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Fact check: How does the attendance at the October 18 No Kings Rally compare to similar events in 2024?
Executive Summary
The October 18 “No Kings” rally in Loveland drew a few thousand attendees, about double the June turnout locally and part of a broader nationwide wave of protests that saw thousands in major cities and hundreds in smaller towns [1] [2]. Organizers reported large, coordinated action across many U.S. locations on October 18, with local variations from roughly 400 participants up to multi-thousand crowds in Los Angeles and Seattle [3] [4] [5].
1. Why Loveland’s October 18 Turnout Stood Out — Local Growth and Context
The reporting indicates the Loveland rally on October 18 drew a "few thousand" people, roughly double the June rally, signaling clear local growth in mobilization between the two events [1]. Those figures place the Loveland march well above smaller community segments like Marysville, where about 400 people participated in a June event, and align it with mid-sized demonstrations rather than massive metropolitan protests [2]. The doubling claim underscores momentum at the local level, suggesting organizers increased outreach or that local sentiment intensified between June and October, but without raw counts or independent tallies these estimates remain organizer- and reporter-provided approximations [1].
2. Nationwide Picture: Thousands in Cities, Hundreds in Smaller Towns — A Mixed National Trend
National reporting from October 18 describes thousands gathering in major cities such as Seattle and Los Angeles, combined with hundreds in smaller towns, supporting a picture of broad but uneven engagement [3] [5]. One source describes over 2,700 demonstrations planned across the U.S., and organizers claimed higher turnout than in earlier June events, framing October as a coordinated escalation [4]. Those claims, if accurate, indicate scale and coordination, but dispatcher-style totals across disparate locales can conflate planned actions with actual attendance; the available analyses do not provide aggregated independent verification of participant totals [4].
3. Local Variations Matter — Comparing Marysville, Loveland, and Los Angeles
Comparative snapshots reveal sharp local variation: Marysville’s June event drew about 400 people, Loveland’s October rally drew “a few thousand,” and Los Angeles hosted thousands in larger metropolitan demonstrations that included late-night dispersals and arrests [2] [1] [5]. These contrasts show that while the movement attracted substantial numbers in urban centers, smaller communities contributed modest but visible turnouts, and mid-sized cities like Loveland could produce turnout above their prior events. The differences highlight organizing capacity and local political climate as key drivers of attendance disparities across 2024 into 2025 [2] [1].
4. Organizers’ Claims vs. Reported Eyewitness Counts — Weighing Sources
Organizers and local reporters frequently reported higher attendances and “doubling” compared with earlier events, a pattern repeated across sources for October 18 [1] [4]. At the same time, smaller local estimates — such as Marysville’s roughly 400 — originate from local reporting, suggesting on-the-ground counts are lower in smaller communities and that large national totals may substantially depend on urban concentrations [2]. The available analyses do not present standardized counting methods, independent crowd estimates, or police tallies; readers should therefore treat organizer-provided comparative statements about nationwide increases as indicative rather than definitive [4].
5. Broader Event-Attendance Trends Offer Context but Limited Direct Comparison
Industry and event-sector pieces show rising in-person event attendance in 2024 — for example, reported percentage increases and large event turnouts — which provide context that public gatherings regained momentum after the pandemic [6] [7] [8]. Those trends suggest a favorable environment for protest attendance generally, but these entertainment- and trade-oriented metrics do not translate directly to politically motivated protests like the No Kings rallies. While such macro trends support the plausibility of higher turnout overall, they do not corroborate specific crowd counts or explain local political dynamics that drive protest participation [6] [7].
6. Bottom Line: How October 18 Compares to Similar 2024 Events — A Nuanced Conclusion
Taken together, the sources show October 18 as a notably larger and more coordinated day of action than prior June iterations in many places, with Loveland exemplifying a local increase [1] [4]. Major cities registered thousands, smaller towns saw hundreds, and several mid-sized localities doubled their earlier turnout figures, but the evidence rests on reporter and organizer estimates without a unified counting standard [2] [5] [1]. The comparison therefore supports a conclusion of growing momentum and uneven geographic distribution rather than a precise, single national attendance figure [4] [6].
7. What’s Missing and Why It Matters — Data Gaps and Verification Needs
The coverage lacks standardized third-party crowd counts, consistent time-stamped photo or video audits, and police or independent tallies that would make cross-event comparisons rigorous. Without those, claims of “doubling” or of outperforming June rallies remain plausible but not independently verifiable from the provided material [1] [4]. Researchers and readers seeking firm conclusions should look for follow-up reporting that includes aggregated independent counts or methodology notes; until then, the best-supported finding is a documented pattern of increased turnout in some locales with broad variability nationwide [2] [7].