Residents Flank Main Street To Protest Trump

Local Indivisible Chapter Organizes Well-attended Protest

• Dana Gray grayd@caledonian-record.com Staff Writer

• Mar 16, 2025

ST. JOHNSBURY — People lined both sides of Main Street on Saturday holding signs and carrying American flags in a demonstration against the Trump administration’s policies.

Organized by the St. Johnsbury chapter of Indivisible, the protest included well over 100 people lined up in front of the post office and extending north and south. Another group stood in a line directly across the street in front of Courthouse Park. People came from several different Vermont and New Hampshire towns to participate.

Vehicle traffic was heavy during the 10 to noon demonstration, and many motorists honked support. The event was peaceful, with protestors remaining on the sidewalks and clearing space for people entering and exiting the post office.

The event was organized by Indivisible St. Johnsbury, a local group formed as part of a nationwide grassroots Indivisible campaign that followed the election of President Trump. Its identity is described online as “a grassroots movement of thousands of local Indivisible groups with a mission to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy, and defeat the Trump agenda.”

A statement from Indivisible St. Johnsbury about the Saturday demonstration notes, “We have chosen to meet here today to draw attention to and highlight our concerns around the reigning chaos at the federal level due to President Trump’s and the unelected billionaire, Elon Musk’s complete disregard for the Constitution, the sanctity of the three branches of government, our privacy, our economy, equity, a stable healthcare system, veterans rights and healthcare, the difference between right and wrong.”

One of the organizers of the Indivisible St. Johnsbury group, Robin Migdelany, said on Saturday, standing among the protestors, that the local group is not about partisan politics.

“Anybody who has concerns about our government can join,” she said. She directed people to learn more by going online to indivisiblestjohnsbury.org

Remarking on the number of people waving American flags along Main Street, Migdelany said organizers had encouraged people to bring the flags.

“It’s almost like Trump has claimed (the flag), and we want to reclaim that,” she said.

Ricia Mainhardt, of Passumpsic, who stood on the sidewalk in front of the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, holding a sign that noted “Fight for those who can’t,” said in years past, she’s taken part in many protests to include issues of civil rights, equal rights and calling for an end to the Vietnam War.

Asked what brought her to the demonstration on Saturday, she said, “Outrage. I can’t sit home and feel helpless and angry. I’ve got to express my emotions.”

With President Trump, she said she fears for democracy and what will become of social security and Medicare.

Several people held signs condemning the sense that President Trump seeks to rule as a king, and Mainhardt believes it.

She referenced the tyranny of King George of England that drove colonialists to resist and fight the Revolutionary War.

“Here we are fighting another would-be king,” she said.