Bemidji rally to highlight wealth gaps, collect food for shelf

The Paul Bunyan waterfront will host a political rally Saturday afternoon as Indivisible Bemidji brings its “We are the 99%” message downtown and pairs it with a food drive for the Bemidji Community Food Shelf. The gathering is scheduled from 2 to 3 p.m. and is being billed as an open event focused on growing wealth gaps and federal fiscal policy.

Indivisible Bemidji describes itself as a local chapter of the national Indivisible network. Its mission statement says it promotes fairness and common wellbeing for all citizens by fueling grassroots, inclusive processes that support democracy. The “We are the 99%” slogan traces to the Occupy movement and became a shorthand for protest over income and wealth inequality, a framing that gives the Bemidji rally a clear national echo even as it lands in a local setting.

The food-drive component gives the event a more immediate community purpose. Donations of nonperishable food items will go to the Bemidji Community Food Shelf, which has served Beltrami County and the Bemidji School District since 1982. The shelf says it buys two-thirds of the food it distributes, so canned goods and other shelf-stable items remain useful, but cash donations also stretch further because the organization can purchase food in bulk.

That need is not abstract in Beltrami County. A 2025 Minnesota hunger facts document says food insecurity exists in all 87 counties and is highest in Mahnomen, Ramsey, Beltrami and Blue Earth counties. The Bemidji Community Food Shelf also reported unusually heavy demand in late 2025, when it served 372 households in one week, a pace that came to about 75 households a day after SNAP benefits resumed.

The rally will unfold in one of Bemidji’s most visible civic spaces. Paul Bunyan Park, on the downtown waterfront, is a familiar gathering place in a city of 14,574 people, making it a natural stage for organizers hoping to turn national frustration into local participation. Whether residents come for the politics, the food drive or both, the event will put grassroots activism on display in the center of Bemidji.