KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.
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Robin Gingerich's favorite part about the weekly Sunday protests she and her husband started 17 weeks ago is the Lawrence community "taking ownership."
"Molly makes signs for people to borrow, and every week she makes all these signs for people," she said. "Nobody asks her to do that; she just did that. Nobody asked the guy to bring the blow horn and do the chants, but they just did that. And I think that's the thing I love the most, people just taking ownership of this."
Gingerich and her husband, Tom Mersmann, attended a rally against the Trump administration in Topeka in February. The couple said it inspired them to start up a weekly protest on Sundays in Lawrence.
“We said, ‘We’re just going to come down and stand at 9th and [Massachusetts streets] with our signs, and if it’s just the two of us, that’s OK,'" she said.
About 30 people showed up to the first protest on Feb. 23. Gingerich said a week later, about 300 people showed up.
"It fills my heart because what we see here is totally a grassroots effort," she said. "This is not organized by any particular group at all; these are just citizens."
The couple said while attendees protest a variety of topics regarding the current administration, the crowd as a whole is exercising its rights to free speech and peaceful assembly.
“I experienced over the years that dramatic, social and political change always took place when people were in the streets," Mersmann said.
Gingerich said she's been surprised by turnout on Sunday holidays like Easter and Mother's Day. Over 100 people gathered for this week's protest, which landed on Father's Day and was only a day after many attendees participated in nationwide "No Kings Day" protests.
“We’re just a small part of a very large effort now," Gingerich said.
The couple said their protests — held weekly on Sundays from 12-1 p.m. at 9th and Massachusetts — will continue for the foreseeable future.
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