Theo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.org.
On Saturday morning, a small group of protesters mounted bikes in Barre for “The Rolling Resistance” — a march on wheels to join the main body of “No Kings” demonstrators at the Montpelier Statehouse.
Barb Schwendtner of Barre Town, the event’s organizer, said her goal was to “combine (her) love of bikes with (her) love of democracy.”
The cyclists rolled into a second round of “No Kings” protests on Saturday, organized in part by the movement 50501, in opposition to the Trump administration’s targeting of immigrants, LGBTQ+ rights, public education, the government shutdown and more, according to the organization’s website. Thousands of Vermonters showed up to more than 40 such events that took place across the state on Saturday, in addition to at least one event organized by Republicans in Chester.
50501, a national movement that opposes “executive overreach” in the federal government, helped organize No Kings rallies nationwide. Indivisible, a national organization with Vermont chapters, was also involved in organizing events across the state.
The event was a reoccurrence of similarly-framed demonstrations against authoritarianism in June, which saw about 42,000 Vermonters take to the streets in protest of the Trump administration’s actions. Millions more attended across the nation.
As the crowd in Barre readied itself for departure, bicycles arrived with a wide, colorful variety of signage draped, taped and attached to their frames. Bruce Seel, a Barre City resident, arrived in an Elvis costume. (“A lot of people call him a king, right?” he said.)
Seel said he was attending Saturday’s protests in response to “Trump, this administration, and his authoritarian regime.” In Montpelier, he joined one large chapter of a nationwide day of “No Kings” protests.
At noon, stretching down the Statehouse steps and across the lawn, a crowd of Vermonters gathered with signs, drums and costumes demonstrating displeasure with President Donald Trump’s administration.
Geri Peterson, an event organizer and leader of 50501 Vermont, estimated the crowd on Saturday could have been in excess of 10,000 people.
She said the event was about “defending our democracy” in general, but that at this particular rally, “we were choosing to center trans rights, which in particular have come under attack.”
Several speakers Saturday afternoon addressed the issue of trans rights, as well as health care and the broader role of government, among other issues. U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt. and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt. were among the event’s speakers.
“This is about to be the largest political gathering in America’s history,” said Balint in her remarks. “You’re out here because you wanna change the direction of the country.” It was not clear by Saturday afternoon whether the nationwide event had broken records.
Welch’s speech focused in part on the federal government’s shutdown.
“We do not want folks who are working hard to lose health care for themselves and their families,” he said. “We need less Trump and more Vermont values in Washington.”
Protest songs, including Ana Hernández’s “Set It Right Again,” punctuated Saturday’s event.
Howard Russell, 71, said he came to Montpelier from Hinesburg for more reasons than even a large sign could contain. Trump, he said, is “out of control.”
“Congress isn’t doing their job,” he added, and pleaded for democratic leaders to “hold the line” on health care premiums during the government’s shutdown.
Dan Thorington, of Williamstown, held a sign bearing the words “Veterans against Trump.” Having served in the U.S. military himself, he said the president’s rhetoric around veterans, as well as a number of his administration’s policies, were deeply troubling.
“We’re at a crisis,” Thorington said. “This is all I can think of at the moment, is to protest.”
Larz Allen, of Jeffersonville, said he attended Saturday’s rally with the role of money and big business in politics at the forefront of his mind.
“Citizens United is the problem,” Allen said, referring to the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned previous regulations on the role of corporations in political campaign finance. “I believe that a common person should be able to run for office.”
Allen also expressed concern with the federal government’s recent plans to expand public surveillance for immigration enforcement, saying that the country was veering closer to a “police state.”
At the foot of the lawn, a tent bearing the words “Pancakes for the People” was dispensing freshly griddled pancakes for protesters. Poa Mutino, of Barre City, said the organization had begun giving out free pancakes in front of Montpelier’s city hall six years ago.
The project, Mutino said, is “about bringing people together who wouldn’t normally eat together.” The event’s focus on trans rights had been important for the organization’s involvement, he added.
In an interview after her remarks, Balint said that the climate of fear infusing politics in Washington and beyond is “why we have to be out here today.”
“It gives me incredible hope to see not just the sheer number of people, but the different age groups…and that people understand that all hope is not lost,” Balint said.
Chester
A normally quiet Main Street in Chester was awash with political activism.
By 10:30 a.m. people had packed the village green and were lined up down the town’s primary artery, holding signs with messages including: “hate authoritarianism,” “stop trump, save democracy,” and “no kings.” One person was dressed in a dinosaur costume, another in a unicorn costume and somebody’s head was topped with a taco hat.
John and Mary Shephard, of Saxtons River, were among them. Saturday was the couple’s second No Kings protest – they attended one in June, too.
“We have grandchildren,” said Mary, 68. “I’m not gonna leave them with a dictator, even
in the future.”
John, 69, said everything is troubling him.
“Every minute I see systems crumbling, every single day. The rule of law doesn’t mean anything anymore,” he said. “The constitution is being stressed at every turn, and I fear that that the way things are going, we will no longer have a choice in the direction of this country.”
Julie Tracy-Prieboy, 45, said she came out to fight for her children’s future. She came from Andover with all three in tow, one of whom held a homemade sign stuck to stick from their yard. She, too, had attended a No Kings protest before.
It wasn’t just the family’s signs that preached their politics: Tracy-Prieboy wore a rainbow earring in her left ear, and the earring in her right ear was pink, blue and white.
“I’m a social worker, so protections for [the] LGBTQIA+ community is a huge piece,” she said. “Protections for public education, protections for our senior citizens — those are major pieces.”
For protest organizer Stephen Dock, 77, of Chester, the Trump administration’s actions related to healthcare, the environmental protection agency and food banks and farmers are top of mind.
He was at the forefront of the last No Kings protests in Chester as well. Compelled to act after the November election, Dock said he learned about an organization called Third Act, where older adults advocate for policies that help the environment and combat climate change.
“And through involvement with them, they kind of … freed up my belief that as an individual I could take action and do something,” he said.
The roughly 600 attendees Dock estimates the protest drew cleared out at roughly 12:30 p.m., at which time a much smaller group took over the village green.
At that time, there were far fewer signs and flags, and their verbiage shifted in tone. Identical red lawn signs replaced protesters along Main Street and stated: “Trump, peace maker, loyal ally.” A flag that read “ICE” blew in a gentle breeze, and heads were topped with “Make America Great Again” hats.
About 100 people gathered at that time for the Chester GOP’s first “Red on Green” event to listen to four speakers: former U.S. Senate candidate Gerald Malloy of Weathersfield, Rep. Tom Charlton, R-Chester, Greg Thayer, a former candidate for lieutenant governor from Rutland, and Hank Poitras, a Brattleboro podcaster.
This group, too, received shows of support and opposition from passerby. One car blared their horn for about 10 seconds while the group recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
During that time, speakers touched on their thoughts about the No Kings Protests and the assertion that Trump wants to be a king, what is going well and the political divide in the country.
Charlton spoke first.
“I’m here to celebrate the things that are going well,” he said.
Charlton compared the tension between Democrats and Republicans to that of a quarreling couple. “Be the grownup in the room. Listen. Listen. It’s not a concession to listen.”
“Everybody is shouting and nobody is listening,” he said while addressing the political divide in the United States. “Everybody is willing to make the criticisms, but not to hear the concerns.”
Poitras spoke briefly about the government shutdown and said he is looking to Democrats to make a deal to open the government.
“They’re waving their foreign flags,” he said. “They’ve got a flag for every single organization they have, and here we are with our American flags.”
Poitras then led the crowd in briefly chanting “USA, USA, USA.”
An organizer, Roy Spaulding, said it was a coincidence the event landed on the same day as the No Kings protest, and that it was not a counter protest.
“Everybody has the right to do it,” he said of the No Kings protest. “And we have, in Chester, we have let them do their thing.”
“There was no issues between either side,” he said. “And it can be that way.”
Burlington
Hundreds of residents across the Queen City showed up with placards, costumes and crowns in a show of solidarity and whimsy. Events in Burlington included a bike ride, a honk and wave and three separate marches to City Hall by 11:30 a.m. Protests also took place in neighboring South Burlington, Winooski and Williston.
Jasmine Lamb, an organizer with Queen City Indivisible, estimated about 10,000 people attended. She led them in songs and chants, while a brass band inserted beats and tunes at the foot of the City Hall steps in the park downtown.
Unlike the June events, there were no speeches planned “to recognize that all of us are leaders in this moment,” Lamb said.
The crowd sang songs like “We Shall Overcome” and “This Land is Your Land.” They chanted “this is what democracy looks like” and “hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go.”
Many residents held up signs protesting the Trump administration’s crackdown on marginalized communities, calling for the restoration of civil rights and to uphold civility and democracy.
Heidi Smith from South Burlington sported a unicorn headgear and a pink T-shirt with the words “Goodness Exists.”
“I’m here to stand up against Donald Trump with others who feel the same way – and to do it with joy and love,” she said. “I’m trying to make a difference. It’s time to stand up and speak out.”
Jean Bluto from Winooski said she had to join the protest because she is upset about the cutbacks in federal funding affecting everything from food stamps to hospitals.
“If we were all silent we would still be flying the British flag,” she said, in a reference to colonialism.
University of Vermont student Quyn McCafferty, 22, said she saw first-hand the erosion of rights under the first Trump presidency — from the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022 to the policing of protests in cities across the country. All of it makes “an unsafe environment for everyone,” she said.
“We just think a lot of things that Donald Trump stands for are things people are in opposition of,” said her friend Josh Hunt, 22, a recent graduate of UVM, who is particularly upset about cuts to education and scientific research.
They two sat on a wall at the edge of the park as the people dispersed from the protest, which lasted about two hours. They held two small white placards marked with black and red lettering: “Make fascists afraid again” and “Trump is dumb & stupid.”
Attendee Chelsea Alsofrom grew up in the Queen City, but her family emigrated from Eastern Europe.
She said her ancestors echoed what the person in front of them in line at Ellis Island said. That’s how she wound up with the last name Alsofrom.
“We’re all immigrants,” she said Saturday in City Hall Park. Her two children, also in attendance, wore Spiderman costumes. She held a handmade sign that read ‘Trump, Spiderman is coming for you!’
Susan Caloggero joined the South End march that made its way down Charlotte Street at 11:20 a.m. She walked with her friends holding a sign that read ‘Without due process, it’s kidnapping.’
She was marching “for America, to stand up for people’s basic rights, no matter what background, what race,” she said.
“We have long been a country that welcomed everybody,” said Caloggero, who recently visited Ellis Island for the first time and felt sad about the attitude and crackdown on immigration by the Trump administration.
In the North End, Scott Patrick donned a large brown inflatable squirrel costume and waved to people gathering at Roosevelt Park at 10:30 a.m., in a nod to the recent protests in Portland, Oregon where residents wore animal costumes to defy Trump’s description of the city as a “war zone.”
“I love people protesting this way,” he said, adding that he is fed up with the Trump administration vilifying protesters and calling them names when they are all “just regular people.”
A self-described introvert, Patrick said he hasn’t participated in a protest since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. He hoped to counteract a national climate of negativity and discord with tolerance and understanding by showing up to the march in a squirrel suit.
Later, in City Hall Park, he approached a pair dressed as yellow bananas, asking if they could point him to some acorns.
Support for LGBTQ+ rights and Palestine was also on display via flags and posters.
We need to really support LGBTQIA people, especially right now, said Ivy, a burlesque and drag performer from South Burlington. They carried a “No Kings but Drag Queens” sign.
As the protest wound down, a line formed at the Church Street corner of the park, where People’s Kitchen, a volunteer-led mutual aid effort that often serves free food downtown, set up a table with volunteers chopping up veggies to serve free tacos.
“We are just feeding people,” said FaReid Munarsyah, a Burlington resident and co-organizer of The People’s Kitchen.
As the crowd began to disperse in the park, a child in a Spiderman costume ran up to give his friend — also in a Spiderman costume – a hug.
One of them was Alsofrom’s 4-year-old, Miles. The other, 3-year-old Marcel, was his friend from school.
Both mothers said they thought it was important to bring their children to the rally. “To make a better place for our children,” said Marisol Peck, Marcel’s mother, holding a sign that read ‘America was built by immigrants.’
“It’s important to teach our kids from a young age and show them different ways of expressing our opinions in ways that are peaceful and kind,” said Alsofrom. “And a way of testing out the Halloween costumes.”
Brattleboro
In Brattleboro, more than 3,000 people gathered at the Common to hear speeches by state officeholders who included local Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Vermont Treasurer Mike Pieciak, who encouraged his hometown to contribute to a new $1 million Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund to help asylum seekers and people facing deportation or detention.
“In this moment,” Pieciak said, “we need all of our elected leaders to stand up and clearly say what is right and what is wrong.”
The Brattleboro crowd saved its loudest applause for 19-year-old college student Django Grace, who called for everyone to unite regardless of political differences.
“So many of us have horrible disagreements with the ways that so many people think in this country and in this state and in this community,” Grace said. “We must end this internal war. We can no longer view fellow Americans as the enemy. We need common ground.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Saxtons River.
