We've been holding these signs since January along an eight-block stretch of R Avenue in Anacortes. Our goal is to raise awareness that fascism is not just something we read about in history books. It didn't disappear with the defeat of Mussolini's Italy and Nazi German in WWII. No country is immune to fascism, and it can happen here.

This is not a drill. When we first learned about the appalling history of Nazi Germany, many of us wondered "What would I have done if I had lived in Germany in the 1930s?" We finally know the answer: It's what we're doing now.

See photos from some of our recent demonstrations:

• January 17, 2026
• January 24, 2026

You can help with this ongoing project. Times and locations may vary. To receive alerts about this and other events, please sign up for our email list.

This project is not original with Anacortes Stands Up. Other pro-democracy groups have organized similar campaigns around the country. If you want to organize a Signs of Fascism demonstration in your own community, we'd like to share both the graphics we used for our signs and the lessons we've learned.

Share Our Signs

Anyone is welcome to download the images we used for our signs and print copies for their own demonstrations. You can choose the format that best suits your needs:

• JPEG: Download selected individual images, or use the "Download All" link for a compressed archive.
• PDF: May be preferred for professional printing (CMYK color space, all fonts reduced to paths).
• Pages: Use this if you want to modify our images using Apple's word processing/page layout program on your Mac. Sorry, Windows users! You'll have to figure this out for yourselves.

Printing Your Signs

These signs were designed to be 30"x18", which seems like a reasonable compromise between visibility, printing cost, and making them manageable on a windy day. But you can make them larger or smaller if you prefer. You have several choices for printing the signs:

• Make them by hand, if you have enough magic markers, foam board, and artistically inclined volunteers.
• Take the image files to your local printer. Supporting local businesses is always a good thing!
• Use one of the many sign printing services you can find on the internet. This is what we did -- as much as we'd like to support a local business, the cost savings were just too big to ignore. We can recommend EasySigns. Their website is easy to use, delivery is speedy, and prices are very reasonable. (We've tried another service called VistaPrint. They also do good work at reasonable prices, but it turns out they're triggered by the word fascism, and will cancel your order. But they have no problem if your signs feature the other F-word. Go figure!)

Most yard signs are printed on a corrugated plastic marketed under the brand name Coroplast. Our signs were printed on a similar but less expensive alternative called SignFlute. This may be slightly less durable than Coroplast if it's going to spend months out in the weather, but for our purposes it seems to be just fine.

If there's any possibility that you may want to use your signs with H shaped wire stakes, be sure to request that they're printed with the flutes aligned vertically.

It costs very little more to have signs printed on both sides. This could be a good option if you have a location where there's good visibility for traffic in both directions -- perhaps on the median strip of a parkway. If you choose this option, make sure the sequence of images on opposite sides runs in opposite directions. For instance, if you're printing 20 signs numbered 1-20, images on opposite sides should run like this: 1/20, 2/19, 3/18, 4/17 ... In this case, you'll need only 10 unique signs, with two copies of each.

Finding a Place for Your Demonstration

Finding a good place for your demonstration may take some thought. These are some of the things to look for:

• A long street with plenty of traffic and few turnoffs, so that drivers will see the full sequence of signs.
• Good visibility, without too many parked cars or other obstructions.
• Volunteers should be able to spread out 1/3 to 1/2 block apart, so drivers have time to read each sign.
• Slow moving traffic, ideally 30 mph or less. The faster traffic is moving, the more you'll want to spread out. Rush hour traffic jams are a bonus!
• Sidewalks or wide shoulders to stand on, for the safety of volunteers.
• Don't make drivers look into the sun.
• Parking nearby for up to 20 volunteers.

It may not be easy to find a street in your town that meets all these requirements. The best location we've found in Anacortes is an eight-block stretch on the east side of R Avenue between 22nd and 30th streets, but we're still considering other locations.

Signing Up Volunteers

With 20 signs and two American flags, our demonstrations need at least 22 volunteers. This free Canadian website has been very helpful for keeping track of sign-ups:

https://volunteersignup.org

Setting the Mood

We've followed the example of most of the other groups who have done this before us, and have tried to set a somber mood for our demonstrations.  Volunteers dress in black if possible. There's no shouting, chanting or waving, although if drivers honk or wave, we may acknowledge them with a nod. To lift the mood at the end, volunteers with American flags stand next to the last two signs: