The third No Kings demonstration was held nationwide on Saturday, March 28, in over 3,000 communities. One of those communities was Healdsburg, which also participated in the two 2025 national demonstrations, on June 14 (in 2,100 locations, said to have drawn 5 million nationally) and on Oct. 18 (7 million, in 2,700 locations).
Organizers had hoped to draw 10 million participants on March 21, but it looks like the final total of up to 8-9 million fell short. In Healdsburg, as nationally, each rally drew a few more people, but the setting of the demonstration—along the length of Healdsburg Avenue from the Roundabout south, on both sides of the street, and spilling over on the Mill Street and Healdsburg Avenue legs as well—made a head count difficult. Other demonstrations in Sonoma County on March 28 took place in Cloverdale, Windsor, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Cotati, Petaluma and Sebastopol.
Most observers believed a couple of thousand people showed up, most of them recognizable as locals. More important than any numbers, however, is why those people chose to stand on the street, holding signs, chanting and singing.
As in previous No Kings demonstrations, the people lining the streets showed exuberant though not boisterous behavior, sticking to the messages displayed on their varied, handmade signs. “No Brain, No Heart, No Courage,” read one, comparing Trump to the Wizard of Oz characters; “Remember Only You can Prevent Fascism” said another, in a Smoky the Bear take-off; while yet another proclaimed: “I-Ran Away from the Epstein Files.”
Sarah Bradbury of Indivisible Healdsburg said that the sponsoring organizations, which included Climate Action Healdsburg and Enso Engaged, “helped send a message to the current administration and Congressional leaders that “the power of the people is stronger than the people in power.”…