ELY— More than 200 area residents brought a wide range of concerns over the Trump administration’s recent actions to Whiteside Park on Saturday, part of a national day of protest organized by a coalition of organizations. Across the country, an estimated 5.2 million Americans took part in the event, held at over 1,600 locations, including nearly two dozen communities in Minnesota. The largest, at the Capitol building in St. Paul, attracted 25,000 protesters according to the State Patrol.
Chilly temperatures and a brisk breeze didn’t seem to discourage protesters in Ely, who began gathering shortly before the official 11 a.m. start of the “Hands Off” protest. By just after noon, a count by this reporter found 203 protesters, who lined up along the Sheridan St. side of the park.
Protesters
Ozzie Reif, a local resident and business owner, was one of the organizers of the local event. He said he decided to take a stand “because I love the Constitution.”
Reif used social media and sent emails and texts to bring people to the protest. “The demonstration was also added to the national Hands Offs website,” Reif said, “and a fair number of folks found out about it through that avenue.” He spent much of the event thanking people for showing up.
Retired miner and steelworkers’ union member Bill Erzar, of Morse Township, said he was there to stand up for veterans and because, as a former member of the Air Force, he “took an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic and to obey a legal order.” He carried a sign with an American flag, that said “Respect Veterans. Hands Off the V.A.”
Others used music to push their message. A woman with a darbuka-style drum led a line of marchers up and down the sidewalk at the park, inciting the crowd with a call-and-response chant: “Tell me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like!”
Brenda Tibbetts, of Cook, was there as well, wearing some of her religious vestments. “People have been saying, ‘Where’s the clergy?’ at these events?” said Tibbetts, who is an ordained deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
“This is a lot more people than the last event,” said Suzanne Mades, a retired Methodist minister who lives in Ely. “The weather is better for this one,” she said, referring to the spontaneous local protest that coalesced at the Whiteside Park bandshell on a much colder and windier day in mid-February.
Signs and flags
The protesters arrived with a mix of homemade and preprinted signs and four flags — the Stars and Stripes, an LBGTQ rainbow pride flag, a Palestinian flag, and a Ukrainian flag.
In keeping with the nationwide theme of the protest, many of the homemade signs referenced “hands off.” The slogan was applied to the many programs, federal agencies, and democratic principles currently under attack by the Trump administration, including veterans’ benefits, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, courts, museums, schools, libraries, education, clean water, federal workers, free speech, and democracy.
“Hands-off Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security! I worked 53 years for mine!” one hand-written sign stated. “Stop breaking things,” another demanded.
Many signs protested Elon Musk, rule by oligarchy, and DOGE. Other signs protested Trump and the MAGA movement. “Tired of Trump’s Toddler Logic!” one sign said. “Moscow Agent Governing America,” another opined. “Democracy, Not Kings!” and “Trump’s tariffs will cost you big time,” said others.
Given that the protest was in Ely, it was no surprise that signs for saving the Boundary Waters had their place in the block-long line of protesters. Other signs expressed support for the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service.
Several signs were in support of our neighbor to the north, including the one the Reif carried: “I feel like Canada is cool.” Robin Stenseth-Erickson carried a sign stating, “Our allies are not our enemies. The pro-Canada sign that stood out the most was bright green, saying simply, “Canada, we’re sorry.”
Some signs used laughter to convey their message. In the middle of March, the Minnesota DFL Party began distributing missing person-style lawn signs for U.S. Representative Pete Stauber and several made an appearance at Saturday’s protest.
“Missing Congressman,” the signs proclaimed. “Name: Pete Stauber … Last seen: Trying to gut Medicaid and cut taxes for Billionaires. Have you seen this man?”
One demonstrator carrying the missing person poster said he regretted voting for Stauber. As someone who had worked in law enforcement, he said had voted for Stauber because the Congressman has also worked as a police office. “But I was wrong,” the man said, lamenting the layoffs of federal workers and Trump’s attacks on labor unions for federal workers.
Saturday’s protest prompted considerable response from passers-by on Sheridan St.
Most vehicles slowed down past the protest and a large number honked or rolled down their windows to wave. That response wasn’t universal. A handful of drivers appeared to object to the protest, like the driver of an eastbound panel truck who shouted his opposition from his cab or the SUV driver who rolled down his window and stuck his thumbs-down sign as he drove slowly past.
Leah Rogne contributed to this article.