What Happened at the Polebridge, Montana, No Kings Demonstration?

In last week’s Last Call newsletter—please buy a subscription; end of Jeb Bush impression—I mentioned that there would be a No Kings event in Polebridge, Montana, a tiny, unincorporated hamlet hard by Glacier National Park. So I was naturally curious about how things turned out there. Polebridge has a famous general store called the Polebridge Mercantile and fewer than 100 residents. More than 60 of them showed up outside the Mercantile on Saturday. From the Daily Montanan:

More than 60 people gathered to take part in a No Kings Indivisible rally in the hamlet of Polebridge, in the borderlands of Glacier National Park, locally organized by Rep. [Debo] Powers. The area surrounding Polebridge is colloquially known as the North Fork, and boasts around 100 year-round residents, including Powers. “Almost all of the people here are North Forkers, so they’re my constituents,” Powers told the Daily Montanan. “There were a few tourists who were coming to Glacier Park, saw us, and they joined us. That was fun, but mostly it’s people who are my neighbors.”

An intersection of dirt roads is home to the iconic red Polebridge Mercantile—and its equally iconic huckleberry bear claws—standing sentinel near the northernmost entrance to Glacier. Armed with signs, flags, and costumes, the ralliers circled up in the dirt intersection, occasionally parting ways to let cars headed into the national park squeeze through, along with one disgruntled carload of tourists who grumbled about not needing to be confronted with politics as they walked into the Mercantile to get coffee and pastries.

Don’t take it personally, Polebridgers. There are always a few in every crowd.