People across the region took part in city-wide events and marches for the national ‘No Kings’ protests on June 14 against the Trump administration. With demonstrations in Bend, Redmond, La Pine, Prineville and Madras, the region saw thousands of people in attendance.
In Bend, organizers estimate about 3,000 to 6,000 community members attended the local event. The day started with a planned community action event at Drake Park, with speakers and booths from local organizations.
Around 4:30pm, the crowd marched through downtown to protest on Bend’s Peace Corner, a well-known location for demonstrations at the intersection of Wall Street and Greenwood Avenue.
People had a variety of reasons for showing up.
“Our democracy is under severe threat, and it can’t be defended if we stay home,” said Bend resident Jefferey Richardson, bearing an American flag.
Sisters Oralee Hamilton and Marzenda McComb attended to join those who were voicing their concerns about the administration and to, “take some kind of action when things are becoming so chaotic and so upside down.”
“For me, that means loving people, being curious about them, accepting them and being open-hearted,” said Hamilton. “In this environment, it’s easy to do that because the people are like that. There’s something magical about being with a lot of people who share concern, and do it in a loving way. That’s very powerful.”
Across the country, millions of people marched in hundreds of events, according to reporting from AP News.
Many at the Bend event were enthusiastic about the number of people who showed up, with some saying it was the largest crowd they’d ever seen at Drake Park. Katie Frey was hopeful about seeing so many locals “fighting back” against the administration.
“With what’s been happening in the last five months — I think there’s been a lot of fear, and seeing everyone together just makes me feel a little bit less afraid,” Frey told the Source. “I’m new to Bend so I didn’t really know what to expect, and I’m just so grateful to see so many people turning out…I’m just really impressed.”
Another attendee, Jasper Leduc, was happy to see a wide range of people coming together.
“It’s definitely big. I’m a little overwhelmed. We don’t see this type of turnout, typically, so it’s really heartwarming to see. There are a lot of older, cisgender Caucasian people, and that’s really nice to see, honestly,” they said.
Among the crowd were a wide variety of local organizations, including the Bend Action Coalition, the Latino Community Association, 50501 Central Oregon and Indivisible Bend and Sisters. The Deschutes Youth Climate Coalition was among the groups helping to organize the protest, helping with setup and leading the march and the chants throughout the demonstration.
Editor’s note: The Latino Community Association wants to clarify that it was not a sponsor for this event, but did have some staff members participating in the protest.
DYCC member Amelia DuBose, was excited to see a large number of young people in attendance and believes the event will be remembered.
“I think the impact is just a large showing that we’re not OK with how our country is being run right now, and so it tells our local elected officials that we don’t want them to comply with the Trump administration,” DuBose told the Source. “I think, especially in Central Oregon, this is definitely a jumping off point to be like, ‘OK, we’re mad, we don’t like what this administration is doing,’ so let’s really buckle down and make sure that we’re protecting our own community, that we’re making change in our community and that we’re passing policy and doing things here that will make it better.”
The Redmond protest had about 1,000 people in attendance, according to Jen Laverdure, the organizer of Indivisible Redmond. The Prineville event had over 100 people, according to Central Oregon Daily. In Madras, DuBose with DYCC said roughly 75 people showed up to protest. About 70 to 80 people protested in La Pine, despite a last-minute cancellation of the planned event. Editor’s note: The original article was edited to clarify the number of people in attendance at the Redmond protest.
According to a member of South County Collective Action, a group of locals who attempted to host La Pine’s ‘No Kings’ protest, its members were met with “red tape” from the City of La Pine and national insurance companies.
“It is every person’s legal right to protest in public areas, and we were told that sidewalks and other public areas are considered City rights-of-way and would need a permit,” said Erin, a member of SCCA who chose to keep her last name anonymous due to safety reasons.
While she said the group worked to meet the City’s expectations, they were unable to obtain the $2,000,000 insurance policy required for a permit. Erin said members of SCCA reached out to nearly a dozen insurance companies with no success.
“We were getting denied left and right. I finally got somebody on the phone Wednesday night who said, ‘no insurance companies are approving policies at this moment for protests because of what’s happening in L.A.,” she told the Source on Monday.
The City, she said, also required a “parking plan” for the event.
“Because of this, and after many hours of discussion, we decided not to host this event. We are planning longevity in La Pine and to be limited by the City requirements for this event was disappointing. We hope the City can reconsider their definition of right-of-way along with the requirements put on individuals organizing protests,” she said in an email to the Source Weekly.
The Source Weekly reached out to the City of La Pine for comment but did not immediately receive a response ahead of publishing.
This article appears in Source Weekly June 12, 2025.
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Well, glad I chose Bend instead of Lapine!
Divide and conquer. Have people not heard of this? It’s as old as time itself. Sadly, we have fallen victim to this strategy of control. Americans hating Americans. Blue/red. Left/right. White/colored. Gay/straight. Surely we are more intelligent than this? Apparently not. We are being distracted while billionaires and banks and corporations are taking over. Wake up!