ALBANY COUNTY — It’s not your grandmother’s bridge party.

The “bridge parties” organized by Christine Primomo do not involve players sitting around a card table. Rather, they involve activists displaying banners across a bridge — banners that Primomo says are to inspire passersby to join the movement to preserve democracy.

The Visibility Brigade of which Primomo’s group is a part, began in Paramus, New Jersey in 2020 “out of a frustration due to the lack of physical messaging in the real world about the existential crisis that we face as a nation,” its website says.

The site goes on, “The problem is that everyone is looking around and everything still feels normal, even when it is not. That’s why we do what we do: to remind you that we are in trouble. The truth is, nonviolent action is the antidote for despair and the more that you do to help save our democracy, the better you will feel.”

There are now over 120 Visibility Brigade chapters nationwide, said Primomo.

Primomo, a retired nurse who lives in Coeymans, has long been an activist. She told The Enterprise in a 2020 podcast, when she was working to make sure every Albany County resident was counted in the federal census, “If you don’t like the way something is working, get engaged.”

Primomo came across the Visibility Brigade when she was “searching and reading” online. She and a Coeymans friend, Darlene Stott, joined forces to form a Visibility Brigade chapter that started 14 weeks ago with 20 people and has grown organically to more than 60, Primomo said.

The name of the chapter is Breaking the Glass Ceiling, which was the name of a letter-writing group that formed during the 2024 election, when Kamala Harris was running for president.

The group, which included men, met weekly in the local library. “We sent letters and postcards all over the country,” said Primomo.

“We’ve kept the name ever since because we still need to,” Primomo said of breaking the glass ceiling.

The term was coined in the 1970s by a diversity advocate, Marilyn Loden, to describe the invisible barriers that keep women from rising to positions of power.

On Friday, Aug. 15, Breaking the Glass Ceiling participated in the first national bridge party, called Be Brave Day.

About 40 people stood at the Western Avenue and Route 85 overpass with a big banner that said in capital letters, “Let History Show That America Resisted: Rise Up.”

Every week the group picks a different theme for the banner “depending on the nightmares that are happening from week to week,” said Primomo. Members are “encouraged to bring whatever sign they want … as long as it’s not profanity,” she said.

Describing the group, Primomo said, “We’re volunteers. We’re all retirees … we seem to be the ones with the time to do this.” Primomo, who is 75, recalled earlier movements when many of the protesters were younger.

“It was a different time,” she said. “People now are so stressed — two jobs, kids, school, school activities, just trying to get through life.”

She said of the Breaking the Glass Ceiling members, “Everyone is on the same page. It’s like we have to save this country for our grandchildren and future generations. That’s why we’re doing it.”

The group has so far displayed its banner and signs once a week for 14 weeks, cancelling only once because of a thunderstorm for fear it could be unsafe.

The chapter members took online training from a retired New Jersey police chief and a retired Homeland Security undercover officer where they were taught “you don’t engage and you look at your town or your city’s ordinances about displaying signs.”

The training, Primomo said, was “very, very helpful for all of us and we’re so glad we haven’t needed any of it.”

Nonviolence is a central tenet of the Visibility Brigade.

“We did decide that we’re going to use humor if we are confronted,” said Primomo. “So we have clown wigs and clown noses and one person is responsible for dealing with any kind of an issue.”

The Western Avenue and Route 85 overpass is a “great location,” said Primomo, explaining, “You not only get the cars on the underpass, going under both sides of 85, but also the cars on Western Avenue.”

She also noted there are traffic signals on both ends of the overpass so cars have to stop and drivers can then read the protesters’ signs.

“It’s been honking and waving and thumbs up,” she said of drivers’ reactions. “The vast majority is positive … It’s been so heartwarming and energizing to see that, and people yell out the window, ‘Thank you for doing this.’”

Primomo says word is spreading through Substack columnists like Heather Cox Richardson but says, “I don’t think the mainstream media is doing a very good job talking about this.”

The writers on Substack, an online platform, she said, understand “what’s going on across the country when it comes to people pushing back … understanding where we are right now: This is no longer a democracy. So that’s my two cents. That’s just me.”

She concluded, “We’re going to keep on keeping on