Fired Up Fridays: protestors persist for months
October 13th, 2025
By Alicia Underlee Nelson
The silvery trills of a trumpet duet announce the Friday afternoon protest outside the downtown Fargo Post Office long before it comes into view. Nearly 70 protestors are lined up along the sidewalk in a neat row. Their signs, chants and clothing voice support for federal workers, immigrants, the people of Ukraine and Palestine and their LGBTQIA+ neighbors. They call for the preservation of women’s rights and civil liberties and the continuation of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits. Cars honk. The crowd cheers. Folks chat and tap their toes to the music as they exercise their First Amendment right to peacefully assemble on this sunny afternoon.
That particular assembly was held on April 11, 2025. It wasn’t the first Fired Up Fridays protest. And it certainly wasn’t the last. A dedicated group has gathered every Friday at 4:30 p.m. for nearly eight months, welcoming new participants and new causes along the way.
The location for weekly Fired Up Fridays gatherings shifts between Fargo and Moorhead to accommodate residents on both sides of the Red River. This October and November, the protests are being held above the river along Veterans Memorial Bridge, which connects the cities.
These weekly assemblies were sparked by attempts to connect with elected officials. When that effort failed, the Fired Up Fridays protests were born.
“They started out as a reaction to Representative Fischbach and Senator Cramer's comments about us,” explained co-organizer Lyn Dockter-Pinnick, a Moorhead resident. “We did the first one kind of organically, because we were visiting Representative Fischbach’s office. And then Representative Fischbach called us garbage and said that we were paid protesters. Senator Cramer said that we were just out here having fun.”
It all began when U.S. Representative Michelle Fischbach gave a radio interview on The Flag on February 27, 2025. Rep. Fischbach, a Republican, represents Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District. It’s the state’s largest district and includes most of western Minnesota, including Alexandria, Fergus Falls, Moorhead and Willmar.
“I got protesters at my offices now in the district and I’m sure someone is financing that garbage,” Rep. Fischbach told radio host Scott Hennen in the interview. “And when the paper reports on it, I want them to ask them where they’re from, because I’m betting money they’re not from the 7th District.”
A small group gathered outside Rep. Fischbach’s office at 2513 8th Street S. in Moorhead the very next day. A reporter noted that all of the protesters present were residents of Minnesota’s 7th District in a story published in The Forum on February 28, 2025. Some had previously visited with Rep. Fischbach’s staff at the Moorhead office in the days before the radio interview.
That gathering in Moorhead on February 28 was the first of many Fired Up Fridays events. These protests, along…
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