Chippewa Valley Indivisible

On September 10, CVI marked six months of continuous weekly protests with a rally that was pure Chippewa Valley creativity — a Wizard of Oz-themed celebration that turned a milestone into a statement.

The theme was no accident. Like Dorothy pulling back the curtain, CVI had spent six months exposing what was behind the political machinery — and doing it with humor, heart, and community spirit. The costumes, the signs, and the energy all carried the same message: we’re not going anywhere.

WQOW covered the anniversary rally, and Jess Craven’s Chop Wood Carry Water newsletter highlighted it for a national audience. Six months of showing up every single week — and the group was only getting stronger.

From August 20 to 24, CVI hosted its first annual Hometown Heroes celebration — an event built not around protest but around gratitude. The idea was simple: honor the everyday residents who make the Chippewa Valley a place worth fighting for.

It was quintessential Neighbors Helping Neighbors — the side of CVI that doesn’t make the protest headlines but is a large part of why the community trusts the group. CVI doesn’t just show up when something’s wrong. It shows up to celebrate what’s right.

WEAU covered both the advance and the event itself, where hundreds attended. Hometown Heroes would become an annual tradition — a reminder that civic engagement and community celebration aren’t opposites. They’re the same thing.

When Rep. Tom Tiffany’s Wausau office turned sprinklers on peaceful protesters, most groups would have gotten angry. CVI and its partners — Northern Lights Indivisible and North Central Wisconsin Indivisible — came back in beach attire.

On July 25, protesters showed up in snorkels, floaties, and swimsuits, turning the insult into a punchline. The “Tiffany Beach Bash” was born — and it traveled far.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow featured the action on her show. Indivisible National named it an “IndivisiWIN” in Ezra Levin’s weekly newsletter to the full movement. Robert Hubbell highlighted it in Today’s Edition. Jess Craven featured it in Chop Wood Carry Water.

Proof that a creative, good-humored action travels farther than an angry one — and that western Wisconsin knows how to make a point with a smile.

On June 20, dozens of Chippewa Valley residents gathered outside Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire to protest proposed Medicaid funding cuts — cuts that threatened the rural hospitals their communities depend on.

The rally brought together patients, healthcare workers, and families who understood what losing a rural hospital means: longer drives in emergencies, fewer specialists, and neighbors who don’t make it because help was too far away.

WQOW and WEAU both covered the event. It was the beginning of what would become one of CVI’s most sustained campaigns — healthcare advocacy that would eventually reach ABC News, prompt a White House response, and put rural Wisconsin’s healthcare crisis on the national map.

On June 14, an estimated 3,200 people marched through downtown Eau Claire in the first No Kings rally — CVI’s largest mobilization yet, nearly doubling the Hands Off turnout from just two months earlier.

The march was part of a nationwide day of action, but the Chippewa Valley made it its own. The message was clear: no one is above the law, and no one gets to be king in a democracy.

WEAU, WQOW, and Civic Media covered the event. What no one knew yet was that this was just the first chapter — No Kings would return twice more, each time bigger, becoming the defining mobilization arc of CVI’s first two years.