations also turned out…

… some with a home-made message that couldn’t be missed by those Publix representatives on hand! This one — “We will shop at Whole Foods until Publix shows they care” — points to an alternative more and more Sarasota residents are electing, a grocery situated a fraction of a mile away from the new Publix that actually has taken an ethical stand in its tomato purchases.

All in all, it was a perfect protest on a perfect fall day in Florida, and a great way to start the new season by sending Publix an unmistakable message in support of the Campaign for Fair Food…

… a message that, through all the fog of confusion and double talk out of Publix corporate headquarters in Lakeland, still comes down to this: A penny more per pound to support a measure of economic justice for workers who have know nothing but exploitation for generations.