Supporters, protesters plan events as JD Vance makes weekend trip to Vt.

A visit from Vice President JD Vance is being met with mixed reactions in Vermont’s Mad River Valley over the weekend.

Vance, his wife Usha and their three children, arrived in Vermont on Friday for a weekend of skiing at the popular Sugarbush resort in Warren, NBC affiliate WPTZ-TV reports. Both supporters and protesters have scheduled rallies for the weekend.

Josh Turka, owner of Mad River Taste Place in Waitsfield, said regardless of political affiliation this high-profile visit was a chance for Vermonters to say their piece.

“I think that this is such a perfect time for people in rural Vermont to really speak their mind and get their voices heard. So we’re super supportive of anyone who wants to be out protesting ang just kind of speaking their mind,” Turka told WPTZ-TV.

The visit comes right after an extraordinary on-camera clash between Vance, President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday.

Zelenskyy was visiting to try to hammer out a minerals deal, which the Trump administration has presented as an important step forward for Ukraine on the road to peace with Russia more than three years after the war began. Instead, the meeting devolved into a shouting match and ended with Zelenskyy being asked to leave the White House.

Supporters in Vermont said they wanted to show Vance appreciation for the work the administration is doing.

“We’re trying to send a positive message that the president and the vice president are on the right track to bring our country back to the good old days where we were and can be there for all people. You know our country is about we the people,” said Gregory Thayer, organizer of the Vance Support Rally.

Another group was scheduled to hold a protest Saturday morning on the Waitsfield Green in response to the vice president’s visit.