The streets are packed in a huge radius around the Women’s March on Washington, and it’s difficult to move around for blocks on Independence Avenue. Despite the tightness, the crowd remains almost unnervingly friendly, and there hasn’t been pushing or shoving or even much in the way of grumpiness during the rally portion of today’s events (or even on packed Metro trains).

The largely female rallygoers have been letting others pass by, apologizing if they bump into someone, and giving one another encouragement, smiles, and even snacks. One woman offered me cashews and dark chocolate. More than one person remarked that “this is the most polite protest I’ve ever been to.”

Still, near the back of the parade route, where attendees are fenced in on both sides, people were shouting “Forward! Forward!” while speeches continue, and the mood grew slightly tense until people opened a gap in the tall fences near the route.

A sea of creative signs and costumes contributed to the celebratory atmosphere. While cell service is virtually nonexistent, that isn’t stopping people from taking tons of selfies, and photos of the huge crowd and the signs within it.

“When facing a Voldemort, I choose to be a Molly Weasley,” read the front of Pam Sheehan’s two-sided, Harry Potter-themed poster. She brought along her 17-year-old daughter, Cassidy, and a friend from her Girl Scout troop. “I think we got comfortable with a certain amount of rights. I think we got too comfortable,” Sheehan said. “I want her to know the power is ours.” At the bottom of her sign, it quoted Mrs. Weasley herself: “Not my daughter, you bitch.”

Holli Mintzer, from Mt. Ranier, strapped on a Captain America shield, adulterated with a taped-on note: “This machine kills fascists”—the same message that Woodie Guthrie famously put on his guitar in 1941. “If there’s one thing Captain America likes, its punching fascists,” she says.

17-year-old Sabrina Hein came in from Maryland’s St. Mary’s County to support two trans friends whose parents wouldn’t allow them to come. “Their parents aren’t supportive,” she says, holding up a sign that said “Sex does not equal gender. Trans women are women, too”

Despite the overwhelming fear and uncertainty about the new administration, many attendees said their spirits were lifted by the camaraderie.

Julia Sher, of Boston, cried yesterday as the Obamas lifted off on a helicopter, but was feeling much better standing in the sea of pink. “We will fight back against fraud and lies,” she says.

While the majority of the crowd is white women, plenty of people of color and men turned up, too.

“Inauguration was terrible—to have to wake up to that. Some kind of statement had to be made,” says Mikaela Woods, who attends D.C.’s Wilson High School. “I also wanted to support Black Girl Magic.” Her sister, Miranda, held up a sign that read “Black Queens” and listed them simply by first name: “Harriet, Nina, Michelle, Solange, Taraji, Lupita, Coretta, Misty, Mae, Angela, Debbie.”

“We’re supporting women and the rights of everyone who isn’t represented adequately,” says Robbie Heacock, who left his Baltimore house by 6 a.m. this morning to make it to the march.

Doug Chapman flew in with his wife and two friends from Seattle for his first ever protest. “I’m just frightened, and sickened,” he says, holding a poster of Trump in Shepard Fairey’s iconic style, with “hope” replaced with “grope.”

Others said that they hadn’t protested in decades, but felt compelled to come out.

“We haven’t marched since Vietnam,” says Bethesda resident Rease Walsh, a special education teacher in Montgomery County Public Schools who was joined by a friend from San Francisco. “I can’t even express what I felt [after hearing Donald Trump making fun of a disabled reporter]. It was just visceral.”

Standing nearby was Nancy Meyer, who was in college in Ithaca during the original March on Washington. “We’re going back,” she says. “It’s like we’re starting over again.”

Breanne Lucy, a 9th grade teacher from Maine, says “I want to use my body to let people know women won’t be quiet.”

This post has been updated.