Neighbors March On Prospect Park & Other Northern Brooklyn Inauguration Happenings

This weekend, Inauguration Day events, galas, and protests captured media attention in major cities worldwide. And while most of the NYC spotlight shone on the Women’s March in Manhattan, which drew crowds in the hundreds-of-thousands, there were pockets of Brooklynites that wanted to show solidarity in in their home boro, too.

On Saturday, at the entrance to Prospect Park on 9th Street, a group of kids and parents gathered to write (and draw) signs with their own personal message and tape them below the monument the French-born Revolutionary War hero, Marquis de Lafayette.

Many of the kid-made messages were positive, focusing on peace and unity above all. “These are the next generation of activists,” one parent said.

Further into the park, 25 parents from Sunset Park, Prospect Heights, Greenpoint, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, and more staged a kid-centered parade stretching from one end of the Long Meadow to the other.

“It’s all about peace and positivity,” she organizer Caitlin Mennen-Bobula. “We’ll take our time; have a tantrum, climb a tree.”

“The idea came to me yesterday morning in the shower,” said Mennen-Bobula. “We decided not to do either march — it felt too logistically difficult with two small children. But I wanted to do something with the kids,” she said, calling the event a ‘peace parade.’

The parade featured balloons, friendlier-than-usual signs, and toy musical instruments.

“We wanted to do something with the kids in solidarity, rather than just going grocery shopping or any of the other things you’d do on a normal Saturday,” she said.

Check out more photos below of Brooklyn scenes throughout the weekend. But we’d love to showcase your perspective, so if you have any photos to share from inauguration weekend — from both sides of the aisle, protests or celebrations — send them to editor@bklyner.com.