Made it to another protest rally this afternoon. There were no rallies scheduled today in the city or first ring suburbs, near me. So I had to drive to the town of Hamlin in the rural outskirts of the county to join a rally.

Instead of a thousand or more people, as in the downtown Rochester and Irondequoit rallies I've attended, there were only 60 to 70 people at this more rural town's rally.

And this one had a different "vibe" than the previous ones I've attended. I've gotten used to the majority of passing cars being supportive, cheering, giving thumbs-up, and waving, with only a small minority giving us the finger. Today, on this rural road, it seemed that about half the drivers were shouting Trump slogans, giving us the finger, or noisily revving their vehicles past us. Most of the others just drove by with puzzled faces, as if wondering what this was about.

We really appreciated the ones that smiled and honked and waved at us. One young man in an Amazon truck, who passed us three times, honked and smiled at us each time.

One woman brought a radio which played lively band music we could sway to. Another woman with a megaphone walked up and down the line, reading us news items about various issues we were there to protest. An elderly woman handed out free bottles of water, and another introduced us to her "protest buddy", a very cute small dog. All of this really cheered and encouraged us, despite "those" drivers.

#LaborDay2025 #Protests #HamlinNY #RochesterNY