Mayor Vailliencourt speaks to large crowd in Chelsea

Pat Vailliencourt speaking at the No Kings Rally on Saturday, October 18. Photo courtesy of Geoff Krone.

submitted by Carol Westfall

On Saturday, October 18, City of Manchester mayor Pat Vailliencourt was a speaker at the No Kings Rally in Chelsea. Her speech to over 1,000 attendees emphasized the importance of civic responsibility; how each citizen is responsible for doing the things necessary — no matter how small — to keep the community and government functioning properly.

Mayor Vailliencourt spoke about her personal experience of teaching young children about how government works and what “liberty and justice for all” really means; how Americans fought and died long ago so that we can have the freedoms we have today. She helped the children understand that we can never take those freedoms for granted and how when they’re grown up it will become their responsibility to continue protecting our freedoms. Because that’s what we all must do in a democracy and we can never let anyone take those freedoms away from us.

Also speaking at this event were U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell, State Senator Sue Shink, and State Representatives Carrie Rheingans and Jennifer Conlin, as well as Manchester resident and Chelsea small business owner Jennifer Fairfield. Ms. Fairfield spoke about the severe impacts coming to small businesses due to rising healthcare costs, rising tariff costs, and reduced product availability.

For as little as $1 a month, you can keep Manchester-focused news coverage alive.

by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and a founder of the Manchester Mirror.