STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Wood River Valley residents will join millions of Americans across the country in taking part in a No Kings III Rally on Saturday.
The rally is a peaceful community gathering to stand up for democracy, the rule of law and the American Constitution, said organizer Katja Burmester.
Indivisible representatives expect protesters at more than 3,100 planned protests to exceed the 7 million attendees who took part in 2,500 No Kings Rallies in October. The first No Kings rally, held in June in protest of Trump’s military parade, drew 5 million people to 1,800 events.
The No Kings III Rally in Hailey will begin at 1 p.m. at Hop Porter Park where there will be music and speakers. Among them, a young woman from Boise who has been working with young people to stop attacks on voting rights.
Participants will then march two blocks to Main Street, lining both sides with signs letting passersby know what concerns them from 2 to 4 p.m. Signs will be available for those who do not have the opportunity to make their own.
Organizers hope the line will stretch to the Hailey Post Office.
“This is the moment to stand together and say clearly: No kings. No dictators. No tyrants. No corruption. No authoritarianism. Enough is enough,” said Burmester.
Actress Jane Fonda, singers Bruce Springsteen and Joan Baez and Sen. Bernie Sanders have said they will take part in the St. Paul rally outside Minneapolis where President Trump’s immigration crackdown resulted in the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti and the detention of a five-year-old boy wearing a blue knit hat with floppy bunny ears.
Saturday’s rally marks a year of rallies that started with protests against the mass layoffs of federal workers, including those who oversaw the Sawtooth National Recreation Area north of Sun Valley.
Since that rally, the Trump administration has started a war in Iran, terrorized and killed people with ICE crackdowns, failed to do Congress’s bidding on the Epstein files, sent grocery and gas prices soaring with roller coaster tariffs and war, eroded affordable health care, threatened voting rights, dismantled renewable energy initiatives and more, organizers say.
“We want to defend democracy and protect voting rights, standing strong together,” said Burmester. “Thought for the day—Silence is a decision. Participation is a choice. Democracy is not a spectator sport.”
MEET LEGISLATORS AT TOWN HALL MEETING
District 26 legislators will hold a Town Hall Meeting from 10 a.m. to noon at Hailey Town Center West on River Street behind the Hailey Public Library.
Sen. Ron Taylor and Reps. Jack Nelsen and Mike Pohanka will field questions about the ongoing legislative session.
The three will hold court at the Jerome Public Library from 5 to 6:30 p.m. that evening.