Compared to many of the thousands of "No Kings" demonstrations across the United States on Saturday, one local protest was small.
But the roughly 40 residents who gathered outside the Valley Manor senior living community on East Avenue hoped they were sending a big message.
"We're older people, but we're not in a warehouse. We aren't dead," said Barbara Backer, an 88-year-old Valley Manor resident. "We are very concerned about what is happening to our democracy ... We feel very, very strongly that we have to raise our voices.
"And, of course, we vote."
According to the Associated Press, more than 2,600 rallies were planned for Saturday across the country in an action that organizers say is building a more unified opposition movement to the administration of President Donald Trump.
Many Republican leaders have criticized the planned rallies, with House Speaker Mike Johnson characterizing it as "the hate America rally."
But Backer said the hate is not coming from those who are protesting the administration's policies.
"I've seen quite a bit with the Nixon problems, Vietnam. I was very active in that, the McCarthyism era," she said. "But I have not seen it to this extent, and I have not seen the hatred that is being spewed forth."
Backer and the other rally-goers drew honks of support from passing cars as they carried signs proclaiming themselves "Elders for Democracy" and sending the message of "We have a Constitution, not a king."
They raised their voices in chants like "This is what democracy looks like," and "Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go."
Janet Welch said it was the first time she had demonstrated since going to Washington, D.C., in the early 1970s to protest the Vietnam War. She believes those protests had an impact.
"(President Richard Nixon) finally kind of realized that they better get this thing stopped," she said.
Welch said while she worried that the current president wouldn't pay attention to Saturday's mass mobilization, she hoped it would still send a message.
"Congress has to stand up," Welch said. "They have to get back down there and go to work."
Other protesters, like Karl Greenhagle, expressed concerns about the Supreme Court's ability to be independent. He also said National Guard members should not be deployed to American cities that Trump deems unsafe.
"I was a member of the National Guard," Greenhagle said, "and we were told that we will not be used against our own citizens. ... I think that is totally wrong.
"No one seems to have guts enough to stand up for the rights of our Constitution," he added.
Backer, who helped organize the rally, said many of those who participated wouldn't have been able to get to the several larger rallies held in the region, but they still wanted their voices to be heard.
"We care about our country because we have lived long enough to see how wonderful it is and how welcoming it can be," she said. "It can be improved, of course, for our children, our grandchildren. We don't want to leave them in this mess and seeing our democracy fall apart."
