The organizer of yesterday's local freedom rally, Deborah Murphy is feeling hopeful by the show of local support against vaccine mandates.
The local rally in support of the truckers convoy drew a massive crowd to Cochrane's Historic downtown on Sunday afternoon.
"I'm very pleased with the turnout and yes that was what we hoped for," explains Murphy. "It is time to be on our own soil here in town. People are travelling all over the place, pumped with what the truckers are doing and want to continue and support them in demanding the mandates be ended, and we feel that we need to act in our own town."
Cochrane's Main street was flooded with hundreds of adults and kids protesting yesterday, holding signs that read "unmask our children" and waving Canadian flags.
Murphy says that after nearly two years of having restrictions imposed, she believes that the truckers convoy is bringing a sense of hope across the country, and local unity.
"I think that they got refired and given hope from the trucker convoy," explains Murphy. "We weren't able to go to Ottawa, we would have liked to. I said 'what the heck are we doing?' -- This is our town and we need to act locally. So it kind of went from there. I went out to my contacts, who in turn sent out to theirs and yesterday was the result."
Murphy says she's hearing from numerous Cochranites who want to see local businesses take a public stance.
"Allow your staff to choose, allow your patrons, allow the customers to choose if they want to wear a mask or not," says Murphy. "We're not anti-masters, we’re not anti-vaxxers, we're for freedom, we’re for choice."
Yesterday's rally drew both support and criticism, with several Cochrane residents calling the protest aggressive and expressing their disappointment in Cochrane's participation.
Murphy was vying for a seat on Town Council during the 2021 Municipal Election.