Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Protests planned along I-35 & across the country March 25, 2026

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A protest in downtown Minneapolis in January, at the height of Operation Metro Surge. (Photo credit: A cousin who lives in south Minneapolis.)

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.

At a NO KINGS protest in Northfield in October, protesters stand along busy Minnesota State Highway 3. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo October 2025)

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!

This shows a portion of the people protesting in Faribault on a frigid February morning. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo February 2026)

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.

I was holding this sign when a driver told me to “find Jesus.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo by Randy Helbling)

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.

My friend Larry, in his eighties, told me he hadn’t protested since the Vietnam War. But he’s joined us in Faribault for many of our Saturday morning protests. People of all ages partcipate. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo February 2026)

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

 

Protesting in Minnesota October 19, 2025

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:18 PM
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Protesters stand along Minnesota State Highway 3 in Northfield on Saturday afternoon during the NO KINGS protest. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

I AM AN AMERICAN, a Minnesotan, a resident of Rice County and the city of Faribault. I am a writer, photographer, blogger, poet. I am a wife, mother, grandmother. And I am also a protester.

A snapshot of a portion of the crowd protesting in Northfield, population around 21,000. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

On Saturday I joined millions across the country and world participating in NO KINGS rallies in my fourth protest since June 14. I care about America. I love America. But I don’t like what’s happening here under the Trump administration, which is eroding our democracy and taking, or attempting to take, away our rights, freedoms and, oh, so much more by authoritarian rule, force, threats, retribution, control, manipulation…

I refuse to remain silent at a time such as this. So I exercised my rights to free speech and freedom of peaceful assembly under the First Amendment to the Constitution by participating in a protest in neighboring Northfield along with a thousand or more others. We packed Ames Park along the Cannon River and lined the east side of Minnesota State Highway 3 for a block to listen to speakers, to share our concerns, to hold protest signs high, to hear plans of action, to sing and pray and reflect, and to engage in conversation.

Minnesota Highway 3 through Northfield is a busy roadway, providing a highly-visible location to protest. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

At times throughout the 1 ½-hour event, I protested next to a Vietnam War veteran, a mechanic, a retired professor of Spanish and Latin American literature (also a poet), a retired college office employee, a retired engineer, a retired elementary school teacher… I also mingled among countless others there for the same reason—to protest. To express our concerns about healthcare, education, the economy, immigration, due process, freedom of speech, a free press, free and fair elections, government funding cuts, the presence of military in our cities, the balance of power, the judiciary, the overreach of power, clean energy… The list goes on and on.

I saw a baby strapped to his/her mom. Kids on shoulders. Kids with signs. Young people of high school age and early adulthood. Those in their middle years. Those in their sixties, like me. And those even older, some probably pushing ninety. The turn-out for this protest was even bigger and more diverse age-wise than the one in June in Northfield on the date Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Doug, were assassinated.

Clever and creative signage is always part of the protests. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

To be among this group of peacefully protesting concerned Americans during the NO KINGS rally felt empowering. Uplifting. We were unified in our movement, even as one speaker pointed out that we may not agree on everything. Another termed what’s unfolding in America today as not “normal.” It is not, and should not be, normal. Ever.

Support from motorists passing by was overwhelmingly positive with honking horns and waves. Of course, we got a few middle fingers and intentionally roaring, racing vehicles. Only once did I feel unsafe—when a car sped by at a dangerously high speed, the driver clearly attempting to antagonize and threaten us. That was the only overt hatred I witnessed.

The crowd listens to speakers during the Northfield protest. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Those of us peacefully gathered did not, as some Republican politicians adamantly and wrongly stated, come because we hate America. Far from it. We love America. That was clear in the peaceful tone of the event, in American flags waving, in recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, in singing of the national anthem, in signage, in our desire to uphold the Constitution, in our genuinely deep concern about the state of our country under President Donald Trump. In our voices rising. Loud. And free.

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© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

In which I protest, grieve & reflect June 19, 2025

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 1:32 PM
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Protesters stand along Minnesota State Highway 19 by Ames Park in Northfield during the June 14 NO KINGS protest. This is one of my favorite signs among the many held by hundreds of protesters. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2025)

I LEANED MY HEAD against Randy’s shoulder, my left hand gripping the rod of a protest sign and a small American flag. I felt such profound sadness in that moment. The moment when a pastor asked for a period of silence in honor of Minnesota State Representative/House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, assassinated in their home during the early morning hours of June 14.

Flag Day. Nationwide NO KINGS protest day. A day of gathering turned tragic here in Minnesota.

A strong statement against a system of government by one person with absolute power. I suggest you look up these words, as I had to with some. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2025)

I alternated between leaning into my husband and leaning my bowed head against the bottom of my NO MORE KINGS protest poster held high, the sign with the cursive words, “I value freedom,” scrawled on the back side. The wind blew, swept my hair across my face like a veil covering sadness. The heaviness felt palpable here, in Ames Park in Northfield, along the banks of the Cannon River. But so did the energy.

This shows just a portion of the massive crowd gathered for Northfield’s NO KINGS protest. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2025)

We were a group of hundreds—maybe even a thousand (I’m not good at estimating crowd size)—gathered to publicly express our concerns about leadership in this country, about decisions being made that negatively affect all of us, about the state of and future of our democracy… It was my first protest. Ever. I wanted, needed, to be here. To remain silent seems complicit.

I’d already arrived when a friend texted that Minnesotans had been advised by state law enforcement not to attend NO KINGS protests. That warning linked to the suspect in the shootings of the Hortmans and of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. We would later learn that NO KINGS fliers were found in the vehicle of Vance Boelter, now accused in the double murders and attempted murders.

While your eyes may focus on the protest sign in the middle, look to the right. and this sign: IF NOT ME, WHO? IF NOT NOW, WHEN? (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2025)

That explained why, on the way to the riverside protest, I overheard a woman telling a couple that her police officer son had advised her not to participate in the rally. She was going home. I was not. Nor were any of the others converging on Ames Park at noon. I wasn’t scared. Vested safety people, trained in conflict resolution and de-escalation, were in place. I felt safe in the masses, which, I suppose, is an unrealistic perspective. But I refuse to be silenced by fear, by the words and actions of those who attempt to suppress voices. And intimidate.

And there were those, including the drivers of a white pickup truck and of motorcycles which repeatedly roared past the rally site, spewing their opposition in noise and in political flags bannering messages I won’t repeat. But they, too, have a right to protest. Peacefully. Just as I do. And I wrote that on the back of a second sign: FREE to PROTEST. But, mostly, passing vehicles honked in strong support.

So many positive messages promoting love, compassion, care, kindness… (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2025)

At this rally of people opposing the current administration and its policies and actions, I felt a unity of purpose and a deep, cohesive concern for the future of our country. I felt uplifted, embraced, empowered. Speakers spoke (although I couldn’t hear most). The pastor led us in prayer. We sang—”The Star Spangled Banner” and “We shall overcome.” We cheered. We chanted. We waved our posters and flags. And a group held an over-sized American flag, which I couldn’t see from my vantage point deep in the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.

We were mostly an older group. Baby Boomers. Grandparents. Even octogenarians. Perhaps some protested during the Vietnam War. Or served this country. We’ve lived a few years, enough decades to understand that we need to rise up against authoritarianism. Enough to understand what’s at stake. But there were some young people, too, like the dad behind me with his preschool daughter playing in the grass. He clearly cares, if not for himself, but then for his child.

I saw this mural, “The Inheritance of Struggle,” inside the Memorial Student Union at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Tuesday afternoon. It shows “the contributions made by people of various ethnicities and cultures in the form of tears, sweat, blood and life in the building of the United States.” It’s fitting for today, Juneteenth, and for NO KINGS day. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2025)

The morning after the NO KINGS protest, I left for Madison, Wisconsin, to spend time with my 5-month-old grandson (and his parents). As I snuggled Everett, I thought, he (and my other two grandchildren) are part of the reason I chose to protest. Their lives stretch before them. I want them to live in a country where they are free. Free. I want them to live under a government based on a three-pronged system of checks and balances, not one ruled by a king or some version of a king or dictator. I want them to live in a kind, caring and compassionate country. Not a selfish, uncaring, divisive nation filled with hatred.

I returned to Minnesota yesterday and am catching up on laundry and writing. And, along with my fellow Minnesotans, I’m collectively grieving the assassination of an elected official and her husband. And I’m thinking, this is what it’s come to in Amercia…

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling