No Kings on the Mountain Loop

October 18, 2025 Darrington, WA – by Sylvia Stauffer

A robust and happy crowd of ten or twelve waved signs and American flags on the corner of State Route 530 and the Mountain Loop Highway in the North Cascades today. Gathered via word of mouth, the sign wavers included many of the white-haired variety, several younger people, others of indeterminate age and one dog. No leaders, no kids, no costumes, no actual marching or chanting, but a whole lot of honking and waving from passing cars.

Shouts out of car windows, thumbs up all around, gawking people out for a weekend drive, what's this, a sign-waving event in sleepy Darrington? It's a mountain town of some 1400 where Trump bumper stickers show up fairly often on the backs of the huge pickups everyone seems to have. Where people are the friendliest, most giving and active in taking care of each other that I've ever seen. But I am not from a small town, just here as much as possible for the last twelve years planning to retire in this stunning mountains-in-every-direction town.

How did such a group get together on a days notice with no planning at all? No Indivisible group here, yet. No leaders. Just me logging in to Facebook for a quick peek in case someone might have posted something about No Kings, no one had, so I just asked if anyone was doing anything in town. And that led to meeting a quiet person who had seen some people parading with signs a few weeks ago, up and down the highway bisecting the town. The quiet Facebook person wanted to catch up with the paraders that day, but too late, so for October 18, she tells a few friends about what we want to do.

I don't know how the word gets out to others but somehow it does. A small group showed up with their sturdy signs all nailed together. They were getting ready to head out for an event in Granite Falls since nothing had been planned for Darrington that day. They stuck around with us, chatting and waving signs, and ended up staying here in town. Others I knew, the ones who had been out on State Route 530 a number of times with signs in past weeks, were going to Everett for No Kings that day for one of the large events. I had gone along on one of those earlier walks, or local parades as they were called, when we held signs promoting freedom of speech and healthcare funding and signs saying "Honk! for Democracy!" We'd had a good response.

On this October 18, I'm standing near my car feeling a bit lonely when the quiet person I met shows up carrying a batch of large poster board signs, all ready to go. Gradually a group gathers at the corner and others show up to join. Four or five vehicles park in the lot between the empty corner shop for rent and the closed-up outdoor gear store. One woman who had never been to any such events, and was not part of any group was sitting in her house near the highway, hoping something was going to be going on, since she too had seen sign-waving paraders in recent weeks. This woman, another quiet type, walked up the street to join and was happy to sign the list of interested attendees, many of whom do not use email or text messaging at all.

I'd brought candy and bubbles, and was waving my bubble wand arm, hoping someone shows up with kids so I don't have to keep explaining why I'm making a fool of myself but don't care. I'm trying to attract kids –- maybe I can lure some families out of their cars. But the guy with the dog and the quiet lady from down the street are not too shy to grab snack size M&Ms, along with the tough hard-working gal who admits she's a sugar fiend.

One lady arrived with her walker and couldn’t wait for me to take her picture. “Shes 92” her friends said as I started to hand her the spiral notebook to write down her name. “Use my name and my picture, put it on Facebook!” she chimed as I wrote down her phone number recited to me by her friend. A few others who had been more or less standing back also did not want to be left off the list.

So it went. We handed out printed signs with the No Kings logos and took the list of fifteen names of people, heading to the senior center to rest and regroup. And to start a new group in a small town, since like it or not, I'm pretty sure being an organized group is a good thing these days. We do have to stick together, and I have a strong feeling that in this place not known to be a haven for liberals, lefties, or god-forbid anarchists, there will be strong and lasting support for democracy, for the rule or law, for telling the truth and for taking care of our people.