LOGAN – If you were around during the 1960s, the local “No Kings” protest on Mar. 28 felt a little like “old home week.”
In the midst of the usual sea of anti-Trump, anti-ICE and anti-fascist signage on display at the Cache County Historic Courthouse were a handful of anti-war slogan signs recalling the Vietnam era.
Organized by We The People Cache Valley and local Democrats, the scheduled protest drew a crowd estimated at about 500 people, evenly divided between seniors who probably do remember the 1960s and a throng of college and high school students who don’t.
The largely symbolic demonstration on Main Street was mostly business as usual, with songs, chants and passing motorists being encouraged to honk to display their anti-Trump support.
Other than the addition of the anti-war sentiment, the only new wrinkle in the protest game as the appearance of dozens of so-called “peacekeepers” circulating through the crowd.
Made distinctive by their lime green day-glo tee-shirts, the peacekeepers encouraged protestors to remain peaceful and handed out cards that reminded participants to stay on task, turn away from any counter-protestors who might appear and respond with respect and kindness to any disruptive elements.
For many, this local “No Kings” protest was a prelude to even bigger events later in the day.
The unusual late morning timing of the Cache Valley protest was intended to give participants time to attend a later “No Thrones, No Crowns” rally in Salt Lake City.
Organizers predicted that the Cache Valley and Salt Lake City protests would likely be part of the largest nationwide action to oppose President Donald Trump to date.
The rally in Salt Lake City was slated for 2 p.m. at Washington Square Park, followed by a march to the State Capital and further demonstrations at that location.
But Cache County Democrats considered the local “No King” protest to be significant enough to adjust the schedule of their county convention.
Shannon Rhodes, the chair of the Cache Democrats, explained that the Democrats’ county convention on Mar. 28 at Logan High School was deliberately scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. in order to avoid conflicting with the local demonstration.
Representatives of Democratic and independent candidates for local offices were nevertheless active at the “No King” protest.
Those included campaign workers for Peter Crosby and Ian Parrish, both running against U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-2nd District); Barbara Haggerty, opposing state Rep. Mike Petersen (R-North Logan); Kendra Penry, seeking to unseat state Rep. Casey Snider (R-Paradise); and independent candidate Patrick Belmont, running against state Rep. Jason Thompson (R-River Heights).
The “No Kings” event here in Cache County was just one of 18 similar protests throughout Utah and score of others across the county, according to the Associated Press.
The nationwide protests on Mar. 28 were organized by Indivisible, a progressive grassroots movement designed to combat authoritarianism and promote democracy by organizing local activists to pressure Congress.
Originally founded in 2016 by Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, Indivisible was launched to emulate Tea Party tactics for resisting the Trump agenda by focusing on lobbying, public demonstrations and accountability.
We The People of Cache Valley is an affiliate group of Indivisible.