Following actions by Immigration Customs Enforcement and their presence in Eugene, a number of protests and other demonstrations have been popping up all over Lane County throughout recent months. For a group of Eugene’s retired population, pushing back is nothing new.
Presidents’ Day, Feb. 16, will mark the one year anniversary of the Resist! Persist! Repeat! protest, where Eugene and Springfield’s senior citizens have gathered on the street corner of 29th Avenue and Willamette Street, every Monday from 10 am to 11 am.
“We have a long history of protest. It’s not new to me or many of us to be standing up and saying that we disagree, we dissent. We did that for Vietnam. We did that around women’s rights. We did that around many issues,” Eugene retiree Carol Diller says. “It’s what we’ve done every decade in my life. There was always some cause I felt passionate about. Why would I stop now?”
Beth Naylor adds, “It’s in our DNA.”
On Presidents’ Day 2025, millions of people across the country participated in the “No Kings on Presidents’ Day” and “Not My President’s Day” protests to speak out against the Trump administration.
Naylor, her husband Jim Watson and several other people in and around their retirement community decided to join in. They gathered on the corner of 29th Avenue and Willamette Street in South Eugene — the most convenient area for the group due to its proximity to their homes — and held up hand painted signs in resistance.
“As we were walking home, some people were just so jazzed about it, because it felt good,” Naylor says. “They were so enthusiastic that they said, right then, that we should do it every week.”
On that day, the weekly “Resist! Persist! Repeat!” protest was born.
“These big national protests, those take a lot of work for people to organize. This one, it’s much looser organization and nimble,” Naylor says, adding that the simple weekly format helps people easily add it into their schedule. “The fact that it’s every Monday, people aren’t having to call and make arrangements.”
Naylor is 75-years-old and has mobility issues due to multiple sclerosis. She does most of the protest organization, while Watson, 81, brings a cart full of protest signs for attendees to use. Every week, Diller says “they’re walking down to 29th and Willamette and Beth’s rolling [in her wheelchair] on the street, and Jim is pulling the full hand cart behind him. It’s very cute.”
Naylor says of the protest group that “It’s so valuable to us to get out there. We really benefit.” They average about 60 people per protest, and had 101 people in attendance on Feb. 9. In October 2025, Laurel Anderson organized a second, separate weekly Resist! Persist! Repeat! on Coburg and Harlow Roads on Mondays from noon to 1 pm; they currently have a smaller but growing crowd, with 29 people in attendance at the Feb. 9 protest. Both Anderson and Naylor invite others who feel inclined to organize their own protests in other areas of Eugene.
Naylor, who only organizes the protest on Willamette and 29th Avenue, notes there are two main reasons why the protests have continued for so long. The first one is that “We’re being visible. We feel like we’re doing something,” she says, and the second being “it feels good.”
Diller, who is 77, has been attending the gatherings since March, having found them while looking for a way to use her voice in protest against Trump and ICE. “It’s like we’re all in our little pods, and we get out there on Monday and meet like-minded people who are willing to go stand in the cold or the rain or the heat.”
Diller adds “I don’t really believe that our standing at 29th and Willamette is going to necessarily affect the whole global or national picture, but it feels good to be able to stand up and say, ‘I’m here and I’m noticing what’s going on, and I’m not going to put my head in the sand.’”
The protest also has several guidelines that attendees must abide by. “We are peaceful, we are non violent. We do not engage,” Naylor says.
Diller recalls a time when someone walked by and said, “‘Trump’s a good guy!’” to which one lady answered, “‘God bless you.’” Diller continues, “We try to respond to their negativity with positivity or kindness. What good is it going to do for us to say something rude?”
Though Naylor and Diller are in their 70s, many of the attendees are in their 80s and 90s, with several who experience mobility issues. “And their brains are ticking along. It’s just a real shock when you get to be our age and you realize that we ain’t done yet,” Naylor says. However, people of any age are welcome to attend.
As for Resist! Persist! Repeat!, Naylor says that the protest will “keep on keepin’ on” with Diller adding, “we look forward to when we don’t need to keep on keepin’ on.”
Resist! Persist! Repeat! is 10 am to 11 am Mondays on the corner of 29th Avenue and Willamette and noon to 1 pm on the corner of Coburg and Harlow Roads.