Thousands of people filled the sidewalks and streets of downtown Wichita on Saturday, demonstrating with millions of other protesters across the country against the Trump administration.
Wichita Police officials estimated that crowds reached between 1,500 and 2,000 people. Organizers placed the number of the participants somewhere between 3,500 and 4,000 people.
Local protesters said they found solidarity and strength in the number of people who attended the afternoon march and rally.
“I think there is a uniting,” said Cindy Marion. “Sometimes you can feel helpless at home, you know, with your phone or whatever. And when we see all these people in one united voice, it is a huge statement, and I think it’s very important.”
The rally was one of more than 3,000 organized nationwide in response to a call by the “No Kings” coalition for a national day of nonviolent action.
Progressive groups created the No Kings coalition in June 2025, choosing to demonstrate against the administration on the same day that President Donald Trump hosted major military parades in Washington D.C. The parades were in celebration of the United States Army’s 250th anniversary and fell on Trump’s birthday.
No Kings events continued to grow as the administration intensified deportation efforts and cracked down on protesters who opposed their enforcement tactics and launched military campaigns in Venezuela and Iran.
Those conflicts were front of mind for many Wichita protesters. Anti-war chants rang out between downtown Wichita buildings as protesters marched down Broadway from 21st street to Douglas.
“Our Constitution is being threatened, the Bill of Rights is being ignored,” said B.B. Blank. “Due process is a thing of the past. Home invasions, shooting citizens in the streets, a war that nobody wants, over nothing, that’s going to get a lot of innocent troops killed — we’ve got literally a thousand reasons why there’s thousands of people out here today.”
Blank said he’d met his limit with the administration long before those foreign actions.
He said over the past several months he’s started bringing food to his Hispanic neighbors and driving their children to school because they’re afraid of being stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
He said he’s watched his transgender friends leave Kansas as the state has passed increasingly restrictive legislation that limits the health care they can receive, the bathrooms they can use and the way they are identified on state IDs.
“It’s definitely affecting my community, the people I care about,” Blank said. “It’s like everything else, though: Most people won’t care about it until it affects them directly. Well, with the war, with the tariffs, with where we’re heading — they’re going to be caring.”
The Wichita march brought protesters together for a rally at Chester Lewis Park. There, a slate of local activists and politicians addressed hundreds of protesters who rested on the small patch of lawn.
While much of the day’s energy focused on the Trump administration or federal leaders, City Council member Joseph Shepard called on demonstrators to turn their eyes to City Hall as well.
“Let me be clear, what happens in D.C. matters,” Shepard said. “What happens in Topeka matters, but what happens in Wichita matters, too. So take a look around today and you might notice that there are some leaders that are not here.”
“When you show up to vote down acknowledging our transgender neighbors, but won’t show up to talk about redlining, that’s a problem… Come two years, we’ve got to tell those people, ‘You’re fired.’”
Shepard recently found himself at odds with about half of his city council colleagues over a proclamation celebrating the Transgender Day of Visibility.
Shepard offered his full support of Wichita’s transgender community after three council members — Mayor Lily Wu, Vice Mayor Dalton Glasscock and council member J.V Johnston — did not cast a vote on the proclamation.
Isadora Avett said as a transgender woman, sometimes she looks at the United States and feels a deep streak of despair.
“That’s also what drives me out here,” she said. “Most of my social circle is out here week after week. This is where I meet so many of my friends. These are my people.”
Avett said her plans to demonstrate don’t end with the No Kings day. She hopes to have time to visit Topeka on March 31 to participate in the Transgender Day of Visibility at the capitol.
"We're speaking up for the America that we grew up with, that we believe in — an America that gave everybody a chance to, you know, be what they can be, and now that is just being undermined and taken away from us."
Resounding in the sentiments protesters shared about the No Kings rally was a sense of homecoming. Wichita voters reelected Trump by a 15-point margin during the 2024 election. Many protesters said they were encouraged to see other people were as disappointed in the administration as they were.
Jackson Rukes, 17, was among them. He said he started protesting after President Donald Trump claimed diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives contributed to the crash of a Wichita-based flight in Washington, D.C., last year.
"It's very empowering to get out here and get your emotions out in a very healthy way with a lot of people and see that we're not alone," he said.
Rukes said he won’t be old enough to vote in the midterm elections when the No Kings coalition hopes to see a swath of progressive candidates elected. In fact, Rukes said he’s still having to juggle his desire to protest with high school commitments.
But the Wichita student said he was happy he was able to come out to the No Kings march with a unique item in tow. During the rally, he waved a 35-star American flag, a copy of how the American flag looked when Kansas joined the Union on the brink of the Civil War.
“I just liked that history there, like we were on the right side of history then, we can be on the right side of history now,” Rukes said.
