No Kings Protest Set For Lakewood A Senior Movement, Organizer Says

LAKEWOOD, NJ — When the first No Kings rallies were held in June 2025, a group of residents in one of Lakewood's senior communities wanted to participate.

For those who were less-than-mobile, joining the rally in Toms River posed a number of potential challenges, including concerns about parking and having to walk to get to the rally.

Those concerns were daunting.

"So, we turned a Senior Moment into a Senior Movement," said Laurie Mauro, the lead organizer of Saturday's No Kings rally in Lakewood. "We decided they could sit down and still stand up for what we believed."

They formed the Lakewood Sign Brigade and organized their own rally along Route 70 in Lakewood.

"We stood, sat in chairs and waved signs along Route 70 East, and found purpose in gathering together," Mauro said. "Some were attending their very first rally. Some brought grandchildren, who were attending their first rally."

Since then, the group has participated in other rallies, including the Good Trouble vigil on July 17, 2025, honoring John Lewis, and the No Kings 2 rally, which drew about 400 people lined along both the east and west sides of Route 70.

They anticipate a similar turnout Saturday morning for the No Kings rally in Lakewood, one of thousands planned across the United States for the No Kings National Day of Nonviolent Action.

Mauro said their hope is for the turnout to stretch all the way to the Garden State Parkway"to symbolically connect with the Toms River rally being held at Exit 82."

"Everyone in our Lakewood group will have a sign and a story," Mauro said. "The reasons for making the effort and taking the time to be counted at a No Kings 3 rally are as varied as our attendees’ diversity in age and income."

The rally begins at noon at Route 70 and Airport Road.