More than 100 people gathered in McHenry on Friday for a May Day rally.

Focused on International Workers Day and organized by Indivisible McHenry County – a group involved in many of the local protests against President Donald Trump’s administration since his second inauguration – the gathering was one of two in the McHenry County that took place Friday.

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Protestors hold up signs during a May 1 protest in McHenry Friday May 1, 2026. (Claire O'Brien)

Sue Rose of Indivisible McHenry County said May Day traditionally is a day for workers and that Friday was a national day of action, with organizers calling on those who were able not to work, go to school or shop. She said advances in worker protections have been rolled back.

The protests came as the Department of Justice announced it was investigating dozens of Illinois school districts, including Crystal Lake-based Community High School District 155, over how they handle lessons related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Protester Mary Hood said there were much bigger things officials could go after other than gender and sexuality.

Hood claimed Republicans don’t want to fund education, but a lack of education can lead people to be on welfare, which she said Republicans don’t want to pay for.

“They don’t want to give a hand up or a handout,” Hood said.

The protest also comes days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a provision of the Voting Rights Act that protected against racial discrimination in voting and representation, the AP reported.

Rally attendee Dee King said she is a “big voter advocate.” King said McHenry County has a good early voting and vote by mail system. She said she was “discouraged” by the direction voting rights were headed and said voting is very “sacred.”

“Encouraging voting is the way to go,” King said.

No counterprotesters were seen at the McHenry rally. But signs in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Laken Riley, a young woman who was attacked and killed while jogging in Georgia by a man who entered the country illegally, were spotted farther north on Richmond Road, near the intersection of Blake Road.

A rally in Crystal Lake was held later Friday and organized by a separate Indivisible group.

The protest was the second one in less than a week at the Route 31/McCullom Lake Road intersection. More than 100 people attended a rally last weekend as part of a nationwide protest against ICE’s use of warehouses as detention centers.

And while numerous protests against Trump have been held in McHenry County, Trump won the majority of the county’s votes in the 2024 election. All countywide officeholders are members of the Republican Party, which also enjoys a 15-3 supermajority on the County Board.