THIS MARKS A BIG WEEK for anyone concerned about the future of this country under the leadership of President Donald Trump and his administration. That includes me. This is a week of unified nationwide protests.
I’ve protested so many times already—in Faribault, Northfield and Owatonna—against what’s unfolding in America that I’ve lost count. And lest anyone thinks peaceful public protests don’t matter, they do. This is one way to raise our voices, to stand up for democracy, to protect our voting rights, to support our immigrant neighbors, to oppose that which is morally and ethically wrong. To resist and publicly stand for freedom, justice, peace, and much more.
This Thursday and then again on Saturday, concerned Americans will rise up, not in a violent insurrection, but in peaceful protest. Using our voices and our signs, we will make our statements. And, living in a primarily “red” community like I do, it’s especially important for me and others to take a visible public stand.
BRIDGE PROTEST ALONG I-35
The week’s protests begin on Thursday with a No Kings Democracy Bridge Protest along the Interstate 35 corridor from Minnesota to Texas. If Faribault had a bridge over the interstate, we’d be out there. We don’t. But only a short drive to the south in Owatonna and Medford, organized protests on bridges are planned from 4-5:50 p.m. on Thursday. Protesters gathering on 46 bridges over and along I-35 will hold letter signs (rather than individual signs), spelling out messages, making the words highly-visible to the millions traveling this corridor. Messages like: NO WAR NO KINGS and YES DEMOCRACY—NO KINGS 3/28!
NO KINGS DAY PROTEST
Thursday’s border-to-border bridge protests are a lead-up to the main event, the third nationwide NO KINGS protest on Saturday, March 28. Here in Faribault, we will gather outside the Rice County government services building along Minnesota State Highway 60 from 11 a.m.-noon as we have every Saturday for almost three months.
I’ve stood there in frigid cold, in a snowstorm, in near 80-degree temps. And I’ve met the most wonderful people. Individuals who care deeply about this country. People who value freedom, democracy, justice, peace, their neighbors… We bring our signs, sharing whatever concerns us, whatever we want the public to read. Some bring American, Minnesota state and peace flags. And this past Saturday, a man wore an inflatable frog costume. A passing motorist brought us doughnuts.
We stand united, overwhelmingly supported by those who drive by, waving, giving us the thumbs up, honking their horns. But, of course, we are also flipped off, have profanities shouted at us, and are threatened by drivers of over-sized pickup trucks who drive dangerously close and fast, rolling coal. They are attempting to intimidate us into silence.
And then there was the driver who last week slowed and shouted, “You need to find Jesus!” I held a sign with a message to love each other. A young man next to me held a “peace, not war” sign. I believe Jesus would have approved of our signs.
FLAGSHIP PROTEST IN THE TWIN CITIES
This Saturday we will hold our signs again in Faribault. To the north in the Twin Cities, protesters will gather at noon to march from three sites in St. Paul to the Minnesota State Capitol. The Twin Cities is the flagship location for the March 28 NO KINGS Day protest. At 2 p.m., an impressive line-up will lead a rally. Those include Senator Bernie Sanders, Jane Fonda, Joan Baez, Maggie Rogers, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, and the boss himself, Bruce Springsteen. The musician will perform his anti-ICE song, “Streets of Minneapolis.”
In the words of Springsteen, “We will take our stand for this land.” We will raise our voices. From the small towns and cities of the Heartland, from rural and urban areas coast-to-coast, Americans will rise up and peacefully protest. Unified in purpose. Determined. Standing strong.
FYI: To learn more about the Thursday protests on I-35 bridges, click here. To find a NO KINGS Day protest location near you, click here.
ADDITIONALLY, the people of the Twin Cities have been awarded the 2026 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for their actions during the massive federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Click here to learn more about that award, which will be presented at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston on May 31. So proud of you, Twin Cities, and all other Minnesotans who stepped up, helped, protested, etc. during Operation Metro Surge. That includes right here in my community of Faribault.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
On the protest line, twice on June 14 June 16, 2026
Tags: Appleton, commentary, democracy, faith, Faribault, Flag Day, ICE detention center, Interstate 35 protest, June 14, Medford, Minnesota, Minnesota Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman, No Kings Day protest, protest, protest signs
IF NOT FOR THE DATE, June 14, Sunday would have been like most Sundays for me. Off to early church, then bible study and back home for brunch.
But June 14, 2026, was not just another Sunday. This date marked the one-year anniversary of the politically-motivated assassinations of Minnesota Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and the shootings of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
June 14 also marked Flag Day.
And June 14 marked another No Kings Day event, nationally a concert and locally several protests.
I began my Sunday in church, where the pastor’s sermon focused on love. That seemed a fitting topic given the day. I jotted notes, taking away the key point that true love is “the willingness to do good.” The pastor applied that to both the love between and among people and the love God has for us as sinners unworthy of his love. Of course, the sermon got much more in-depth. I left church and bible study feeling loved and more determined than ever to show love in my actions. And words.
A quick change into jeans, a tee, denim jacket and tennis shoes and hair pulled into a pony tail and baseball cap placed atop my head, I was ready to join the weekly protest along Minnesota State Highway 60 in Faribault. The organizer changed the usual 11 a.m.-noon Saturday protest to Sunday because of the national No Kings Day event.
Randy and I were ready with new signs, mine themed to the national event wording: Rise up. Sing out. I added “Resist.” I’ve been publicly resisting the actions of the current administration for more than a year now. I cannot imagine remaining silent and therefore complicit.
Forty of us stood strong outside the Rice County government services building on Sunday, holding our protest signs, conversing, listening to Vietnam era protest music strummed on a guitar and sung by several protesters. It felt empowering to be there among like-minded individuals, raising our voices, trying to make a difference, creating awareness and, yes, showing love.
Love came in a heartbreaking sign carried by a little girl whose friend was deported to Mexico with her family. “Protect our friends,” her message read. She’d drawn, with the help of her mom, two girls holding hands. One brown, the other white. Two pink hearts filled out the poster.
This is love, when a little girl creates a love-filled message that calls upon adults to “Protect our friends.” Urging us “to do good.”
I carried a similar two-sided sign, NO ICE PRISON IN APPLETON stenciled on one side, RISE UP, SING OUT, RESIST on the other. Plans are underway to open an ICE detention center in an abandoned private prison owned by CoreCivic in Appleton in far western Minnesota. The little girl who carried the sign asking us to “Protect our friends” is likely unaware of this planned prison. She knows only that someone took her friend, whom she misses.
This little girl is among the reasons we protest. We care about our children, about the country they will inherit, about our democracy.
Five hours after the Faribault protest ended, Randy and I stood with 10 others on a bridge over Interstate 35 by Medford, each of us holding a single letter to spell out two messages: NO WAR and NO KINGS. As 25-30 southbound vehicles per minute zoomed by below, we stood strong with our letters plastered against the fence, small American flags in between, large American flag flying in the brisk wind at the beginning of our line. Down the road in Owatonna, a similar group faced northbound traffic on the Bridge Street overpass with the same messages.
It felt good to be here, to make new friends, to commiserate, to uplift, to wave, to show travelers on the interstate below that we love this country enough to protest threats to democracy, injustices, war,…the abundance of words and actions that are anything but loving.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling