This Saturday, a “No Kings” protest is set to take place in front of the Watauga Social Services Building from 10 a.m. to noon. 

This protest is a part of a larger nationwide event involving more than 3,000 locations. For the High Country, it has a more personal motivation.

Indivisible High Country, an all-volunteer civic activism group located in Northwestern North Carolina, is working with IndivisibleNeers, an organization made up of students, faculty and staff at App State, to hold this event. The nationwide protest is expected to be much larger than any previous “No Kings” protest, setting a national record for the largest mass protest in U.S. history, according to Donna Lisenby, a member of Indivisible High Country’s leadership team. 

“Our goal is a functioning democracy that works for the people,” Lisenby said. 

There are 67 “No Kings” events planned in North Carolina alone, 27 of which are located in Western North Carolina. Every county in the High Country will be holding events.

Indivisible High Country released a statement on the event, commenting on the High Country’s ability to overcome hardships and urging people to use their strength to come together as a community to speak out against President Donald Trump’s administration’s abuses of power. 

“Currently, less than 15% of the relief that was promised to Western North Carolina has actually been delivered by the federal government,” Lisenby said, attributing the lack of hurricane relief aid given by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Helene as a larger motivation behind the protests and growth of involvement in the organization.

 “One of the most remarkable things about all our protests is how many new people attend and say, ‘I’ve never protested in my life before, but I’m very upset, and I couldn’t remain silent anymore,’” Lisenby said.

Indivisible High Country was formed in February 2025, with more than 1,580 people joining the organization in just one year. Lisenby has been a nonprofit manager and activist for 25 years, founding programs in both Charlotte and Boone, and she says she has never seen this much growth in an organization in such a short time.

She said this event is also a time to speak out on the problem of rising unemployment rates as it relates to students, suggesting this problem is particularly concerning for App State and Wilkes Community College. 

“Young people are facing one of the most abysmal job markets in a long time in the United States, since the recession of the ‘70s,” Lisenby said.

Indivisible High Country is striving to achieve 3.5% citizen involvement in all High Country counties to enact change and wishes to continue the frequency of protests and events in the community in order to achieve this goal.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Lisenby said. “We, the people, have the power. If we just come together and protest together and seek change together, then we can make a positive change.”