Ridge, as the convention's host governor, spoke just as proudly of Penn State Creamery ice cream as he did of Pennsylvania's high-tech industries.
"In this part of the country the sky is - by law, by natural inclination, perhaps divine intervention - blue and white," said Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge at an opening press conference Saturday.
Penn State President Graham Spanier, visible at events throughout the conference so far, has the opportunity to show off the Penn State community to governors, business leaders and everyone watching live coverage on C-SPAN.
Spanier plans to host the governors at his residence Saturday night, and social events are planned in State College for every night of the conference.
Officially, governors are planning to discuss national issues like technology development, online privacy and farm conservation.
Unofficially, governors will chat about hot-button issues such as capital punishment and abortion in a series of private meetings and luncheons.
Demonstrators gathered from around the region to oppose the closed-door setting.
Redirection 2000, a protest group loosely run by Penn State students, is hosting seminars and speeches on campus all weekend. They plan to parade down College Avenue Sunday afternoon.
"We're talking about elected state government officials," said protest organizer Justin Leto. "If they meet, and they're meeting behind closed doors, and they're taking input from only one side of the issues, that's not democracy."
Redirection 2000, which describes itself as a group of "anarchists, liberals, libertarians, moderates and socialists", sides with many of the same issues that led protesters to hold massive demonstrations this year in Seattle and Washington, D.C.
Many of those activists are preparing for this month's Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. One protest group, the Ruckus Society, was holding a three-day protest training seminar this weekend.
Leto acknowledged the Republican convention has drawn attention away from the protest efforts here, "but I think we'll have a strong enough showing to make a statement here in State College."
Other activist groups, including gun rights advocates and a pro-welfare group, picketed in a designated protest area set up by Pennsylvania State Police. The gravel lot in the middle of a highway construction site was the only protest site visible from the road to the conference center.
Security is tight. Dark-suited men wearing earpieces stood around all the entrances to the conference center. Beige, silver and black Ford Crown Victorias cruised the surrounding streets continuously.
So much security got on some people's nerves.
Abraham Bonowitz, an anti-death penalty activist from Florida, said he was followed around town by a green van while he was driving to a demonstration. It spooked him enough to dial 911 on his cell phone.
Almost immediately, Bonowitz said, a fleet of police cars surrounded him, and an officer wrote him a $93 ticket for turning left without signaling.
This story was originally written for The Digital Collegian.
