Editor’s note: A News Cafe publisher Doni Chamberlain contributed to this story.
More than 3,200 people gathered in front of Redding City Hall Saturday morning for a peaceful protest and march as part of the national “No Kings” Day of Action.
Photo by Doni Chamberlain
Redding’s event was one of more than 2,600 coordinated demonstrations held across the country.
Photo by Doni Chamberlain
The North State event began at Redding City Hall, where crowds converged upon adjacent lawns and sidewalks and held signs with messages such as “Stand Against Fascism,” and “Save Our Democracy,” and “No Kings in America,” and “Arrest the president you’ve got the evidence”.
Photo by Doni Chamberlain.
Some adults’ signs contained profanity, primarily directed at Trump and ICE, while other signs were carried by children, about children.
At 10 a.m. protesters marched north toward Hartnell Avenue before returning to the Cypress Avenue starting point.
Photo by Doni Chamberlain
Organizers with Indivisible Redding estimated attendance at 3,207, a significant increase from the previous No Kings protest in Redding earlier this year, which drew more than an estimated 2,000 participants.
Approximately 2,000 people participated in the June 14, 2025, No Kings rally in Redding. Photo by Mike Chapman.
Saturday’s crowd featured a mix of families, veterans, and activists. Many participants wore bright costumes and carried creative signs.
Photo by Doni Chamberlain
By 8:30 a.m., the event, scheduled to begin at 9 with a 10 a.m. march up Cypress Avenue to Hartnell Avenue, had already attracted hundreds of people on the south side of Cypress Avenue, stretching from the CalFire office near Tiger Field to nearly the Ford vehicle dealership close to Athens Avenue.
Photo by Benjamin Nowain.
Bullhorns blared, vehicle horns honked, music played, airhorns blasted, cowbells clanged, a bagpipe droned, and people laughed, whooped, whistled, yelled, sang, applauded, danced, and chanted.
The event featured a food truck that sold Mexican food, and tables with popup tents offered everything from reading material, signs and flags to a food drive to benefit Shasta College’s food pantry for students.
Flaco’s Tacos Mexican food truck was on the scene. Photo by Alan Ernesto Phillips.
Under blue skies and 77-degree autumnal weather, the atmosphere was less like a protest, and more like a raucous, noisy, joyful street fair.
Photo by Doni Chamberlain
The Redding City Hall parking lots and surrounding streets were completely full, which posed some parking difficulty for nearby farmers market visitors.
Photo by Doni Chamberlain
Soon, crowds also spilled over to the north side of Cypress, until both sides of Cypress were filled with people.
As people in the crowd waved and displayed signs from the sidewalk, Cypress Avenue drivers responded with a sometimes nonstop cacophony of horns honking in support of the rally.
Photo by Doni Chamberlain
There were a few reports of a couple of drivers flipping off the crowd, but those instances were rare. No obvious opposition showed up.
Among the visuals: a large inflatable caricature of former President Donald Trump held aloft with a sign reading, “My inflatable is better than yours!”
Photo by Benjamin Nowain.
Other protesters showed up dressed as chickens, giraffes, penguins, unicorns, a dragon, a bumble bee and even aliens, contributing to a festival-like atmosphere emphasizing civic engagement and humor over hostility.
Photo by Benjamin Nowain.
Throughout the morning, demonstrators continued to arrive, adding to the wide variety of signs that expressed individual interests. Such was the case for retired Redding Police Department Sgt. Mike Thomas, whose sign said, “Christians Against Christian Nationalism, Racism, Fascism and Trumpism”.
Many simple cardboard signs were hand-lettered, with a variety of pointed messages.
Sidewalks and street corners surrounding City Hall were packed with protesters waving flags and chanting in support of democratic values and against the president.
Photo by Doni Chamberlain
Signs visible in the crowd included such as messages as “Democracy Is Not for Sale,” and “Working Together Anything Is Possible,” and “Vets Against Trump”.
Photo by Benjamin Nowain
The event remained peaceful, with no reported disturbances.
Photo by Doni Chamberlain
The protesters’ ages ranged from infants in strollers to senior citizens in wheelchairs people who walked with the assistance of walkers and canes. Some people brought dogs on leashes, like Judy and Charlie Menoher of Redding, accompanied by the couple’s golden doodle, Bruce.
Charlie and Judy Menoher of Redding said their dog has attended all the rallies. Photo by Doni Chamberlain.
One woman, who wore an oxygen mask on her face connected to a clear tube that ran to a small tank on wheels, progressed slowly and gingerly with thousands of other citizens heading for Hartnell Avenue.
photo by doni chamberlain
Because of the large quantity of people confined to the sidewalks, the event was more of a moderate walk than a march.
Photo by Doni Chamberlain
Protesters arrived solo, in pairs, and in multiples, such as a several people who referred to themselves as the “Y group”.
The “Y” group, members of the same gym workout classes, gathered to protest. From left, Monica Templeton, Patrick Radford, Steve Chieppo, Sheri Giordano and Steve Franko. Photo by Doni Chamberlain
Some people brought chairs and stayed along the rally route, while others gravitated to the grassy areas.
Eighty-four-year-old Michael Meek of Happy Valley, decked out in a yellow shirt and a straw hat, leaned against a tree as he held a large sign that clearly expressed his sentiments.
“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything — Albert Einstein.”
Michael Meek of Happy Valley. Photo by Doni Chamberlain
Although numerous protesters wore inflatable costumes, 74-year-old Vietnam veteran Mike Coffey of Redding opted to attach his inflated Trump figure to a pole as an option to wearing it, as he held a “MAKE PROTESTS GREAT AGAIN” sign in his other hand.
“I didn’t want to get a frog or another kind of animal, so I found this Trump costume on Amazon. It’s too small for me to wear,” Coffey said with a laugh. “I just wanted to poke fun at Trump, and everything he stands for.”
Mike Coffey of Redding opted to display his inflatable Trump costume rather than wear it. Photo by Doni Chamberlain
Organizers described the gathering as a “community demonstration in defense of democracy” and a nonpartisan call to stand against authoritarianism.
Francie Stater of Redding used her drone to capture overhead shots. Stater, retired from Caltrans and who turns 80 soon, said she is “very concerned about our country’s democracy”.
Drone footage courtesy of Francie Stater.
Videographer Alan Ernesto Phillips recorded video of the event.
Video by Alan Ernesto Phillips.
If you attended the No Kings Day of Action, not just in Redding, but anywhere, we invite you to share in the comments section your observations and experiences.
Editor’s note: Benjamin Nowain is a participant in Indivisible Redding, one of the groups that helped organize Redding’s No Kings event.
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