POULSBO — It was standing room only at the Poulsbo Library Wednesday night as more than 200 people showed up to speak their minds about Wal-Mart.

Wednesday’s meeting had been organized about a week beforehand. With Wal-Mart’s announcement this week that it is indeed part of the Olhava development, organizers said they didn’t know what good the meeting could do. But they decided to proceed and find out.

Minutes into the gathering it became clear the issue was cut and dry — residents do not want the store to locate in Little Norway and they were willing to work against it.

A rally is set to take place beginning at 10 a.m. this morning from Poulsbo Village and snake its way through downtown Poulsbo. Richard Koven of Dahlquist’s Jewelry said he felt the best course of action was to continue gathering signatures on a petition that’s already garnered more than 300 supporters, and to make their message known through rallies, letter writing and any other means necessary.

“In Sam Walton’s book he says, ‘If a community doesn’t want us, we won’t go,’ so maybe we can pressure them into not coming here,” Koven said, noting he was shocked to find out the proposed 150,000 square foot Wal-Mart is twice the size of Poulsbo’s own Central Market.

Wal-Mart spokesperson Amy Hill said this week that the company is willing to meet with and work with any community group to ensure that the new store fits with the community atmosphere. However, group spokesperson Muriel Williams said she felt the company had already “tried to sneak into” Poulsbo, and she feared it would not live up to this promise either.

“They say let the community work with us, well now the shoe’s on the other foot. I say let them work with us. To use an old saying we were here first,” Williams commented.

The group will also meet at 7 p.m. April 30 at the library again for more organization and a web site is planned soon. A small group of members met with Mayor Donna Jean Bruce Thursday and they hope to eventually gain an audience with the Poulsbo City Council.

While the room full of business people, teachers, union members and residents were in agreement in their opposition to Wal-Mart in Poulsbo, they gave varied reasons for attending. Some said they’d seen and read about the damage Wal-Marts have been blamed for in communities and were against the idea of the store altogether.

“I’m about to retire and probably go down to Mexico but I’ve lived here a long time and I want to leave it a small town,” said Poulsbo resident Dwight Ford. “When I come back to visit I want to see Poulsbo, I don’t want to see Silverdale.”

“Do we really want the beginning of a strip mall in Poulsbo? An historic town that’s been here since 1897?” Carson Farley asked the crowd. The local educator sported a white T-shirt with the large, black words “Wal-Mart” crossed out in red. “These people don’t care about us, our history, our culture or our heritage.”

For others, their opposition came out of a fear of unfair competition for local businesses and a disagreement with the chain’s business practices.

“One of the things that really got me angry about Wal-Mart is that they subsidize their low, low prices with taxpayer dollars. They offer mostly part-time jobs at low wages, so many of their employees qualify for food stamps,” commented Poulsbo worker and Kingston resident Bob Green, who described himself as a “rank and file” union member.

“We will probably be one of the only growth industries in Poulsbo if Wal-Mart comes, so I guess I’m here to put myself out of business,” added Fishline food bank director Tricia Sullivan.

On hand were also members of both the Historic Downtown Poulsbo Association and the Greater Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber president Brad Camp was called to task by the group for the chamber board’s silence on the issue and answered that they were simply following the chamber bylaws, which are non-discriminatory. Based on what he heard from the 50 or so chamber members in attendance, Camp and chamber executive director Robert Ford have decided they will send out a survey to all chamber members asking their opinion of how the organization should proceed with the issue.

The HDPA had plans to meet this week about the Wal-Mart announcement, but member Gary Hoskins of YES USA! said most members he’d talked to were “very concerned” about the future of downtown Poulsbo.

“Everyone of us here is going to have to write a letter, not just one of us, and that may start the ball rolling,” Hoskins added. “We don’t have a lot of choices here, this may be the only chance we have to vote against this thing.”