Saturday protest in Wilmette gets larger by the week

Wilmette Village Hall is closed on the weekend, but that hasn’t stopped locals from showing up by the dozen.

The Village Hall grounds are the site for a weekly protest that lately has welcomed upward of 40 participants who “are concerned about our country and our democracy,” said Kerry Hall, one of the event’s founding organizers.

Hall said he was the first protester on hand on a snowy Wednesday in February, as he awaited a couple of peers to join. The event then moved to Saturdays only, and since then, Hall said, a handful of people has steadily grown every week, and the latest count on Saturday, March 29, eclipsed 40 participants.

“One week we overflowed and went to another corner,” Hall said. “People from Rogers Park to Highland Park. There’s a hunger for this, and people keep coming.”

The protest holds a Village of Wilmette public demonstration permit allowing for weekly activity from 11-a.m.-noon on Saturdays at the corner of Wilmette and Central avenues. The permit, which the Village provided to The Record, prohibits blocking streets or sidewalks, installing signs in the ground on public property, and interfering with community events that may occur at the same time in the area.

If the protest had a central theme, Hall said it is “pro democracy.” (In the permit application, Hall described the protest as “holding signs for democracy.”) There is not a single message, and rarely are two participants holding identical signs. They are encouraged to bring their own, Hall said.

Hall is a member of Chicago Area Peace Action, a nonprofit that works to mobilize residents “to promote human and plant oriented policies.” He said many of the sign ideas come from CAPA.

Many messages are critical of President Trump and his administration’s actions and behaviors. Some signs express support for Ukraine and others for the social security program. There are also always signs — “Join us from 11-noon” — that encourage more protest participation.

Some who join don’t bring a sign, or maybe bring a small or hard-to-read one. In those cases, the organizers have a pile to choose from, many made by Carter Cleland, a longtime activist from a family of activists who is a regular participant on Saturdays.

While many messages speak for themselves, Hall said there is another point to the protest.

“To energize folks, to help them feel that there are others out there that are concerned about our country, about our democracy,” he said. “It’s not going to change the world, but it could make a little difference, maybe move the needle. … Spectators feel their voices are heard too and maybe they feel less isolated.”

Cleland said the protest’s location — the corner of Wilmette and Central — is meaningful, as well. According to a plaque posted at that corner, the spot has a long history of Wilmette gatherings, including protest marches. Cleland said he has family photographs that show rallies around Village Hall in the 1970s.

Cleland sees some parallels between then and now, like the mobilization of like-minded people.

“Some people are frustrated and angry and upset at home, and this gives them a nice forum to be with others who are like-minded,” he said. “That’s how it is growing.”

The community reaction to the Saturday protests has been positive, at least a vast majority of it, Hall said. Participants see the occasional thumbs-down, and rare drive-by profanity has also happened. But, according to Hall and Cleland, passerby stop by and chat with the group every week while drivers regularly honk their horns in support. Hall estimated about 20 to 1 positive to negative.

The protest has no end date in mind, and Hall is already thinking about how they would need a new permit for 2026.

“We’re very energized,” he said. “We’ll be there a while.”

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