Around 2,000 protestors returned to Mill Creek Park, just east of the Country Club Plaza, on Saturday for another No Kings rally.
Organizers said their focus this time was on recruiting people to canvass, phone bank and register voters ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3. Demonstrations kicked off around 1 p.m..
"Most of the people who are here are against the current (Trump) administration," said Michael Gier, a lifelong Democrat who has lived in Kansas City for 30 years. "But, to my knowledge, everyone who's here wants to have a peaceful opportunity to express their opinion."
The event was part of a nationwide day of action. Several other No Kings gatherings were planned across the metro, but the largest turnouts for similar events is often at Mill Creek Park, on the east side of the Country Club Plaza.
“Bring your signs. There will be lots of cars honking, lots of excitement, just like in the past,” said Krista Mann of Indivisible Kansas City.
At about 2 p.m., the focus of the day's action shifted.
"All the other No Kings were: 'We're pissed,'" said Lorie Kellogg, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri. "This is: 'We're pissed and we're going to do something about it now.'"
While past rallies centered on demonstrating visible power, the goal this time is to make sure voters know about the upcoming midterm election so they can understand the issues on the ballot and hold their elected officials accountable.
"I think about the rallies we've had for the Chiefs and the Royals — I look at all those people. If all those people had registered to vote, we could have a real democracy here," said Mary Singleton, a Kansas City native.
Organizers called the second half a "get out the vote" action, and asked attendees to stick around for door-knocking, canvassing in business areas, handing out literature, writing postcards and preparing for phone banks.
"Hopefully we're going to stir up enough interest to get people to vote in the midterms," said retiree Patricia Posillico-Jennings at the Kansas City protest.
"I started protesting back in the days of the Vietnam War and I never thought at my age I'd be doing it now — I'm 70 years old," said Posillico-Jennings. "Our democracy should be solid, and yet it is not."
Organizers told KCUR about 100 people signed up for a short training in canvassing at Community Christian Church, across the street from the main protests. Then the group planned to hit the streets for a door-knocking effort educating people about the different amendments that appear on ballots this cycle. About 100 more gathered after the protest for postcard writing.
Mann acknowledged that the timing, in the thick of election season, could have affected the size of the crowd, which appeared smaller than previous No Kings protests.
The metro also experienced a recent drop in temperatures, with overnight lows in the 30s and afternoon highs expected around 60 degrees, and held the 40th Garmin Kansas City Marathon earlier in the day in some of the same parts of the city.
Many people who attend No Kings events are already politically active, and knocking doors or canvassing elsewhere. Organizers said they don’t want that to stop doing on Saturday.
“This ultimately is what democracy looks like,” Mann said, “being active in a lot of different places in a lot of different ways.”
Several groups co-sponsored the activities, including Missouri Workers Center, MailStormKC, Kansas Coalition for Common Sense, Boots on the Ground, 50501 KC, Veterans for Peace, Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action and Planned Parenthood Great Plains.
The Mill Creek demonstration was one of a handful of rallies planned in the Kansas City metro.
- Independence: 33rd & Noland Road, Independence, MO 64055, 9:30-11 a.m.
- Mission: 6000 Lamar Avenue, Mission, KS 66202, 9-11 a.m.
- Overland Park: Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center, 8788 Metcalf Ave, Overland Park, KS 66212, 9-11 a.m.
- Overland Park: Maggiano’s Little Italy Restaurant, 7025 W 135th St. Overland Park, KS 66223, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
- Lee's Summit: 209 SE Green St., Lee’s Summit, MO 64063, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
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