Thousands flock to Main Street for Bozeman No Kings Day protest

Thousands of protesters gathered in downtown Bozeman on Saturday for the city's third No Kings protest, which lasted about an hour on Main Street.

Protesters held up signs and chanted as people in vehicles honked and held up signs as they drove by. The event saw people in inflatable unicorn and dinosaur costumes, lots of American flags, and noisemakers and cowbells.

Kelly Gannon and her husband, Gary, attended the protest wearing matching orange vests and holding homemade signs.

“I feel like I need to be at least one person speaking up against the Trump administration,” Kelly Gannon said.

“We need to stand up to protect our democracy,” Gary Gannon added.

He said he feels the U.S. is under threat of becoming an authoritarian state because of Trump and his movement.

Indivisible Bozeman organized the protest and invited organizations such as Forward Montana, League of Women voters and volunteers with the Montana Plan, which would prohibit corporate spending in Montana elections.

“We wanted to make sure that this event was a springboard into electoral action,” said Beth Kampschror, a volunteer with Indivisible Bozeman.

Kampschror said 50 volunteers worked to help the day run smoothly.

Lauren Myli works for Forward Montana as Bozeman’s lead organizer. She and volunteers collected signatures for the Constitutional Initiative 132, which requires non-partisan judicial elections, and also registered people to vote.

Myli said the protest “went great as far as the work that Forward Montana was doing” and that “the vibes were good.”

Myli said Forward Montana is hosting a non-partisan candidate forum for the 1st Congressional District on April 28 for those who want to learn more about the candidates. The group will stage other community events and have volunteers collecting signatures and registering people to vote several times per week.

More than 30 No Kings protests took place across Montana on Saturday.