I just got back from PorcFest 2012 near the White Mountains in northern New Hampshire. I believe this was the biggest experiment in person-to-person bitcoin usage to date.
What's PorcFestPorcFest is the annual Porcupine Freedom Festival, organized by the
Free State Project. Hundreds of libertarians take over a campground in northern New Hampshire, pitch tents, eat, drink, trade, talk and party.
What does this have to do with Bitcoin?This year, lots. You could wake up, have coffee, then breakfast, lunch and dinner at different vendors, and you could pay in bitcoins at all of them. Want something sweet? Get some ice cream and pay with bitcoins. Somebody was selling a used car for bitcoin. It's been reported that 80% of the vendors accepted bitcoins. I talked to some of the ones that didn't, and even they knew exactly what I was talking about. They were interested in doing it, but just hadn't gotten set up yet.
The BitInstant bitcoin booth was a huge success, with people streaming in all day, every day, asking about bitcoins, getting set up to accept bitcoins, and buying bitcoins for FRNs, copper and silver. There was a panel on bitcoin which packed the big tent with about 100 people. There were interviews about bitcoin and the new bitcoin card on Free Talk Live, an award-winning radio show which was broadcasting out of PorcFest for the week.
As a Bitcoin fan, this was hugely exciting for me. There were a lot of alternative currencies at PorcFest and internet was spotty, but I think Bitcoin really shined. If there's a better place to see bitcoin in action, I'd sure like to hear about it!