Family atmosphere at two local sites as Butte County residents protest Trump
By Ken Magri
Despite some fearmongering about Saturday’s “No Kings” protest event, to many it looked closer to a sunny Fourth of July picnic than an angry political rally.
Hundreds of seniors, parents with children, teenagers, students and dogs gathered last Saturday at the “Our Hands” sculpture near City Hall, and later at Wildwood Park, for a peaceful and festive rally against President Trump, who incorrectly predicted very few people would show up.
Likewise, Republican politicians were quick to denounce the “No King” rally as angry.
“We call it the Hate America rally,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson last week while flanked by GOP leaders. “I encourage you to watch.”
Johnson predicted the protest would attract “the pro-Hamas supporters” and “Antifa types.” But none of those predictions came true, as millions of Americans demonstrated in over 2,500 cities across the nation without any major incidents.
Here in Chico, American flags, hand-made signs and inflatable costumes were all the rage. After marching with signs around the perimeter of downtown, over 100 protestors showed up across from City Hall at the “Our Hands” sculpture by artist Donna Billick. A drum circle and political chanting soon broke out.
Local costume-wearers mentioned being inspired not by Halloween, but by Seth Todd, a protester dubbed “the Portland Frog” who twerked ICE headquarters in his inflatable frog costume last week and went viral on social media.
While News & Review saw no twerking frogs, there were sightings of a cow, a lobster, a penguin, a strange blue blob with a smiling 11-year-old boy inside, two dinosaurs and three seven-foot-high unicorns.
The protest signs were creative, and the mood was optimistic rather than vitriolic. There were no police, no arrests and no violence at the Chico event, except for a dog barking at a man in a T-Rex costume. But the dog eventually calmed down.
“I hope to help enable the pro-democracy, pro-constitution energy so that we can defeat the fascism that’s overtaking America in the form of Donald Trump,” said Chico resident Victor Cantu. “This is America, not Nazi Germany and not some cheap little third-world country.”
Rally continues at Wildwood Park
An estimated crowd of 6,300 protesters gathered later at Wildwood Park for a picnic-style celebration of music and speakers, all organized by Indivisible Chico.
Information booths, poetry, face painting, an inflatable jump house, caricature drawing from SisiSmiles, a first aid booth, free snacks and free drinks were part of the festivities. There were lots of leashed dogs and a good number of military veterans wearing identifying caps.
Several booths offered information for the politically curious.
They included the Universal Unitarian Fellowship of Chico, the League of Women Voters, the Chico Peace Alliance, the Democratic Action Club of Chico, Democratic Socialists of America, the Chico Palestine Information and Action Network, a new group called the Re-Sisters and the Gender and Sexuality Equity Coalition at CSU Chico, or GSEC.
“As both a queer student and daughter of immigrants, I think it’s important to stand up for the rights of…those who aren’t able to,” said Mirian Ramirez of GSEC.
There was also one man at a table teaching folks how to engage the opposition based on mutual agreements, then to use those agreements to advance a political discussion on friendly terms. “Trying to get them to go from thorough belief to questioning the motive or their sources,” he explained. “That’s your incremental change.”
Congressional candidate speaks
Although political speakers did not dominate Chico’s “No Kings” event, newly announced congressional candidate Audrey Denney spoke to the Wildwood Park crowd, encouraging them to fight against food insecurity and in support of affordable housing, health care and fair elections.
Denney is a Democrat who lost twice before to incumbent Representative Doug La Malfa in California’s 1st District. She hopes that Proposition 50’s new redistricting map will help her earn a victory for Democrats in 2026.
Denney lobbied registered voters to get their ballots mailed in for the November 4th special election.
“I voted ‘Yes’ on Prop 50 and everyone gets to make up their own mind,” Denney told the News & Review. “But I really encourage people to turn in their ballot, drop it in the mail, and make sure they sign and date the back of it.”
Towards the end of the day, 50 or more people lined up around the turnabout in front of Wildwood Park to wave signs at supporters driving by. Cheers came after every honked car horn. But negative shout backs from disagreeing drivers never materialized, as local Trump supporters quietly let the protesters have their day.
No mention of the maga trash in the hella ugly red ford diesel speeding around the block numerous times nearly striking pedestrians as they blew illegally modified exhaust in huge clouds all over everybody. Where’s the police in this town when it’s maga trash doing the offending? No where to be seen. They literally got away with it for more than 15 minutes it’s a wonder no one was killed.
I don’t believe you one bit! I think you’re lying.
Right on! A “hella ugly red ford” does not make a maga.
How can you conclude that the “maga trash” was indeed maga, without any research?
Everyone who attended No Kings 2 helped make it a day to remember well. Over 7 million of us in the U.S. exercised our Constitutional Rights on Saturday.
Um, yes, it’s true. There was an aggressive, bearded, ugly douche nozzle in a big red truck driving aggressively in the middle lane and then swerving fast into the outside lane to try to scare the protesters. I was unfazed with this childishness. But what does it say about someone who goes out of their way to try to frighten peaceful people with bodily harm. It says: incel, Maga, low-intelligence, hateful. That same guy is probably going to get hurt by the Big Ugly Bill’s ramifications. I hope some kind of enlightenment occurs, but I won’t hold my breath. The ignorance within the cult is hard to fix.