The organizer of a bus trip that sent 56 Windsor-area people to Washington, D.C. called the experience overwhelming and important.
Pat Papadeus put together the trip that went from Windsor to the U.S. capitol this past weekend for the Women's March on Washington. The march was held on the day after President Donald Trump's inauguration and attracted hundreds of thousands of people from various countries.
Papadeus says she was particularly elated to see the outpouring of gratitude the Canadian group encountered.
"Immediately, there was this 'Thank you, Canadians. Thank you for being here,'" says Papadeus. "People were hugging us, strangers were kissing us, and everywhere we went it was the same thing."
Papadeus says she and her group were almost immediately overcome by the sights and sounds of the march.
"The people would roar," says Papadeus. "And it's like a wave that you experience when you're in an arena where people just get up and do the wave, except it was a roar with people just roaring. And the way you could hear it coming from a while back and it would just sort of creep up, and then you would roar and it would just keep going. It was just so massive."
Similar marches were held all over North America and the world.
Papadeus says while the march featured many people critical of Trump's policies, she looked at it as an opportunity to bring many global issues to the forefront.
Papadeus say s the group waited three hours to cross the border on the way to Washington for the march. The group returned to Windsor Sunday evening.
