BRATTLEBORO — On Saturday, Jan. 20, the first anniversary of the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, there will be what organizers call “a gathering in solidarity with the 2018 Women's March,” from 11 a.m. to noon, at Pliny Park at the corner of Main and High streets.
The Pliny Park event is designed to coincide with “Power To The Polls,” an event commemorating the first anniversary of the 2017 Women's March that drew more than 1 million people to Washington and millions more in cities and towns around the nation and the world.
Marches and rallies are planned for Jan. 20 and 21 in U.S. cities, including Washington, Las Vegas, New York, and Cambridge, Mass. As of late last week, nearly 700 cities and towns planned sister marches and events for those dates, according to a news release.
“Power to the Polls” will launch a national voter registration tour that organizers say will channel the energy and activism of last year's and this year's marches and events into strategies to elect more women and progressive candidates to public office.
Other related events include “March For Our Future,” organized by the Peace & Justice Center, which will take place in Montpelier from 1 to 4 p.m.
Organizers of the Montpelier event say the focus will be on “human rights, dignity, and equality for all” and that the marchers call for “'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' for immigrant, undocumented, black, brown, LGBTQIA, and youth of all faiths, ethnicities, races, classes, ages, and abilities.”
Last year, about 20,000 people attended the Women's March in Montpelier that coincided with the Washington march.
Locally, events are also planned for Greenfield and Northampton, Mass., and Peterborough and Concord, N.H.