Salt Lake City's No Kings rally was many things at once. A protest. A dance party. A zoo of inflatable animal costumes. A call to action. But mostly, it was about community.
The crowd of thousands at the Utah State Capitol on Oct. 18 filled the front lawn, holding signs and waving American flags, some of them upside down in a sign of distress. Beyond Salt Lake City, at least half a dozen other “No Kings” protests took place across the state the same day with thousands more nationwide. The protests come during a government shutdown with no end in sight. At the same time, the Trump administration has deployed the National Guard to several Democratic-run cities.
In Salt Lake, organizers deliberately chose to focus on peace and joy.
Four months ago, just down the road, a different group hosted a No Kings evening march that ended on State Street with a deadly shooting. A self-described “peacekeeper” safety volunteer for the organizers, the local 50501 chapter, saw a man open carrying a rifle. Believing 24-year-old Arturo Gamboa to be a threat, the unnamed volunteer fired three shots into the crowd — hitting Gamboa and killing bystander Afa Ah Loo.
No charges have been filed yet and the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office says they’re still investigating.
Leading up to the event, Salt Lake Indivisible leader Sarah Buck said they were nervous about the possibility of violence and what that would have meant for the movement. Originally, the group had planned to march down from the Capitol. But they changed plans due to safety concerns. They also didn’t think the community was ready after the deadly evening march in June.
“We wanted people to heal and be in community, and find joy and find their voice,” Buck said. “Find an organization that they can work with through the next three-and-a-half years because this is going to be a long fight.”
There were tables of community groups, including political and environmental ones, talking with people about how to get involved.
Standing on the steps of the Capitol, the speakers emphasized that they were protesting peacefully.
Several Utahns told KUER they had apprehensions about coming to the protest in light of not only the June shooting, but also the more recent murder of Charlie Kirk in September in front of thousands at Utah Valley University. Some demonstrators said friends or family members that wanted to come stayed away due to safety concerns — some feared physical violence while others were worried about repercussions from the government for showing their dissent.
Eighteen-year-old friends Ella Ellis and Miriam Peterson came together and said they were a little scared beforehand.
“There was definitely some fear, but I think our, like, hearts were definitely calm coming out here,” said Ellis.
Peterson said her sisters decided not to come because of anxieties around the recent shootings, which she said she respected.
“But I just, I thought I needed to show up today,” she said. “When you don't show up to the protest, that's when the people who are shooting win.”
Salt Lake City resident 41-year-old John Landfair attended the fatal June march and was also a little scared to show up on Saturday.
But at the end of the day, “It sounds dramatic, but I would rather die for what I believe in then just stand idly by,” Landfair said,
Landfair said he’s been taught his whole life to stand up to bullies and that’s what he felt like he was doing on Saturday.
He did not feel nervous to be at the protest because he saw what happened in June “as such a terrible misstep,” and said being in the crowd now felt “invigorating.”
“I can talk with any one of them, and I can feel comfortable with any one of them,” Landfair said. “Everyone of them want really simple things like, don’t kidnap people, treat people with kindness and love, let people be who they want to be.”
For Landfair, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, actions were a big reason why he showed up.
Other attendees cited it as one of the reasons they were there, too.
That includes 35-year-old veteran Adam Livingston, who stood near the front of the crowd in his fatigues carrying the Marine Corps flag.
“We have masked officers who won't identify themselves, who don't wear any sort of markings identifying themselves as police officers, going around and rounding up innocent people, including American citizens,” Livingston said.
That was one of many frustrations with the Trump administration that Livingston listed off.
“This is textbook authoritarianism for the purpose of worshiping of one man instead of being true and upholding their oaths to the Constitution of the United States, that oath that I swore to protect and defend, but they don't apparently care.”
Like the protests in Portland, Oregon, some Salt Lake City demonstrators wore costumes. There were several inflatable bee costumes, because organizers told people to wear yellow and Utah is the Beehive State. Other people milled throughout the crowd as dinosaurs, unicorns, frogs and even a capybara.
46-year-old Jessica Gilbert dressed as Beaker, the shy assistant in the Muppets.
Peering out through Beaker’s mouth, Gilbert said she wore the costume because she wanted to show that she was a peaceful protestor.
“There's nothing more lovable than Beaker,” she said. “We just want to let America know that we don't want a fascist dictator in the White House.”
A small crowd of counter protestors gathered at the edge of the event. They wore masks and vests, and held a banner that said “Utah Stands With Ice.” They would not identify to KUER whether they were with a specific group, only calling themselves patriots.
Some of them yelled and taunted the protestors — saying they do not represent Utah.
That’s when Amy Abbot faced them with her harmonica. She said she only knows how to play Ode to Joy — though not in its entirety. She just wanted to drown them out.
“It’s harmless,” the 61-year-old Summit County resident said. “I'm even worse on the bagpipes. So, if I were better at the bagpipes, I would have brought that.”
At the end of the gathering, Buck told attendees to lead with peace when walking past the counter protesters. “Feel for them, they’re afraid,” she said.
After about an hour of speakers, musicians and a comedian, Buck was the last to address the crowd.
“Let your love emanate. Stand in your power of peace.”
She told the attendees to keep protesting in their everyday life, like being deliberate about where they spend their money.
At the end, the crowd sang together several choruses of This Joy That I Have.
“This joy that I have the world didn’t give it to me. The world didn’t give it, the world can’t take it away!”
But as the event came to a close, collective singing gave way to a thumping soundtrack: with sharks, bananas, unicorns, dinosaurs and protestors all joining in to get down to the Cha Cha Slide.
As people started leaving the event, Buck said “it was joyous.”
