A couple hundred people protested at Sayre Park in Glenwood Springs Thursday for May Day National Day of Action.
The movement draws inspiration from labor and community movements of the past and is dedicated to fighting for the needs of working families and their neighborhoods.
As American families face cuts across public programs and immigrants are targeted during President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office, local organization Mountain Action Indivisible organized the protest.
Drums, bells and whistles rang out from the protestors gathered at the park along Highway 82. Scheduled from 4 to 6 p.m., commuters from upvalley to downvalley honked in support.
Signs said “The Pilgrims Were Immigrants Too,” “Abuelas Over Autocrats” and “We Shouldn’t Make Our Neighbors Unhappy,” reflecting the sentiments of the protesters gathered: disagreements with the administration over public program cuts, attacks against immigrants and Canadian tariffs.
Susan Use was holding a “Support Garfield Public Libraries” sign along Highway 82, encouraging drivers to honk in support. She is the co-founder of Protect Our GarCo Libraries and a former Garfield County library board member, and she feels like it is her civic duty to speak up against this administration.
“If we’re silent people think we’re in the minority, and we’re not,” she said. “Most Americans are level headed common sense.”
Silt residents Kat Ganley, 22, and Jahirie Labar, 22, noticed the protest crowd skewed older.
It was Labar’s first protest, and the Glenwood Springs High School graduate said he felt the need to protest because the past 100 days have been shocking.
“It seems like every single day there’s something new popping up on my phone,” he said. “I feel like there’s something happening everyday that is not for the betterment of our country.”
Ganley attended Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Denver protest in Denver on March 21. She and Labar worry that their friends and other people their age are not showing up because it is easier to comment on a social media post than to protest.
“A lot of kids need to get out and do stuff that’s active and promotes change in our world and not just sit behind a phone screen and think that’s enough because it’s not,” Ganley said.
Other countries hosted their own May Day protests around the world, including in countries like Japan, Italy, Germany and the Philippines.
