-“No Kings 3.0,” which organizers hope will be the biggest mass protest in U.S. history, is set to take place Saturday, March 28, throughout the country, including events in Brattleboro, Bellows Falls, and Wilmington.
No Kings is a mass, nonviolent movement against the policies and behavior the Trump administration and has already mobilized millions — from more than 5 million participants for the first No Kings protest June 14, 2025, to more than 7 million people joining more than 2,700 events across all 50 states and the District of Columbia Oct. 18, 2025, for “No Kings 2.0.”
Organizers in Bellows Falls are encouraging participants to invite three friends who have not attended previous protests to attend with them to help meet the national goal of up to 12 million participants attending more than 3,000 events scheduled across the country.
The biggest event locally as part of the third No Kings National Day of Nonviolent Action will be in Brattleboro, with a march starting at 10 a.m. from the Preston Lot on Flat Street and proceeding north up Main Street.
“Come for a fun, music-filled vibe! Bring your signs and silly costumes,” wrote organizers from Brattleboro Indivisible in a news release.
No speakers are scheduled, they said — just “a rally, a march with songs and dance, a ‘Signs of Fascism’ march, street theater, and facilitated community conversations around town.” Seven community conversations are scheduled in Brattleboro after the march, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
These discussions will focus on topics that cover “where we go from here, what we’re trying to build, what kind of future we want, and how we can get involved to help make that happen,” organizers say. [See sidebar.]
According to Brattleboro Indivisible’s MD Baker, state Rep. Emilie Kornheiser “started the whole forum aspect for this event when she said that, [while we’re] really good at protesting, we need to get better at organizing. She saw the opportunity in the crowds coming out, carrying on to more solid action.”
“It is a logical next step: needing to be plugged in, feeling connected, contributing,” she says.
Brattleboro Indivisible organizer Franz Reischman took the lead in fleshing out the forums to ensure potent content and engaging facilitators. He cites a recent article from The New Yorker that “talked about the difference between mobilizing and organizing. It’s kind of an obvious concept but one that I latch right onto.”
The retired emergency room doctor and director hopes participants will “become a really useful, longer-term force for genuine change, not just for showing our feelings and emerging every once in a while to do that, but rather to become a real force in American politics and society.”
Reischman notes that November looms significantly, “because if Republicans retain control of the U.S. Congress and Senate and hand that control over to Donald Trump, as they’ve been doing for the past year, and if that situation is maintained for another two years, I’m not sure there’s any hope for recovering our democracy.”
Focusing on saving democracy, stopping fascism
The Brattleboro protest will also highlight the efforts of the local Saving Democracy Action Group, which seeks to increase participatory democracy and voter engagement and to influence policy, according to organizer Claire Halverson.
The group will distribute a flyer “with information on several bills in Vermont related to immigration” as well as contact information for legislators involved “in order to contact them to urge them to bring the bills to the full legislative body” by the end of the legislative session in mid-May.
“Saving Democracy will focus next on midterm elections,” she adds.
The “signs of fascism” segment of Brattleboro’s No Kings Day event, organized by Jill Green, features a designated group marching up the west side of Main Street, carrying signs that speak about various aspects of fascism.
“We’re going to fan out up Putney Road, you know, and be stationed every 20 feet or so,” Green says. It seems, she adds, that many are “fearful of — not understanding — the word ‘fascism.’ It’s a word that people shy away from. And so when we hold up confirmed signs of fascism, people might then make their own conclusion that ‘Yes, we are in a fascist regime right now.’”
A protest model that’s been replicated across the country, Green explains, it involves individuals holding a series of signs, the first of which asks “What are the signs of fascism?”
Each of the two dozen signs to follow lists one hallmark of the political ideology, among them: oppressing opposition, installing loyalists, and controlling the media.
“These are confirmed signs of fascism. And we’re just trying to show that, yes, this is happening now.” Volunteers willing to hold a series sign should sign up with the Windham County Action Network.
Entertainment will include Peter Gould with a Chilean crowd jumping; Becky Graber and the Good Trouble Street Choir; Peter Siegel; Luke from Guilford; Bard Owl, joined by Seth Handelman; the Joyful Strummers ukulele ensemble; the Sambaganza Band, led by Julian Gerstin and Ron Kelley; and The People’s Resistance Marching Band, the leader of which for this event is Dan DeWalt.
For more information on the Brattleboro event, visit wecantogether.net/no-kings-3-0 and 4thbranch.us.
Rally planned in Bellows Falls
In Bellows Falls, at 1 p.m., the rally kicks off at the Waypoint Visitors Center, followed by a march through the village.
Musician Holly Brewer will kick off pre-rally events at the Waypoint Center starting around 12:15 p.m. The Milkhouse Heaters will perform, and students from The Putney School will offer hands-on activities for young children.
Artist and community leader Charlie Hunter will serve as master of ceremonies. Speakers will include state Reps. Michelle Bos-Lun and Mike Mrowicki, Rev. Telos Whitfield of All Souls Church in Brattleboro, and Brattleboro Union High School student James Chapman, of Putney.
Local musicians Valerie Kosednar, Mark Grieco, and others will lead the crowd in songs of resistance.
At around 1:45 p.m., organizers will lead participants on a 1.5-mile march through the village at a relaxed pace. The Waypoint Center is an ADA-accessible space with limited seating available for non-marchers. Marchers will return there just before 2:30 p.m. for the closing of the event.
For details and to register for the event, go to mobilize.us/s/DPzawb.
Events in Chester, Wilmington
Residents of Chester and neighboring towns will gather n the Chester Village Green from 10 a.m. to noon. For more information and to register for this event, visit mobilize.us/nokings/event/901555/, or contact Steve Dock at styeve35@gmail.com.
A No Kings Wilmington gathering for Deerfield Valley residents will also take place from 10 a.m. to noon at the intersection of Routes 9 and 100. (Neither road will be closed to traffic.)
Karen Gaynin, an organizer, told The Deerfield Valley News that speakers will include Rep. Emily Carris Duncan of Whitingham, who will focus on voting rights, veterans, and foreign aid.
For more information about this event, or to become active with Deerfield Valley VT Indivisible, email dvvt.indivisible@gmail.com. Participants are asked to register at mobilize.us/nokings/event/902047.
As No Kings planners stress on nokings.org, “a core principle behind all No Kings events is a commitment to nonviolent action.”
“We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events,” the national organizers say. “Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events.”
With additional reporting by Commons News Editor Randolph T. Holhut.
This News item by Annie Landenberger was written for The Commons.