A large crowd of Fairbanksans gathered outside the city’s Pioneer Park on Oct. 18 to voice their frustrations with the Trump administration as part of a nationwide No Kings protest.
Snowflakes dusted their extravagant outfits and signs as temperatures dipped into the 30s.
But Sarah Finney, dressed in a big, green, inflatable T-rex costume, said she was perfectly warm.
"I stand with the immigrants," she said. "This country was built off the back of immigrants, and for us to turn them away and not give them a chance of freedom is disgusting. (...) I'm just kind of disappointed in how our country's been going and being called terrorists when we're just trying to [use] our freedom of speech."
Finney was just one of many inflatable dinosaurs, unicorns and frogs in the crowd.
Frog imagery was especially common on signs and outfits. Fairbanksan Maria Wessel, in a frog onesie, said she wanted to show solidarity with a Portland protester dressed in a frog costume who was pepper sprayed by an ICE agent on Oct. 10.
"Taking pepper spray and aiming it up the intake of his costume — like, what the heck was that?" she said. "But also, today is a day of celebration about people coming together to exercise our right to protest. I feel like wearing the costumes brings some levity and joy to the situation."
Fairbanks’ first No Kings protest was on June 14. Attendees of Saturday’s protest said it had a similar turnout and joyful atmosphere. A No Kings protest also took place on Saturday in the nearby community of North Pole — a small gathering at an outdoor barbecue.
