The summer of 2012 started with a bang when the Declaration of Internet Freedom, a document drafted by Internet advocates of all political stripes, launched right before Independence Day.

Since then, more than 2,000 companies and organizations have signed the document and it’s been translated into 70 languages. And Internet users around the world have engaged with the text on a variety of online platforms.

Meanwhile, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have signaled their support for Internet freedom, thanks in part to the Declaration’s continuing momentum.

For many, this enthusiasm continued offline. The Declaration gave birth to more than a few Internet BBQs, dinners, movie viewings and happy hours where people got together to discuss what Internet freedom means to them — and what they could do to protect it.

Below are highlights and pics from a few of these Internet meetups.

Our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy & Technology and CalPIRG hosted an event in San Francisco that featured cool T-shirts, good beer and Internet freedom-branded condiments. Below, EFF's Jillian York:

Meanwhile, a group of entrepreneurs met up in Newton, Mass., to talk Internet freedom and eat a few “burger dogs.”

What’s a burger dog, you ask? Event organizer Nick Grossman explains:

A burger dog is a delicious snack that solves two critical problems: 1) Burgers are too big. Especially at BBQs with lots of delicious food, burgers should be snacks, not meals. 2) You should have to buy only one kind of bun. And since hot dogs will never fit on a hamburger bun, there you have it.

Public Radio Exchange CEO and burger-dog aficionado Jake Shapiro shows off dinner:

Across the ocean in Nice, France, Internet activist and blogger Abdoulaye Bah met with others in the expatriate Guinean community to talk about what the free and open Internet means to them:

And in Easthampton, Mass., the independent film house Popcorn Noir hosted a screening of Barbershop Punk, a documentary about the man who exposed Comcast’s online blocking scheme and helped launch the movement to protect Net Neutrality:

Finally, a few of the Free Press staff from our Washington office got together to kick back and grill some food … all in the name of Internet freedom. Below, Chancellar Williams and Matt Wood attempt to recite the Declaration's five principles from memory:

Click here to sign the Declaration of Internet Freedom.