SANTA CRUZ — Last year, Cheryl Voss went to the first Santa Cruz Women’s March, joining thousands of people who filled the streets voicing their opposition to newly inaugurated President Donald Trump.
Voss, 66, came back Saturday for the second march to find an estimated 25,000 people taking to the streets, holding signs and chanting as they looked back on a year marked by political turmoil.
The causes represented at the march ran the gamut from racial issues to the environment to immigration to homelessness. But the vast majority were there to support women’s rights and speak out against the Trump administration’s seeming attack on them.
The number surpassed that of last year’s march.
“I truly believe that when people come together for a cause, it makes a statement,” Voss said. “It makes me feel so good to be a part of it.”
Christine Sieburg also came for her second march. She said she hoped the trip would be a good message for her 5-year-old son.
“We should all have the same rights and opportunities,” she said.
Emma Childers, 9, was wearing a rainbow wig, a sparkly sequined shirt and carrying a sign that said, “Girl Power!”
She said the march came on the heels of the Martin Luther King Jr. march, in which she also participated, and lessons in school about civil rights.
“I don’t like what’s happening in the news,” she said. “President Trump and all those people are supposed to be helping people, but they’re not. I think a woman should be president.”
Lulu, a 16-year-old Santa Cruz resident who declined to give her last name, said she came “to support women.”
“To let them know that we are all supporting them,” she said. “I am going to come every year.”
Karol Andersson came to the Santa Cruz event from Marina.
“It was so wonderful and friendly,” she said. “It feels so good to be amid people who share your values. It’s empowering.”
Also on Saturday, a crowd gathered in Watsonville Plaza and drew attention to issues they believed were important to highlight for South County.
