'This is taking care of each other:' No Kings rally sees protestors line North Ridgeville thoroughfare

NORTH RIDGEVILLE – Stand Up Lorain County's No King's protest on Saturday stretched along Lorain Road in North Ridgeville, filling both sides of the thoroughfare with peaceful protestors decrying actions by President Donald Trump in his second term. Organizers estimated well over 1,500 people attended the action, part of the third protest of its kind coinciding with political actions across the country. Organizer Nichole Geibel noted the high turnout, despite the blustery, cold temperatures true of Ohio's spring weather. Attendees included Lorain, Cuyahoga and Huron county residents, as well as individuals from Pittsburgh and elsewhere, she said. "We're going to keep going until we get changes," Geibel said. No Kings started as a single day of action in June 2025, and was followed by another event in October and then the event on Saturday, with protests seen throughout the United States and Europe. In North Ridgeville, organizers registered attendees to vote and collected petition signatures and local political candidates gave brief speeches before joining the line of protestors that snaked along the right-of-way from the interstate entrance to beyond the BP and Sheetz gas stations on either side of the road. Daisie Reish, a member of the Rural Lorain County Democrats, was the catalyst for some of Stand Up Lorain County's first protests, Geibel said, crediting the longtime political activist for protests in support of public schools outside the law office of state Sen. Nathan Manning, R-North Ridgeville, last spring. "She took it over and look what you did. This is awesome!" Reish said to Geibel as cars whizzed by, many honking in support. Xander Frisch, a senior at Elyria High School, wore his letterman jacket and Pioneer's hat, the same as he did when he and fellow senior Dekarion Wimberly organized a walk out of Elyria High School earlier this month against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and upcoming cuts to the school district's budget. Standing alongside a table where volunteers were registering attendees to vote, Frisch said he and Wimberly were creating a Youth Justice Network to help his classmates be more civically involved. The pair plan to help educate others about the importance of voting, knowing the issues and candidates beyond what party affiliation may be behind someone's name, he said. "It's really nice to be able to see the amount of people come together," he said of Saturday's event. "This really just proves that we see what's happening, we care. We're getting fed up with it and even if it was five people on the corner, some people are better than no people. I'm just proud of every single one of them coming out and taking a stance in something they believe in." Saturday's action in Lorain County coincided with similar protests and marches across the country, including one in Minnesota that drew thousands to the Capitol lawn and surrounding streets in St. Paul. There, Bruce Springsteen headlined with a performance of "Streets of Minneapolis," a song he wrote in response to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minnesota earlier this year. Protestors, in Minnesota and beyond, held a list of grievances with the current administration, ranging from a ramp up of immigration enforcement, the Epstein files and the war in Iran. Maureen Brady, of Huron, drove to North Ridgeville Saturday morning with a group of people. Being politically active is not new to Brady, she said, and wished more people — especially her and her friends' husbands — would be out at rallies like those on Saturday. "I have grandchildren, I have children — they have less rights than I did. I just don't understand how people can not find this repulsive," she said of the current political climate in the country. In the face of that adversity, Brady said they must take care of one another — and Saturday's protest was a part of that. "This is taking care of each other," she said. "Checking in, making sure everybody's OK. And you just don't see that … This is love right now. The love of community." U.S. organizers have estimated that the first two rounds of No Kings rallies drew more than 5 million people in June and 7 million in October. This week they told The Associated Press they expected 9 million participants Saturday, though it was too early to tell whether those expectations were met. Organizers said more than 3,100 events — 500 more than in October — were registered, in all 50 states. Demonstrations were also planned in more than a dozen other countries, from Europe to Latin America to Australia. The Associated Press contributed to this report.