Bay City shows up for “No Kings” Day 2.0

By Andrew Hornbacher

BAY CITY, MI – A diverse crowd of hundreds turned out for Bay City Resistance’s “No Kings” Day 2.0 on Oct. 18. Some came to voice support for the Trump administration and counterprotest, but most were there to do the exact opposite. Protesters gathered in Wenonah Park at 5 p.m. to hear speakers before taking to the streets, where they remained for the rest of the demonstration.

Wenonah Park was rowdy from the start, with counterprotesters and demonstrators trying to drown out one another’s chants before the event began. The counterprotesters—a small group led by Chadwick Twillman, carrying large, human-sized wooden crucifixes, MAGA flags and American flags—were overwhelmed and moved across the street within 10 minutes of the event starting.

Bay City Resistance began by addressing the crowd and firing them up before passing the microphone to a representative of the Saginaw Bay Democratic Socialists of America, a representative of the Bay County Democrats, and Michigan 35th Senate District candidate Dr. Pamela L. Pugh, who gave an impassioned speech.

“We refuse to trade our democracy for a dictatorship,” Pugh said, “it’s about rejecting and silencing the systems that hold us down.”

All speakers received loud applause and ended their speech with shouts of “No more kings!”

Protesters were then led onto the sidewalks as they marched from Wenonah Park around the block to Bay City Hall. People packed both sides of the sidewalk in front of City Hall and across the street. Washington Avenue turned into a block party as music played, drones flew overhead, chants rang out, cars honked in solidarity and people danced.

“No kings, no KKK, no fascist USA,” “No kings, no crowns, no ICE in our towns,” “Epstein files” and “Release the Epstein files” were just some of the many chants demonstrators joined in on.

The DJ for the evening—dressed in a dinosaur costume—carried a large speaker and played a mix of songs ranging from anti-fascist war tunes to “FDT” by YG and Macklemore’s “Can’t Hold Us.”

The music, chants and honks began to fade around 7 p.m. as demonstrators dispersed.

Bay City showed up—and turned up—for No Kings Day 2.0. From the counterprotest to the speakers to the crowd, it’s safe to say the event was a success—and that there will likely be more to come.