For more than a year now — through rain, snow, bitter cold, and early spring evenings — a small but steady group of residents has gathered at the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Broad Street in Hopewell Borough.
On Thursday, that weekly ritual marked its 52nd consecutive week.
What began as a simple act — neighbors standing with handmade signs — has become something more enduring: a visible, consistent presence in the community, with participants spread across all four corners of the intersection, facing passing traffic and one another.
Crowds fluctuate. Weather matters. But organizers and regular participants say a core group of about 30 people has shown up week after week, sometimes growing to much larger numbers.
“It breaks my heart, actually, that we’ve had to be here — and that we’re going to have to be here for many more years,” said Bobbie Fishman, who has attended nearly every week.
Fishman is not the original organizer. Like many who now show up regularly, she came because someone else did first.
A neighbor, she said, simply decided one day to stand on the corner with a sign.
“And Tom and I said, ‘Yeah, we’ll be there,’” she recalled.
A weekly presence
Each Thursday at 5:30 p.m., participants arrive with signs reflecting a range of concerns — democracy, elections, war, civil rights — and take up positions around the intersection.
Some wave flags. Others hold messages directed at passing drivers. Cars honk in support. Occasionally, drivers shout back.
Most weeks, the gathering lasts about an hour.
According to the group’s public listing, the demonstration is intended as a “peaceful, visible demonstration of resistance” and a way to offer “comfort, connection, and solidarity among like-minded neighbors.”
For a period during the winter months, when darkness came earlier, the group shifted to Saturdays. But they never stopped meeting. This spring, they returned to Thursday evenings.
On Thursday, a local group, Missing Charlie, played from the corner, mixing familiar songs with updated lyrics and protest standards. Several focused on war and international conflict — themes that felt newly relevant to those gathered.
“We never thought an anti-war song was going to be needed again,” Fishman said.
The comment comes at a time of escalating global tensions involving the United States and Iran, including a weeks-long conflict that has drawn international attention and concern.
For those on the corner, the music served as both expression and reflection — another way to channel what has kept people returning week after week.
Why they keep coming back
For many participants, the motivation is simple — even if the reasons are not.
“It’s just a small way that I feel like I can contribute and do something,” said one participant who commutes through the area and stops regularly.
Others describe a sense of responsibility.
“If you actually believe in what this country used to stand for, you’ve got to be here,” another participant said during the anniversary gathering.
There is also a social element — a familiarity that has built over time.
“I’ve gotten to meet a lot of great people,” one regular said.
Fishman echoed that sentiment, describing the group as a kind of informal network — people who now recognize one another, even if they didn’t before.
“There is a core group,” she said.
Support — and pushback
Most interactions with passing drivers are positive, participants said, with honks, waves, and gestures of support.
There have also been moments of tension.
Fishman described occasional counter-protesters and passing confrontations, including one instance where a person set up across the street with an opposing sign.
Still, she said, those moments have been relatively rare — and sometimes even led to unexpected conversations.
“Mostly we get huge support and a few not supports,” she said.
A year of showing up
What stands out most, participants said, is not any single protest — but the consistency.
Fifty-two weeks.
Through changing seasons, personal schedules, and shifting news cycles, the group has remained.
“It is sad that it is needed,” Fishman said. “But it is also impressive that every week there’s been a group here.”
That persistence, she said, has created something beyond the signs themselves — a visible reminder, week after week, that neighbors are paying attention.
Looking ahead
Few of the participants expect the weekly gathering to end anytime soon.
If anything, several said, the one-year mark reinforces their commitment to continue.
The crowd may change. The signs may change. The issues may evolve.
But for now, every Thursday evening, at the same intersection in Hopewell Borough, the group returns — standing on the corners, holding their signs, and making their presence known.
