Hundreds turn out in Homer, Soldotna to protest actions of Trump administration

Just days after the announcement that the U.S. would levy steep tariffs against countries around the globe and amid moves to drastically cut federal government spending, on Saturday approximately 700 central and southern Kenai Peninsula residents — around 300 in Soldotna and 400 in Homer — joined the nationwide Hands Off! protest decrying actions taken by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Along the Sterling Highway in Soldotna, hundreds stood with signs expressing support for federal programs, services and employees, as well as diversity, democracy and science, among other things. The protest was advertised as “Remove, Reverse, Reclaim,” and was organized by Many Voices and Kenai Peninsula Protests as part of the nationwide 50501 movement. Many signs repeated a call to the Trump administration to take its “hands off” services like public broadcasting, Social Security, federal employees, voting rights, Medicare and others.

Signs called for Alaska’s federal legislators, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich III, to take more action on behalf of the state. Many targeted the influence of billionaire Elon Musk, who has slashed federal services and employees through his so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Several called for the need to get in “good trouble,” a refrain used by Civil Rights activist and longtime U.S. Rep. John Lewis, and which New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker repeated in his opening to last week’s record-setting 25-hour speech on the Senate floor.

“This is what democracy looks like,” they chanted.

In Homer, parking lots near WKFL (Wisdom Knowledge Faith & Love) Park were already growing crowded by 10:50 a.m. on Saturday. Flaggers in fluorescent vests welcomed streams of pedestrians “to the resistance” as they crossed the road to the park. Hoots and hollers followed the intermittent, supportive honking of horns from those driving by.

More than 450 Homer protesters (“10% of the local population, within city limits,” pointed out Cathy Stingly with Homer Women for Action) were counted in attendance on the breezy spring day. “Imagine” by John Lennon and “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell played in the background as they, along with burgeoning storm clouds, gathered.

Similar scenes could be seen across the country. The Juneau Empire reported a protest attended by 1,500 in front of the State Capitol building on Saturday. The Anchorage Daily News reported more than 1,000 in downtown Anchorage. Photos posted to Bluesky show Alaska protests in Healy, Gustuvus, Nome, Haines, Cordova and others.

Michele Vasquez, of Soldotna, is an organizer for Many Voices and Kenai Peninsula Protests. She said that over recent months, central Kenai Peninsula protests organized as part of the 50501 movement have seen increasing participation. There were three people at a protest — not organized as part of 50501 — in Soldotna on Jan. 20. Around a dozen protested on Feb. 17. More than 100 were out on March 4. Vasquez counted 300 on Saturday.

“What we’re seeing are people hearing the news or understanding what is going on in our country with these executive orders, these tariffs, all these crazy things that are hurting real people,” she said. “People are starting to understand what’s actually happening, and they’re not liking it at all.”

Tariffs were among the foremost issues on her mind Saturday. Trump last week announced a new 10% baseline tariff against every other country, alongside further tariffs against almost every country based on the United States’ trade deficit with each of them.

The move sent shock waves through financial markets, with stocks on Thursday and Friday showing steep declines.

Trump campaigned on lowering grocery prices; Vasquez said that the tariffs will cause severe increases in prices of many goods.

Also, she said, she worries about Trump’s impact on veterans services and federal employees — including at Alaska’s national parks, which are being left understaffed. Grant funding that impacts Alaska is also being cut.

“Being a red state hasn’t protected us,” she said. “And it won’t.”

A Homer community member named Lolita said she attended Saturday’s protest because of the importance of action in response to feelings of fear and isolation, and suggested that individuals should not just stay at home but actively resist.

“I don’t want to be scared. I want to feel like I have some agency,” she said. “I want to feel like I can look around and see people who agree with me, I think that’s really important. I think it’s really important to feel tied to your community, not to feel isolated. So really, it’s for us. It’s for strengthening that feeling of, you know, what can I do to resist?”

Kevin Duffie was out protesting Saturday in Soldotna for the very first time, and excited to be joined by 300 “smiling faces” from the local community. He said he’s concerned for Alaska’s public lands, calling Trump’s desire to drill in the Gates of the Arctic National Park as “a precedent setter.”

“I think too many people are stuck in right versus left,” he said. “I think there’s an opportunity for us to find common ground in small places.”

Changes to the cost of government are needed, one Soldotna protester said. But the way Trump and Musk are tackling it “is the wrong way.” He said he was out protesting because he’s seen the courts fail to rein in the Trump administration, and Congress fail to step up.

A public display of “enough people that agree with the right thing,” he said, could “stamp out the wrong thing.”

In Homer, speakers from a wide variety of positions within the community prepared speeches for Saturday.

Reverend Lisa Talbott with Homer United Methodist Church reminded attendees that to deny the right of any person is to deny the image of God, and “to exclude, to erase, to marginalize is to reject the expansive love of the Creator.”

“Let us not forget the renewed push to allow discrimination in the guise of religious freedom, a freedom that should liberate and not oppress,” Rev. Talbott said, addressing the audience of more than 400 attendees. “These actions are not just policy decisions. They are direct assaults on the dignity and sacred worth of all people. As a Christian, I believe that we are all made in the image of God. In Latin, that’s called the Imago Dei. Are there any Latin nerds out there who know how ‘dei’ is spelled? D.E.I. What divine irony we cannot have the image of God without diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Dr. Jeff Meyers, a local history and political science professor, reminded protesters that “the Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on the earth.” He warned that if you “don’t learn from history, you can’t understand the world you live in.”

Claudia Haines, CEO of Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic, said Saturday that after 40 years of serving the community, Homer’s clinic is one of only three dedicated reproductive health clinics left in the state.

“When we talk about health care right now, I want to talk to you about reproductive health care, and we’re not just talking about birth control and STI testing. We’re actually talking about freedom. The freedom to decide if and when you have children. The freedom to protect your body. The freedom to access lifesaving cancer screenings. The freedom to get accurate information without judgment or shame. That freedom is directly tied to the health of our entire community.

“It’s not just about individual appointments or test results. It’s about building a culture of care, a community where everyone, every single one of us, has the tools they need to achieve their health goals, and where no one is left out because of who they are, where they live, who they love and what they can afford.”

KBFPC is a Title X-supported clinic. According to the Urban Institute, Title X grant funding has recently been frozen in many states by the Trump administration.

Mike LeMay is a lifelong member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans for Peace. His exposure to Agent Orange during his service resulted in three separate cancers. He addressed the crowd on Saturday.

“Donald Trump is a domestic enemy of the United States Constitution. He is also utterly faithless towards the right, the good and the decent. He is an imbecile who lacks wisdom with each utterance while being cheered by a bevy of quacks, frauds, hustlers and psychopaths for every idiocy. We have gathered here today to create good trouble, the kind of necessary trouble espoused by John Lewis. Thank you for all coming out and giving me the blessing of hanging out with people who actually care about other people. And please remember that in the larger cosmic sense, we are here to walk each other home.”

Another Soldotna protester, a woman, said that the only way some people can know about the issues they’re calling out is by seeing people in a small, conservative city like Soldotna standing up.

“There are a lot of us that this really matters to,” she said. “We don’t want to see things go the way they’re going … We care about America, we care about people — all people. There’s strength in diversity.”

Some Homer artists used the event as an opportunity to showcase their protest art. Jane Dunn displayed a fishing net she had fashioned with a broken-open globe caught in its midst. A glove, meant to represent DOGE, reached into the broken globe, pulling out handfuls of fake paper money.

Charles Aguilar, a local musician and artist, brought two unnervingly large puppets created in the likeness of President Trump and Elon Musk, each manned by its own puppeteer. They floated through the crowd to the wonder of onlookers.

Aguilar said he created the Trump puppet nearly eight years ago for a Women’s March and considered burning it in effigy after the end of the last administration. Instead, he chose to hold onto it, just in case. He repurposed the Elon Musk puppet from a puppet made in the image of former Pebble Mine CEO Tom Collier, who resigned in 2020 following the release of secretly recorded comments he made regarding his relationship with elected leaders and regulators.

And it wouldn’t be a true Homer event without a few well-behaved dogs in attendance; one such pup adorned with a sign that read “Dogs against DOGE.”

Vasquez said that information on local protests is posted to the Facebook pages for “Kenai Peninsula Votes” and “Many Voices” — facebook.com/manyvoicesak — and she also submits each event to the community calendars managed by KDLL 91.9 FM Public Radio and KSRM Radio Group.

Another 50501 nationwide protest is scheduled for April 19. Many Voices is advertising a march to the Soldotna Y for that day, beginning at noon at Soldotna Creek Park.

Editor’s note: This story was updated Tuesday, April 8, with additional information on upcoming protests.