The small, crudely made sign that Pat Florio held at a Hands Off! protest in Barton was painfully direct. “I want my country back,” it read.
The 92-year-old Troy resident, who had worried that a sign made of paper might have gotten soggy in Saturday’s light rain, scrawled her simple message on the only waterproof material she had handy — a plastic shipping envelope.
And while she knew her sign lacked artistry, she wasn’t about to let that or the chilly, wet weather keep her from standing firm against a presidential administration of which she’s becoming increasingly ashamed.
“You can live without love. You can live without a lot of things. But you need hope, and we don’t have hope right now,” Florio said.
But for those who share her sentiments, that may be changing. Thousands of Vermonters, appalled by the increasingly disruptive and divisive actions of President Donald Trump, took to the streets in at least 20 cities and towns across the state as part of a nationwide protest on Saturday. It’s unknown how many people in total participated, but local organizers reported crowd sizes well beyond their expectations.
In Montpelier alone, where protesters filled the Statehouse lawn, an estimated 10,000 people turned out — nearly double the anticipated amount, said Geri Peterson, an organizer with the grassroots group 50501.
“We’re ecstatic,” Peterson said. “Vermonters really, really turned up.”
Throngs of protesters jammed Burlington’s Church Street. In Brattleboro organizers reported at least 2,000 people, twice the number that had registered to attend and the largest protest city officials could remember.
Hundreds lined Route 7 in historic Shelburne, holding American and Canadian flags and homemade signs, waving to passing drivers. Big-rig drivers blasted their horns in support and protesters whooped.
Leaning on her walker, 89-year-old Pam Bell said the number of issues upsetting her was almost too long to list.
“The threat to Social Security,” she said. “The threat to the environment. The threat to the economy. Everything is wrong.”
And in tiny Barton, organizer Sherry Marrier expected only a small number of people to join her, due to the weather and the fact that the Northeast Kingdom is one of the most conservative areas of the state. But more than 150 people descended on the town green.
One was Amelia Fritz of Craftsbury. “No Kings in this Kingdom,” read her sign. Asked why she was protesting, Fritz answered, “Strength in numbers. You’ve gotta band together.”
Marrier, who lives in Barton, said she was initially leery of holding a public protest in the area, worried that counterprotesters might turn up. But most of the drivers who passed by honked and waved in support of signs that read “Make Crime Illegal Again” and “MAGA: Morons Are Governing America.”
There were a few tense moments. A handful of large, loud pickup trucks roared menacingly in circles around the triangular town green. At one point, a man in a modified black pickup pulled to a stop next to the crowd, revved his engine to deafening levels, then peeled out, sending a cloud of thick black diesel smoke billowing over protesters.
Another man, after doing a couple loops in his pickup while smiling and pointing to his “Trump 2024” hat, parked his rig and came over to chat with some of the protesters he knew. He gave his name only as Tyler.
Marrier, holding a “Protect Social Security” sign, talked to him for a while. She later declared him “really nice” but “uninformed” about all the damage Trump’s policies were doing to his neighbors.
Marrier said one of her goals in organizing the Barton protest was to create opportunities for such conversations to take place. Large gatherings in cities such as Burlington and Montpelier can show strength, but smaller crowds can be less confrontational and more likely to promote dialogue, she said.
“I’d like to talk with him and have a coffee or a whiskey or whatever it takes,” she said.
The protest in Montpelier definitely had more of a resist vibe, with speakers urging residents to steel themselves for a long battle. Attorney General Charity Clark vowed to continue fighting Trump’s executive orders. State Treasurer Mike Pieciak denounced Trump’s tariffs, saying they’ll cost Vermont $1 billion per year. And Lt. Gov. John Rodgers, a Republican, reminded the crowd that the course of human events is not determined by world leaders, but “by the combined wisdom and courage and commitment and discernment and unselfishness and compassion and love and idealism of the common, ordinary people.”
Rodgers’ words impressed Caroline Scribner of Montpelier, who held a sign that read “I’ve seen smarter cabinets at IKEA.”
“He wasn’t making it about Republicans versus Democrats,” she said. “It was, ‘All of us need to get together and do the right thing and have a spine.'”
Scribner acknowledged that such events are “preaching to the choir” in a blue state like Vermont with a federal delegation comprised of some of the sharpest Trump critics in Congress.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) continues to spur progressives to action with a Fight Oligarchy tour that is drawing his biggest crowds to date. U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), who spoke at the Brattleboro protest on Saturday, has also strongly pushed back on Trump’s agenda, including his attacks on LGBTQ rights.
In his speech outside the Statehouse, U.S. Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) lambasted Trump’s tariff policy as accomplishing nothing except making families, farmers and manufacturers pay more.
“What’s starting to become clear is not only is Trump arrogant, he’s really stupid!” Welch said to roars of approval.
Scribner knows most of Vermont’s leaders are already firmly enlisted in the resistance, but she appreciated the speeches anyway. “It makes me feel better to be around people who are just as angry as I am,” she said.
Protesters are not just there to blow off steam, said Peterson, the 50501 organizer. The goal is to pressure the courts, Republican lawmakers and Trump’s supporters to rethink their positions and push back on his agenda.
Peterson noted that Trump’s approval ratings are slipping, judges are ruling against his administration, and even some Republican lawmakers are starting to acknowledge that they need to reassert their authority over appropriations and tariff policy.
“Imagine Trump being a lame-duck president, who has no control over his Congress anymore, who’s not in control of the courts,” Peterson said. “That’s the goal.”
Matthew Roy contributed reporting.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Taking It to the Streets | From Bennington to Newport, Vermonters gathered to protest Trump”
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2025.
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