No King’s 2.0 - Oct. 18, 2025

Approximately 2,500+ Mahoning Valley residents expressed their first amendment rights in downtown Youngstown for No Kings 2.0!

What a day! Words cannot adequately capture the joyful defiance and unity felt up and down

Market street on October 18th, 2025. Patriots were everywhere you looked on a day when over

7 million Americans in all 50 states gathered to state the obvious: WE DON’T HAVE KINGS IN

THIS COUNTRY!

Despite all the dire predictions of chaos and confrontation made by the fascists in anticipation of

the nation-wide protest, everybody everywhere remained utterly peaceful. Over 7 million

protesters and not a single one got arrested anywhere in the country. Arguably it was the most

disciplined mass protest in U.S. history, and Youngstown was no exception. People were

smiling. People were dancing. People were creatively expressing their first amendment rights

with clever signs. It was the place to be - and people really turned out! It is estimated that around 1,200 people came to Youngstown’s No Kings 1.0 back in June, and it was almost double that number for 2.0. It was truly heartening to see so

many brave souls willing to come out to protect our democracy.

MVFF Executive Director, Helana, showcasing the event’s best-dressed

But for every person that got to experience the rejuvenation and camaraderie felt on the street

that day, we recognize that there are so many more who wanted to come but made the difficult

choice to stay at home because they were scared. And we get it. We’ve all seen the atrocities

perpetrated by ICE all across this country against ordinary people, targeting them solely by the

color of their skin, or the language they speak. That feeling of not being safe, that is exactly what we are protesting against.

But you know what? It really was safe. It was family friendly and it was a freakin’ blast. There

were literally no police to be seen and MVFF volunteers handled everything with good humor

and grace. Far from feeling dangerous, it felt like a party and provided all who could attend with

some much needed community and comfort. Let’s face it, we are all being worn down by the

relentless attacks on democracy and human decency. But October 18th offered some hope and

a whole lot of solidarity. For this, all of us at MVFF are profoundly grateful.

So thank you so much to everyone who were able to make it out!! And if you weren’t able to join

us for No Kings 2.0, please know that you were missed and we will be saving you a spot at the

next one :) Together we are unstoppable.

Keep the faith!