No Kings 2 electrifies Highway 29, Thousands protest across Napa County
Highway 29 likely saw more people than cars on Saturday. Thousands of Napa residents and visitors flooded four major overpasses along Napa’s main thoroughfare for No Kings 2, a short but powerful rally that ran from 1-2 p.m. in Napa, as well as in cities across the U.S.
Throughout the county, protests also took place in Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga.
In Napa, overpasses at Old Sonoma Road, First Street, Lincoln Avenue and Trancas Street were packed with people waving American flags, holding signs, dancing and yelling over the sound of traffic. While each overpass drew at least 200 ralliers, according to organizers, Trancas Street was the main hub, with an estimated 4,000 people lining the nearly half-mile stretch of road.
Napa County knows how to balance resistance with celebration. In between shouts and chants, locals soaked up the warm day, greeting each other and discussing No Kings protests.
“This is why I’m here,” said Napa resident Judy Marceau, pointing to a sign that read “F@$k Fascism, 8647… And, I’m a woman, and I have a daughter and a granddaughter.”
Since Donald Trump first took office in 2016, his administration has worked to systematically dismantle women’s reproductive and labor rights. For Marceau, this was at the forefront of her protest against his leadership.
“When these babies grow up, they’re gonna know who stood up for them,” she said, watching a mother and her young children head down Trancas Street.
Ralliers also held signs reading “Diversity makes is great” and “ICE melts,” highlighting the Trump administration’s policies, which have led to the dismantling of equity initiatives in schools and workplaces and the imprisonment of nearly 60,000 people by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since he took office in January.
“Protesting has always been part of my history,” recent Vintage High graduate Ezra Alvarez said. While a majority of protesters skewed older, a number of young people came out in groups to rally along Trancas Street, many holding signs and chanting well past the hour mark.
Alvarez told the Times that both of his great-grandmothers were loud supporters of immigrant rights. One had immigrated to the U.S. to flee Nazi Germany; the other organized with Napa’s chapter of United Farm Workers.
“For some people, [Trump policies] won’t affect them past their lifetime. But what’s happening right now will affect me for the rest of my life.”
From the road, big rig drivers blared their horns and families shouted gleefully from their cars, some waving their own homemade signs. Music played from ralliers’ personal sound systems, blasting hits from the Beatles, Journey and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Napa organizer Bill Bindewald was thrilled with the turnout. “We’ve been working on this for well over a month now,” he told the Times.
Bindewald volunteers with Indivisible Napa, the local chapter of Indivisible, a national political organizing nonprofit that created the No Kings rallies. Indivisible started up in 2016 to “resist the Trump agenda,” and now has chapters in cities in all 50 states led by grassroots organizers who consider themselves “pro-democracy.”
Part of today’s success, said Bindewald, was its timeframe. “One hour a small ask for people. Who can say, ‘Well, I can’t even take one hour out of my schedule to save the country?’ Come out for an hour and go out on with your day.”
The idea, he said, is to make the rally accessible and get people involved who would otherwise tune out.
For Napa residents Yeelong and Mike Balladon, coming together was the most important part of the day’s rally.
“It’s nice to be around people who feel the same as you,” said Yeelong. “Day in and day out, it’s hard to know what other people think, or whether they even care these days. To come to something like this — for most of us, that’s enough.”
According to Indivisible Napa, the event was entirely peaceful, with zero recorded incidents. “It was an entirely peaceful protest,” said Bindewald.
Calistoga
At the same time, an estimated 500 people attended Calistoga’s No Kings rally downtown at the Lincoln Avenue Bridge on Saturday to protest Trump administration policies including threats to health care and social security, ICE raids and the deployment of National Guard troops in U.S. cities.
Demonstrators took to the sidewalks, raising signs that read “Fight truth decay,” “Hate never made America great,” “ICE in our cocktails, not in our streets,” and “Where was the National Guard on January 6?”
The hundreds of protesters –– some dressed as Lady Liberty or in inflatable costumes –– rallied to a backdrop of music that included Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90” and Bob Marley and the Wailers’ “Get Up, Stand Up.”
Calistogan Mary Nuernberger was at the last No Kings rally on June 14. But this protest, she said, was noticeably larger. “Things are getting worse, and people are willing to stand up, because that’s what we can do,” she said.
Among Nuernberger’s biggest concerns included the future of Social Security and health care affordability. “They’re trying to get rid of Social Security, which I’m dependent upon, so that would affect me a lot,” she said. “And I don’t want them to take my Medicare away.”
Liz Noth was visiting Calistoga from Los Angeles with her husband and their young son, who held a sign that read, “Kids 4 democracy.”
“I feel really moved to be out here,” Noth said. “My son just asked, ‘What’s a king, and why don’t we want one?’ and we talked about democracy and how important it is.”
She added, “We have a lot of friends –– friends (my son) has grown up with –– who are in a lot of pain right now and are afraid they’re going to be separated from their families.”
Elijah Heitz grew up in Calistoga and is a student at Reed College in Portland, Ore., a city
Trump called a “war zone,” and recently attempted to deploy the National Guard to –– an order that has been not carried out due to an ongoing court battle regarding its validity.
Heitz said in Portland he has seen and heard the federal helicopter presence overhead and has friends who were recently arrested for protesting near the city’s ICE facility.
“People are trying to defend the city against invaders; that’s how I view the National Guard and
ICE,” he said. “No one from Portland called them in –– they’re making it a scary place, and that’s on them, not on us.”
Heitz said, it was “really cool” to see people of all ages protesting and driving down Lincoln Avenue honking their car horns in support.
“In such a small town, it feels a little bit like a parade,” he said of the protest. “It’s still good to show support and show resistance, but it’s important to do more, like writing to and calling representatives.”
Yountville
Where Highway 29 narrows to one lane, just before the stoplight at Madison St. in Yountville, some 80 “No Kings” demonstrators gathered to share messages with people traveling up and down the highway. Some wore eye-catching costumes and most carried signs or were waving American flags. “Hate does not make America great,” “No Kings,” “When They Come for One, They Come for All,” “Vietnam Vets Say No Kings,” “Not Going Backwards,” were among the signs displayed.
Yountville’s Vice Mayor Robin McKee Cant lifted the positive and peaceful spirit even higher, managing an amplified soundtrack of tunes including “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “My Sweet Lord,” encouraging attendees to “Keep the party going.”
“I am proud to live in the Napa Valley, and I am proud to live in California where I feel relatively safe,” said Dulce Farmer of Yountville, “but I am concerned about ICE showing up here, especially with all of our Hispanic workers whom we love and need. We’ve got to do something to stop the insanity.”
Nearby, Valerie O’Pry was dressed in an elaborate costume, which made it look as if she was on the shoulders of an effigy of President Trump. A sign on the scooter she was riding read, “No Kings, No Idiots Either.”
O’Pry, the Yountville site volunteer for Indivisible Napa, moved from the northern end of Solano Avenue and California at the end of the Vine Trail near the entrance to the Veterans Home to this site to be, “with the rest of Yountville.
“I think we have to continue to keep the pressure on while we are in this authoritarian slide; this is really serious stuff,” O’Pry said about the importance of demonstrating against oppression, “We are in a time where it is very, very difficult to hold on to our rights. We can bring resistance, without violence. That’s why I am here, I am here to resist.”
Farmer, who attended the first No Kings protest at Napa’s Oxbow Commons earlier this year believes that demonstrating is important. “Make a statement, freedom of speech, we need to send a message to everyone representing this country that there are some things we won’t stand for. They are crossing the line. This is solidarity.”
