Groups promote freedom versus protecting others in opposing rallies over vaccine mandates in Highland Park

More than 250 demonstrators sent a message Sunday in Port Clinton Square in downtown Highland Park saying people should be free to choose whether to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or wear masks as a preventive measure.

“This is about freedom and prosperity,” Suzanne Wahl, a Highland Park resident who helped organize the rally, said. “I don’t want my children to tell my grandchildren this is what freedom used to be like.”

On the north side of Central Avenue across from the rally was a group of more than 20 people with a different message. They believe vaccination is for the greater good as people are protecting both themselves and their neighbors.

“Being vaccinated is about protecting others,” Mary Pike, a Highland Park resident and retired Highland Park High School teacher, said.

The opposing groups carried signs and braved 16-degree temperatures at a snow-covered Port Clinton Square to voice their opinions.

Wahl said she organized the rally for freedom because the Highland Park City Council established a requirement for people dining at restaurants and other places where food is served to show proof of vaccination for COVID-19 upon entry.

“This is a rally for privacy and freedom,” Wahl said before the rally. “This is the only place outside of Cook County which discriminates on our medical situation. I’m not going to share my medical information with anyone but my doctor.”

Representatives of Illinois Standing Against Tyranny, who came from nearby suburbs to protest Highland Park’s requirement, joined Wahl and her group that she calls Take Back Our Town Highland Park.

Joshua Alvarado, a retired U.S. Army sergeant with Illinois Standing Against Tyranny, said Americans cannot yield the freedoms they have. Requiring masks and vaccinations are an imposition on American freedom.

“Any freedom we give up is a freedom our children will never know,” Alvarado said. “If the government knew what it was doing about (the coronavirus pandemic) this wouldn’t still be going on after two years.”

Alvarado likened actions like the restrictions in Highland Park, Chicago and suburban Cook County to policies implemented by communist governments and others where people are not free.

People opposed to the Highland Park mandate were carrying signs saying “My body, my choice,” and “Passports for travel and not for tacos.”

During the rally, Pike crossed Central Avenue, walked into the crowd with a megaphone and started saying why vaccination is a good idea. She was loudly criticized by people taking the opposite view.

Several members of the Highland Park Police Department got between Pike and those who disagreed with her. There were approximately 20 members of the Highland Park and Lake Forest police departments present to maintain order.

Highland Park City Manager Ghida Neukirch said the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing the right to free speech will always be supported. The police were part of protecting everyone’s rights.