Love really does live here

HAYDEN — With one hand, Chris Jones waved to passing cars.

With the other, he held high a red sign with white letters that read, “LOVE.”

And he capped off his message of goodwill with a huge smile.

“I think it's important that everybody just bring something positive to the world right now,” he said Saturday afternoon. “And that's really about it. It's important to be positive in today's world. There's so much negativity. And that's too easy to fall into.”

Jones had plenty of company who agreed with him.

About 100 people gathered on Government Way by McIntire Family Park for about an hour to spread messages of kindness and unity.

“Love Lives Here” was organized by the Human Rights Education Institute. It was in response to a planned gathering of the Aryan Freedom Network, a white supremacist group, on private property in Hayden Lake on Saturday — a gathering that either didn't happen or happened quietly.

On Government Way in Hayden, though, people held signs that read "Love One Another Now,” “Love All” and “Honk for Kindness.”

Many drivers did just that, honking and waving in support of the gathering on a cool, cloudy day that gave way to sunshine and warmth.

Erin McClatchey, a volunteer on the HREI board, was there with Lucy, her 16-year-old Schnauzer Jack Russell.

“I’m here to just share the love,” she said.

McClatchey liked the positive vibes everyone was sending out.

“We just want to provide another message that feels good,” she said. “Love lives here. Who doesn't want to be loved?”

Ralph Shay, a volunteer with HREI and the Pride Foundation, said he hopes people take away at least one message from the rally: “Kindness.”

“I’m doing fine, but others may not be,” he said as he stood with Mallory, his black lab Australian Shepherd.

Dorinda Webster was joined by three children at the rally. She said the kids recently took part in a Zoom meeting with a Holocaust survivor.

“The message she got across to the kids was, ‘Don't be complacent. Don't be silent when you see bad things going on. Stand up,’” Webster said. “I really felt like it was important for them to see there's more good than bad.”

Jane Nelson and Jill Kalberg were front and center, leading the way with waves and smiles while holding signs.

“I love everybody,” said a cheerful Nelson. “I’ve worked with everybody of all sizes, shapes, religions — it makes no difference.”

Nelson wore a shirt that had the words white, black, straight, gay, pirate.

“That says it all,” she said. ”We’re all the same.”

Kalberg said it’s important to stand strong for liberty and democracy “before we lose it.”

She said her relatives came to America from Germany seeking “freedom, independence and peace. A good number of them came to escape from the very thing that the white supremacists stand for.”

Both women agreed there's too much division in the country, but there is time to set things right.

“I think we need to get back to being able to talk with one another and make compromises,” Kalberg said. “I'm in my late 70s, and earlier in my life that was happening. It seems to have stopped happening and we need to reverse that.”