People arrived carrying handmade signs and waving American flags. Some people leaned on walkers, rolled in wheelchairs, or were pulled in wagons. A few arrived wearing inflatable frog, unicorn, or dinosaur costumes. They pumped music, raised voices, and clanged cowbells.
They came to protest a presidency.
Thousands of people either packed the community square in front of the federal courthouse or lined more than three blocks in downtown Sioux Falls on Saturday afternoon as part of a nationwide call to action known as No Kings.
An 80-year-old woman rested in a lawn chair a bit back from the sidewalk. She laughed and said she joined the rally as perhaps her "last stop before the nursing home."
She cited "the fact that the military and National Guard are overrunning our cities for no reason" as one reason for coming downtown.
A former scientist and college professor expressed his dismay that "science is just an opinion now."
"I spent my career standing up for science and data, and it's all out the window," he said. "Maybe I was a mad scientist at one point; now I'm a furious scientist with the way science is being portrayed by the administration."
A healthcare provider of 30 years stayed away from the largest crowds because it was difficult to navigate using her walker. From a side street she expressed concern for access to healthcare in America because of Congressional efforts to chip away at the Affordable Care Act.
"There's all this disinformation that's causing children to die," she added, addressing recent administrative challenges to vaccination standards. "That upsets me."
One block to the west, around 30 people gathered to show support for President Donald Trump. They also held American flags. A woman in her 20s leaned out of a passing car to shout "Go Trump! Trump for president. He needs to stay our president!"
Two Trump supporters strode the crowded sidewalks of the main rally, carrying flags of their own, one of which prominently featured Trump's name. They were met with occasional boos or jeers but mingled with rally-goers without incident.
"I'm an American and it's my right," one man said of his decision to come downtown even though he didn't support the No Kings cause. "I believe in Donald Trump. I'd like any one of these Democratic people to tell me one thing Donald Trump has done wrong in his presidency."
He said Democrats should be held accountable for the current government shutdown, though he said he didn't particularly care if the government ever got back to business, as long as the leaders responsible for the shutdown didn't get paid.
"We respect both sides," said another Trump supporter. "We respect everybody's opinion, their First and Fourth Amendment rights. This is amazing. We have no problems with people being down here to do this. Also (people should) respect Trump supporters as well."
Later, surrounded by fellow Trump supporters, he mocked protesters by saying he had told them the president had declared "oxygen is good for you." He said once people who don't like the president heard that "they were afraid to breathe."
People gave many reasons for taking to the streets.
"We have an executive branch that is ignoring the judiciary," said a rallygoer from Mitchell who was wrapped in an American flag. "We've got a lot of things that are going wrong in this country. We have a president practically begging for the Peace Prize while putting our nation on a war footing with Venezuela."
"You can just start with the Constitution, the very first amendment," said the man next to him, from Tyndall. He was draped in a South Dakota state flag and expressed concern about journalists being able to cover the Pentagon effectively. "Also, the right to protest. The right to gather."
"We're here for conservative principals," his friend interjected. "We believe in conserving what was good about this country. And anybody who has two eyes can see those principals are going away."
"We're out here to show support for USAID," said a woman who recently returned to Sioux Falls after the international aid agency was defunded. "It was one of the first federal agencies that was terminated by Donald Trump when he took office."
She clutched a "No Kings since 1776" sign and an American flag. "I'm here happily and proudly holding my American flag," she said when asked whether the gathering was "un-American." "I'm a proud American and protesting is what makes us America."
A retired doctor held a sign that served as an education in the fundamentals of the U.S. Constitution.
"It's an opportunity to join with a lot of fellow citizens who love the country, who are disgusted with the lack of attention to what our country's all about," he said.
He pushed back against people "who seem to follow along the whims of a person who has no empathy for most of the world. (Trump) grew up as a millionaire. He doesn't understand anyone who has less than that amount of money to play with.
"This is a good country. It was a good country," he added. "It can be a good country again if it's not destroyed in the next three and a half years."
"People need to vote," a woman standing by his side said. "Vote! Vote your conscience."
Voters who support the president claimed they were confused by the idea of No Kings.
"I don't understand what their message is," said one Trump supporter. "No Kings? Who's the king? There's one king. Christ is king. So I don't understand that message at all. Our message is we're waving a flag saying we love our country. And we should all get along."
A woman in a pink hat held a sign that said "God Bless ICE."
"They are cleaning up the cities and ridding us of illegal people that don't belong here unless they're legal," she explained.
The man next to her said, "We're here to support democracy, despite what everybody else says. We elected president Trump. They're trying to say he's destroying our democracy, but he's saving our democracy."
"He just solved eight wars," the woman in the pink hat added. "Christ is king."
One sign depicted Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in a Nazi uniform. Another showed Noem's dog Cricket, lifting a hind leg to soak the secretary in an act of canine revenge from beyond the grave. Several signs called for the release of the Epstein files. But the majority of signs evoked ideals of democracy, called for resistance of the current administration's policies, or splashed cardboard painted sentiments of faith and freedom into the air.
"We the people should love each other," said a man holding a sign that outlined tenets of Christian compassion. "This country was designed for all people. Because Jesus came to love not destroy. He came to build up. He came for the strangers, the weak, the poor, the sick, the needy. We as a people should go out for each other as well. He is the king of kings, but he came to serve, not to be served."
On the main stage, U.S. Senate candidate Julian Beaudion, a Democrat, addressed the crowd.
"They've used power to their privilege and not to protect the people" he said of Republican political leaders. "They've turned politics into personal profit, and they've traded their courage for convenience. We will not have it."
State Senator Jamie Smith, also a Democrat (and a candidate for Sioux Falls mayor) led the crowd in singing "God Bless America." He told the crowd he wanted "the people over there know they don't own God."
He then thanked the crowd for being peaceful and urged them to vote.
After the two-hour window permitted for the event expired, the crowds began to disperse. Diners eased into outdoor seating in the cool of an October evening, under leaves that have turned ochre and yellow.
City Ambassadors, in their matching shirts and caps, swiftly removed scattered bits of trash left behind by the parting rally-goers. Drivers honked support for the stragglers wandering home.
