A large crowd at Kimball Junction rallied against the Trump administration over the weekend, raising a range of grievances with the president on a day of similar demonstrations across the United States.
Event organizers estimated up to 1,000 people attended. Law enforcement, though, put the number at 500 at the height of the demonstration. The event was part of the “No Kings” protests held elsewhere in the country.
Demonstrators also rallied in Kamas and Heber City around the same time Saturday morning.
The Park City-area crowd gathered on the pedestrian bridge crossing Interstate 80 and on the ground on the south side of the bridge. They were highly visible to cars passing below. Many of the drivers honked horns as they approached the bridge.
There was a heavy law enforcement presence, including members of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office and the Park City Police Department. The demonstration was considered peaceful.
In Salt Lake City, 39-year-old Arthur Folasa Ah Loo died Saturday after he was shot during the “No Kings” protest. A member of a “peacekeeping” team discharged a firearm when Arturo Gamboa, 24, pointed a rifle at protesters, according to the Associated Press.
Summit County deputies reported two traffic accidents — both described as minor — near the demonstration. At least one of the traffic accidents, seeming to be on the eastbound exit ramp close to the demonstrators, was in clear view of the protest.
The demonstrators packed onto the pedestrian bridge with signs condemning the Trump administration. Organizers at several points stopped additional people from walking onto the bridge after it reached capacity. The group at the busiest points lined the length of the bridge.
“We really wanted to be part of this action. We want our democracy to remain intact and we don’t believe in autocracies,” said Suzanne Odell, a member of the Pro-Active Alliance and a protest coordinator. “We created this overpass rally thinking it would be visible and fun. We are waving the American flag and it’s a patriotic and peaceful day.”
From 9:30 to 11:00 a.m., demonstrators held up protest signs toward the traffic on I-80. With sayings from “No Kings” and “Rejecting Kings Since 1776” to “Dump Trump” and “No King Can Control Bert and Ernie,” the crowd received honks and beeps from the cars passing below.
Many, like Mary Hulme of Park City, were dressed in red, white and blue.
“I am proudly wearing these colors. I hate that the flag has been hijacked by the other side,” Hulme said.
Park City resident Bradley Stein, who also resides in Miami, Florida, said people attending the rally are helping to make a difference.
“I feel it’s very important that the people show their objection to what is going on in this country and with respect to the administration,” said Stein.
Ali Kizer of Park City brought her daughters Aubrey, 5, and Mabel, 3, to experience their first protest rally.
“In our current political climate, I am so worried about their future and I want everyone to do what they can,” Kizer said. “These two are young, but I think it’s important that they start to see these types of things.”
Prospector resident John Stevenson, carried a sign with a message of “No faux king way.” He described Trump as an “autocrat” who is leading a “slow, rolling revolution into autocracy.”
“I’m alarmed by what I see as our lurch into autocracy,” Stevenson said.
In addition to the rally goers, there was a friendly law enforcement presence throughout the Kimball Junction area.
“This was a planned demonstration, so we reached out in advance to the event organizers to see what they needed and to explain what our expectations were,” said Summit County Sheriff’s Sgt. Skyler Talbot. “In an abundance of caution, we scaled up our units within the county to make sure we had folks here just in case the event was to digress into more than a peaceful demonstration.”
There were no counter protests or incidents requiring intervention at the event.
“The event organizers were great to work with. We had zero issues and things went very well,” Talbot said.
The scene on the bridge seemed at times to be celebratory, with the demonstrators carrying American flags, posting red, white and blue balloons and playing music, including the song, “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from the musical “Les Miserables” — set during political upheaval in France during the 1830s — that sometimes accompanies protests.
Some of the demonstrators held signs in the direction of the traffic on the interstate with large individual letters spelling out “No kings” and “Justice for all!” Another large sign had a message of “Trump sold out USA.”
Smaller signs included messages like “Make Americans Kind Again!”, “No kings since 1776,” “Trump is the worst president since Trump” and “Here for the tired the poor the huddled masses.”
This weekend’s event was the second significant Park City-area demonstration targeting the Trump administration in less than two months.
Approximately 200 people criticized the president during a City Park gathering in April that was also part of a nationwide movement. The day of action featured a series of speakers lambasting the president on a day that marked the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord that started the Revolutionary War.
The Saturday gathering also continued a series of Park City-area demonstrations against Trump dating to the early days of his first term. During the Sundance Film Festival in 2017, a crowd of an estimated 9,000 marched on Main Street in opposition shortly after he was sworn into office that January.
