CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Cold, wind and snow did not stop about 1,000 women, men and children from attending a women's march and rally in Geneva outside of the Kane County Courthouse Saturday morning.
Leah Beck, one of the organizers of the march, said attendees are taking advantage of the momentum created by the first march in Washington, D.C. two years ago.
"We are here to take advantage of the second wave of the women's movement that we all felt happen in January 2017 after the Women's March. We were disappointed that Chicago wasn't having a march. There are many people in the Fox Valley area and surrounding communities who participated in the Chicago march and we felt that energy and we wanted to continue that energy and momentum."
Democrat Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi represents Illinois' 8th District. He told WBBM that the rally "is so important because we have a President and some of his allies in Congress who are assaulting women's rights every day. Whether it's choice issues, or whether it's an effort to bring equal pay for equal work...or ending sexual harassment against women or whether it's bringing paid maternity and sick leave for women, all those things are under attack. So we have to band together and stand up for our principles."
Illinois Sixth District Democratic Congressman Sean Casten also spoke on the cold January morning.
"Our focus is preserving and protecting Democracy, so we just absolutely said 'nope, we're in, we're going' because the attention to preserving Democracy is really important and we do that by including everybody and everybody's voice."
After the rally, people marched for several blocks through the snow-covered streets of downtown Geneva, then quickly got out of the cold.