Billed as the largest No Kings event in the Lehigh Valley, No Kings Palooza drew thousands to West Bethlehem’s Rose Garden for a Saturday afternoon that blended peaceful protesting with an atmosphere that at times seemed festive.
The Bethlehem chapter of Indivisible Lehigh Valley hosted the event to coincide with similar protests across the region, state and nation throughout Saturday.
The chapter said in an advance statement that they’re designed “in response to the authoritarian tactics of the Trump administration and its attacks on civil and human rights.”
Bethlehem’s Democratic Committee along with the party’s committees for Lehigh and Northampton counties were among the event partners.
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk and other local political leaders spoke and several musical acts also took the stage in the park’s bandshell.
Within the first hour of the 3 p.m. event, at least 2,000 people were participating as city police officers guided heavy pedestrian traffic across Eighth Avenue, one of the neighborhood’s busiest corridors. Several officers were seen interacting politely with demonstrators as they crossed the street.
Demonstrators mingled, occasionally putting down signs for conversation with friends, as the stage turned over to a band covering “Moonshadow,” the 1970’s hit by Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens.
A more fiery crowd of demonstrators lined the outskirts of the park, engaging with motorists along Eighth Avenue and its intersections with West Broad and West Market streets.
Signage called out Trump on a number of issues, with the war in Iran and the Epstein files as the issues perhaps commanding the most attention.
“You can’t bomb your way out of the Epstein files,” read one sign.
Car horns in support of the demonstration reverberated throughout the neighborhood. There appeared to be no significant counterdemonstration in the vicinity of the park.
Bethlehem’s No Kings Palooza was among several local demonstrations planned throughout the day on Saturday.
Events were also planned in Bethlehem Township, Easton, Phillipsburg and other locations in eastern Pennsylvania and northwestern New Jersey.
More than 3,000 No Kings protests were held Saturday across the country.
This was the third such national organizing event since June put on by groups like Indivisible, MoveOn and the 50501 Movement.
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