OLEAN — The first protest Nevin Oliphant took part in was in 1967 in Los Angeles. He was a young teenager protesting the Vietnam War.

In 2025 his cause is standing against what he believes is a threat to the U.S. Constitution and American democracy: the second administration of Donald Trump. The 72-year-old Olean resident was among the approximately 400 people who turned out Saturday afternoon in Olean for one of thousands of “No Kings” events across the country — from the largest metro areas to small communities.

“I was out there … protesting against (Trump) in 2017 his first time around,” said Oliphant, who has lived in Olean for about five years and is active in the Cattaraugus-Allegany Liberation Collective. “It’s crazy — we finally got him out of there and after the insurrection (the Jan. 6, 2021 pro-Trump riot at the Capitol) I didn’t think that I would have to do it again, but here I am.”

More than 200 people gathered at 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the former Big Lots. Shouting “This is what democracy looks like!” the crowd marched along the east sidewalk of North Union Street toward Lincoln Park.

Participants carried signs expressing defiance against Trump, who was in Washington Saturday for a military parade marking the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary that coincides with the president’s birthday. Among the slogans on signs were “I will not bow to a king,” “No kings since 1776,” “Abolish ICE,” “Hands off Social Security” and “Keep our money away from billionaires.”

The crowd grew during the march south and, upon reaching Lincoln Park, participants spread out along the sidewalk on East State and South Union streets, although a group of protesters was also across South Union at the corner with West State Street. Many passing drivers sounded their vehicle horns seemingly in support, while there were also a few shouted insults and rude gestures from drivers.

There appeared to be no organized counter-demonstration by Trump supporters and members of the Olean Police Department stood discreetly by. At least one vehicle showing a U.S. flag and pro-Trump sign made a few passes by the demonstration on East State.

Oliphant, who said he moved to the area to be near family, said he was pleasantly surprised by the turnout, given the prevailing politics of the area. He was also grateful that the morning’s rain cleared out for the demonstration. “No Kings” events were planned for Saturday in Bradford, Pa. and Wellsville as well.

Jessica Davis, an organizer of Olean’s event with her son, Oliver Cashimere, said she was “very impressed with the turnout today. It shows that even in smalltown America people have had enough” of what opponents see as Trump’s authoritarianism.

“(Trump) should not be having a military parade,” she said. “For a lot of people, this week has sort of been the final straw. He sends in the National Guard and the Marines against people in California who are exercising their right to protest the treatment of immigrants. ICE is going into schools … it’s just everything about this administration.”

Davis said she also blames Republican leaders for not standing up to Trump, and she suggests there are even Democratic lawmakers who have not stood strong enough against the president on issues such as immigration and funding for government programs.

Aaron Gies, who has been active in anti-Trump activities in the Olean area and is exploring a possible challenge of U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-23rd District, an ally of the president, in the 2026 midterm election, attended another “No Kings” event in the Southern Tier on Saturday. He did issue a statement to the Times Herald concerning the Olean event.

“People are turning out by the millions today across the country and by the hundreds in Olean to tell Trump that America has no kings, no dictators, no tyrants,” the assistant professor of theology and Franciscan studies at St. Bonaventure University said. “Our veterans didn’t fight and die so a king could throw a parade for himself and sell out his country for bribes. They were defending our freedom to speak freely, assemble freely, associate freely, worship freely.

“In America, we don’t bow down to rich bullies: no one is above the law and the people are sovereign,” Gies added.

Brittany Binz of Olean was a featured speaker at Lincoln Park.

“Today we renounce hate. We reject fear dressed up in power suits, and crowns no one voted for,” she said. “Today, we say, ‘You don’t get to be king of us.’ … You feel us now, because the louder we get the harder it is to plug your ears. The more we march the shakier your thrones become.

“They’ve taken families,” she said. “Cut jobs like thread from the future. They slice rights off the bones of the people, then serve it back as ‘policy.’”

Trump, who easily won Cattaraugus and Allegany counties in both 2016 and 2024, remains popular in the Southern Tier. In Cattaraugus County, the Republican received 21,936 votes (66.31%) to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 10,914 (less than 33%) in the 2024 election. In Allegany County, Trump’s total was 13,102 votes (72.15%) to Harris’ 5,058 (27.85%).

Across the U.S., demonstrators crowded public spaces to protest Trump, marching through downtowns and blaring anti-authoritarian chants mixed with support for protecting democracy and immigrant rights.

Organizers of the “No Kings” demonstrations said millions had marched in hundreds of events. The Associated Press reported governors across the U.S. had urged calm and vowed no tolerance for violence, while some mobilized the National Guard ahead of marchers gathering.

In Minnesota, organizers canceled demonstrations as police worked to track down a suspect in the shootings of two Democratic legislators and their spouses.

The Republican president, who turned 79 Saturday, sat on a special viewing stand south of the White House to watch the display of American military might in the parade. AP reported the procession with more than 6,000 soldiers and 128 Army tanks was one Trump tried to make happen in his first term after seeing such an event in Paris in 2017, but the plans never came together until this year, when the parade was added to an event recognizing the Army’s 250th anniversary.