This story has been updated to reflect the number of protesters present.
This story was corrected Oct. 19 to identify a quote that was referring to a protest in High Springs, not Gainesville.
Making his way through the crowds of protesters, 78-year-old Glenn Terry supported a 10-foot puppet of President Donald Trump. His lopsided crown, fur cape and tiny hands towered over hundreds of signs and American flags at the Gainesville No Kings protest Oct. 18.
Gainesville’s demonstration was one of about 2,600 planned for Saturday across the country. The first day of No Kings protests, on June 14, saw 1,800 protests planned nationwide.
Terry, who spent 40 hours making the papier-mache likeness of Trump, attended the No Kings protest in June with the same puppet, but he had to make changes for this month.
“His cloak was lame, and his Burger King crown was too small, so we revamped it and made it better,” Terry said.
One of around 4,000 protesters gathered at Cora P. Roberson Park for the protest, Terry marched the puppet down the street and helped lead chants.
Others stood along the sides of the road, holding signs and gaining honks of support from passing cars. Some gathered to listen to speakers and live music in the shade of the park. Banners reading “Trump is wrong, love is strong” and “No Kings” hung between trees.
The No Kings movement began as a reaction to Trump’s military parade, which celebrated both his own birthday and the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. Around 5 million Americans protested in June, including hundreds in Gainesville and High Springs.
Jyoti Parmar, director of North Central Florida Indivisible, remembered her surprise when she saw the turnout for the first No Kings protest in High Springs.
“It floored us,” Parmar said. “We were expecting 20 people, and when we arrived there, there were well over a hundred people standing in line.”
While she was anxious about the protest coinciding with UF Homecoming, she estimated more people attended this protest than the last.
She and the NCF Indivisible team hosted a mutual aid drive at both No Kings events. Today, accepting clothing donations for school-aged children, the NCF Indivisible table was covered in shirts, pants and socks in all sizes.
As a queer woman of color, Parmar founded NCF Indivisible in 2019 because it felt necessary to advocate for herself and others in the community, she said. She and NCF Indivisible hope to reach people across generations through advocating for local prison reform and safety for immigrants.
“It is just so touching to see folks who have been fighting these fights for decades coming out,” she said. “And brand new young people coming out and knowing about what's happening in the country.”
The “Big Beautiful Bill” drew more people to protest, said 22-year-old UF sustainability senior Alex Hoff, who stood on the side of the road with a poster that read “MISSING: Marco Rubio’s Spine.” After being passed over the summer, the bill cut funding for a variety of programs, including health care and research grants.
After graduating, Hoff was planning to apply to a lab, he said, but the lab no longer has paid positions because of a loss of federal grant funding. He said he is upset about the changes being made to higher education institutions across the country.
“They’re something to be proud of,” he said. “We shouldn't just discard them because they’re some political brainwashing institution, like the president is saying that they are.”
Threats to democracy concern 86-year-old Peter Amish, who served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1966 and earned a Purple Heart for his work in the Marine Corps.
Though excited to join the military at the time, he felt disillusioned when he came back to the U.S. and “saw that there was deceit about why we were there.” His view of the military changed, and today he is worried about deployment of the National Guard to major cities.
“It's not proper, it’s not according to the Constitution, and it just makes me very nervous,” he said.
Contact Juliana DeFilippo at jdefillipo@alligator.org. Follow her on X @JulianaDeF58101.
Juliana is the Fall 2025 Avenue editor. She is a second-year journalism student and spent her first two semesters with The Alligator as an Avenue reporter. In her spare time, she can be found reading, updating her Letterboxd account, or doing crossword puzzles.
