Blue rally, red rally on the Chester Green Festive No Kings protest draws close to 600; more subdued GOP event follows with 80

By Shawn Cunningham and Cynthia Prairie
©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

On a picture perfect October Saturday, two polarized political factions shared Chester’s Green – at different times – to hold peaceful rallies with very different vibes and vastly different numbers in attendance.

The Green was already crowded by the 10:30 a.m. start time for Chester’s No Kings rally, part of the national No Kings events protesting Trump administration actions that attracted upwards of 7 million people. In Chester, participants continued to arrive well into the protest, just one of more than 2,500 held nationwide. Several counts of the crowd yielded figures nearing 600 between 11 and 11:30 a.m.

Issues that protesters have focused on include cuts to federal health and research agencies, education, immigrant roundups without due process and using the National Guard in blue cities.

Despite the seriousness of the purpose, the atmosphere was festive and, while many people stood facing Main Street on the curbstones of the Green with signs and flags, others milled around in the crowd greeting friends. In addition to recorded music on loudspeakers, Jacob McLaughlin played his accordion and sang a song No King But the People, written by Kevin Conner.

Meanwhile, 12-year-old Wren Van Alstyne handed out a variety of buttons with protest messages that she had made the night before with her grandmother, Janet Van Alstyne of Chester.

And the day would not have been complete without costumes including two human bananas, an especially energetic Elvis impersonator and two inflatables, which have been made de rigueur by protesters in Portland, Oregon. Chester resident Josh Johnson wore a pink and white unicorn carrying a sign saying “Antifa Sign Up Here” referring to the “organization,” which President Trump has declared a domestic terrorist group. That group, according to all indications, is about as mythical as the unicorn. Johnson handed out small slips of paper that he said were vital to his costume and sign: “Just Kidding” the hand-out says. “Antifa isn’t an organization, silly goose!”

The slip of paper went on to say “It’s an ideology, the core tenets of which are equal rights for all, democracy and opposition to authoritarian communism, monarchism and fascism.”

Christian Rogerson of Athens, donning a huge dinosaur costume, spent much time conversing with other attendees, including state Rep. Tom Charlton, a Republican who visited with constituents prior to his scheduled appearance at 1 p.m.  at the Republican event.

During the No Kings event, organized  by the Chester Town Democratic Committee,  several speakers made brief remarks including state Treasurer Mike Pieciak, who is rumored to be preparing to run against Gov. Phil Scott next fall, Windsor County Sens. Joe Major and Becca White, Chester Town Democratic Committee Chair Heather Chase and event organizer Steve Dock.

White told the crowd that she and Major would be introducing a bill that they called “The Melt Act”  that would  make it a misdemeanor to wear a mask while detaining people in Vermont. The act is aimed at Immigration and Customs officers who wear face coverings and lack identifying badges. White then led the crowd in a chant of “Melt Ice.”

The CTDC used the time to raise $750 for the Chester-Andover Family Center’s Thanksgiving Turkey Fund, Dock wrote in a Monday email to The Telegraph.

As noon approached, No Kings rally-goers began to leave the Green while Charlton was seen chatting with the inflatable dinosaur.

Red on Green

At the “Red on Green Celebration” attendees stood from their folding lawn chairs as newly elected GOP Windsor County Chair Roy Spaulding of Chester led them in the Pledge of Allegiance to a flag hung on the balcony of the Fullerton Inn.

Spaulding noted that the Chester event was the only Republican event in the state on No Kings Day. He also said that Chester’s is the largest Republican town committee in the state with 113 members and that the goal was to do that in the rest of the state.

Rep. Charlton told the group that he is for common sense change and to accomplish that they must “be the grownups in the room,” exhorting his audience to be civil and listen. He also said that those within the faith community who fly the “God and country flag” need to think more about “how we treat the stranger among us and how we treat the poor.”

“It’s not a concession to listen,” Charlton said, noting that making improvements is “really boring” and not as much fun as the speeches they would hear. In the end, Charlton urged his 80 or so listeners to fact-check what they hear and read before they repeat it.

Gregory Thayer, who has made two unsuccessful bids for lieutenant governor, referred to the previous rally, saying that the President Trump is not a king and that they see him as a leader as he praised the administration’s results including cuts made by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Gerald Malloy said repeatedly that he was thinking about running for statewide office again – against U.S. Rep. Becca Balint – after his  loss to Bernie Sanders in 2022. He also pointed to towns where he thought he would be a shoo-in but lost, and indicated he thought his loss was suspicious. Malloy told the crowd that among Trump’s accomplishments are “peace on earth” and addressing crime nationwide.

The final speaker was a controversial Brattleboro video content producer name Hank Poitras, who goes by the brand of Planet Hank. Before and during the rally Poitras handed out a number of American flags and when he took the microphone encouraged people to wave the flag and led a brief chant of “USA, USA.” He also thanked Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brothers funded conservative organization, for its support.

Poitras focused on Vermont’s issues including affordability and legislation from Democrats that he sees as wrong.

“The left want to make peoples’ lives better but they have crazy ideas,” said Poitras, adding that he felt the GOP vision is positive.

With the speeches finished by 2 p.m., the group, which had numbered around 80 at its peak, retired to the Fullerton Inn for a social hour, but not before a couple of folks from the No Kings rally who had hung around helped a Red on Green contingent gather road cones from the street.