Brewster Holds ‘No Kings’ Early Voting Rally

BREWSTER – Despite a chill in the air and a forecast that threatened rain last Saturday morning, more than 120 people lined the east side of Route 6A for a No Kings rally organized by and staged in front of the First Parish Brewster Universal Unitarian Church.

CNN reported the attendees in Brewster were among the nearly seven million who gathered at No Kings rallies across the U.S. on Saturday to oppose the Trump administration and encourage early voting in the upcoming nationwide midterm elections. The national numbers exceeded the approximately five million who attended No Kings rallies in June. 

According to First Parish Brewster organizer James Lieb, many attendees who came to the Brewster rally were not parishioners, but community members who joined the vigil after the church publicized the event locally. No Kings events were also promoted nationally.

Lieb worked in organizing the event with Murray Lowe, and other volunteers staffed the church parking lot, helped pedestrians at the crosswalk spanning Route 6A in front of the church, and came up with an official estimate of 128 attendees.

Especially given the cold and gloomy forecast — expected rain did hold off — organizers were pleased with the turnout. 

“This is a small town,” Lieb said. “And this is really geared for the whole town, not just our church. And we have quite a few people here who are not members of our congregation.”

An important emphasis was getting out the vote, he said.

“That’s certainly one of the key things we’re trying to accomplish. In fact one of the goals is early voting, getting people to go to early voting, so that on voting day itself the lines aren’t too terribly long,” Lieb said. 

Lieb said organizers were motivated to hold the rally because of “the concern about authoritarianism creeping into American culture.”

Lieb was asked what the Brewster vigil — which was greeted by many motorists waving, flashing thumbs up and honking horns — might accomplish toward that issue.

“One small one probably isn’t doing a lot. But the fact it is going all around the country really makes a difference in terms of understanding the problem,” he said.

Participants in the vigil echoed Lieb. Cynthia Ahern was carrying a homemade placard (most, likely all, signs were homemade) that read “Stop the Madness.” Ahern explained why she showed up. 

“We need to express ourselves. So much is being broken,” she said. “Every day is a new disaster.”

Melissa Fischer carried a two-sided sign that read, “We the People Means All the People,” and also included a small Women’s March emblem. As she danced to two drummers near the crosswalk, she wore a “Vote Blue” baseball cap and a red, white and blue jacket. 

Why was Fischer there?

“It’s totally patriotic,” she said.