A Sauk Valley community action group flipped the script Saturday afternoon by focusing on love instead of anger at its Sterling rally against the Trump administration.

About 100 people gathered outside the Grandon Civic Center at 212 Third Ave. in Sterling for the rally organized by Indivisible Sauk Valley. Demonstrators dressed in red white and blue held up signs with phrases such as “I love the constitution” and “liberty and justice for all” as those driving by honked to show their support.

“We’re not here because we hate it [America]. We’re here because we love it so much that we expect it to change,” Sarah Bingaman, another ISV member, told Shaw Local.

“We know that it can because that’s our history,” Bingaman said.

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Colony Buis of Sterling displays a sign Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, during an I Love America rally in Sterling. The rally was organized by Indivisible Sauk Valley. (Alex T. Paschal)

Mary McCormick, a member of ISV, told Shaw Local the group holds demonstrations every other weekend against the Trump administration and its policies. Each event has some kind of theme that’s typically chosen based on the latest policies that are making the news that week.

However for Saturday’s event, McCormick said, she thought “what if we flip the script?”

The rally would fall on the same day as Valentine’s Day, so the group decided to emphasize the holiday of love by having people focus on the things they love about the United States, McCormick said.

“This administration is so full of hate, full of immorality” and we “need to show the other side,” Bingaman said.

Demonstrator Debbie Duerst told Shaw Local what she loves about America is “our strength.”

Duerst said that “in the past” she loved “our unity” and that we were “accepting of all different nationalities” because “we are a melting pot.”

Duerst also listed “checks and balances,” that “nobody is above the law” and “there’s usually justice for all,” but said that she doesn’t see those things happening anymore.

Bingaman said she wants to see America “return to a loving, accepting, beautiful place.”

“We hope they can get ICE under control,” Duerst said.

McCormick said ISV has regularly held No Kings demonstrations in the area for about a year, shortly after President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, to speak out against the administration’s policies.

The group is a local chapter of the nationwide organization Indivisible, which is aimed at stopping “the rise of authoritarianism in the United States and to demand a real democracy,” according to indivisible.org.

ISV’s most well-attended events have drawn anywhere from 500 to 700 people. The next one is scheduled for March 28, McCormick said.