I was fortunate enough to participate in three No Kings events earlier today. Each was excellent in its own way.

The first was out on Route 1 at 11 a.m., in front of the Old Kendal Meetinghouse. We’ve been having protests there all year, generally every second Friday (weather permitting). This one, though, was far larger. It drew about 110 people (both Kendal and Crosslands residents)—a huge turnout by our standards. We had plenty of signs and American flags, and we got lots of enthusiastic honks from passing motorists. It was chilly and blustery, but sunny, and the spirit in the crowd was great.

Part of the crowd along Baltimore Pike (Route 1)

The second was in West Chester at 1 p.m. It was held at the Old Courthouse, but the crowd was far too big for that block of High Street and it spilled out into neighboring streets. The local paper reports that the police estimated the crowd at “more than 6,000”. Although Jan and I were close to the Courthouse, the crowd noise and the honking of passing cars meant we didn’t hear the speakers very well. But that didn’t matter much. People were excited just to be there. Everyone was packed in tight, which meant we were protected from the wind.

Finally, I headed out to the 4 p.m. Kennett Square event. This was pulled together very recently (in large part because of the valiant efforts of Crosslands resident Howie Moffat) and it was confirmed only a week or so ahead of the event. But it went off without a hitch, and hundreds of people showed up. (One count put the number at 700, which is reasonable given what I could see.) This was the first time Kennett Square has had an official No Kings event.

The protest stretched for three blocks up State Street from the library. The organizers had arranged for a temporary “no parking” regulation for one side of the street for those blocks, so passing cars got a good view of all the signs.  The participants were enthusiastic, but those in the passing cars were, if anything, even more enthusiastic. Many were grinning and shouting (and, of course, honking). We got the feeling that many of them were delighted to have a No Kings event right in the middle of their town.