The event came four months after an innocent bystander, Afa Ah Loo, was shot and killed in Salt Lake City at a No Kings protest planned by a different group.

This time, organizers worried that memories of the tragedy and violence in June were still too fresh and many would still feel too afraid to attend, said Jamie Carter, a volunteer with Salt Lake Indivisible who planned Saturday’s rally.

But afterward, Carter said she hoped the event – fairly relaxed and punctuated by boisterous moments – restored a sense of safety and solidarity for anyone who felt uneasy.

“It felt like our goals were met, both helping to heal the community, and providing a place for people to express their anger, but to leave with joy,” Carter said.

Haylee Bowcut, 25, said she had some anxiety about the protest because of the June shooting, but decided Saturday morning to attend and bring a sign saying, “Hate never made a country great.”

“It just felt like the right thing, to go today,” said Bowcut, of Pleasant View.

Many outside the Capitol chanted, “We are the patriots!,” wore costumes and came with friends or family, listening intently to speakers, a comedian and musical performances during the roughly two-hour event.

“We’re going to hold every government official accountable, from the highest levels of power, including every ICE agent,” Carter said from a podium on the Capitol steps, to thunderous applause.

She and other speakers said they want to see compassion inform new immigration laws, along with an end to the nation’s health care “crisis” and stricter gun laws to help protect children.

Jeanetta Williams, president of the NAACP’s Salt Lake branch, condemned Trump’s appointment of “anti-civil rights extremists” in roles enforcing the nation’s civil rights laws.

Many seemed to take inspiration from protesters in Portland, dressing in towering inflatable costumes depicting dinosaurs, axolotls, chickens, and a bumble bee, in a nod to Utah’s moniker, the Beehive State.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson last week described No Kings as “pro-Hamas,” and a “Hate American rally.”

Speaking through a small window in her inflatable unicorn costume, Barbara Scott of Bluffdale rejected that.

“I’m not paid to be here, I’m not AI, and I’m not a terrorist,” Scott said, showing off signs she made featuring the same messages.

Scott also reflected on the violence that’s happened at demonstrations and political events like June’s protest and Charlie Kirk’s killing at the campus of Utah Valley University.

As for her concern about her own safety while protesting, she said, “I have more concern about what’s going to happen to our country if we don’t get it back. At least if we die here, we die trying.”

Organizers originally planned to follow the Capitol rally with a march to the Salt Lake City and County building, but canceled the march Tuesday when online RSVPs flooded in faster than they’d expected. They worried the crowd size for a march was too big for the few dozen unarmed safety volunteers they trained, Carter said.

On Saturday, Utah’s Department of Public Safety estimated attendance at 3,500, while Carter said she believed it was much higher, near 10,000.

Former state Sen. Steve Urquhart, who served in the Utah Legislature as a Republican from 2001-2016, was also in the crowd. He recalled believing years ago that any forces seeking to undercut democracy would come from the political left, but said he now feels differently.

“Guess I was wrong about that one,” Urquhart said. He added that concerns about safety were on his mind before the rally.

“Should we go, should we mask up? What should we do?” Urquhart recalled thinking. “When the administration is actively saying it’s targeting its opponents, that’s frightening.”

Few counterprotesters came to the event. When a group of about three men, one wearing a ‘Trump 2024’ hat arrived at the Capitol lawn and started speaking through a megaphone, dozens in the No Kings group surrounded them, chanting, “No Nazis, no KKK, no fascist USA.”