It was a silent protest along County Road on Sunday afternoon — no singing, no chanting, and no speeches.

But there was still plenty of noise, as passing motorists showed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Horn blares filled the air throughout the peaceful gathering, which drew approximately 1,000 people including Congressman David Cicilline, Reps. Jason Knight and Liana Cassar, members of the town council, and hundreds of local families.

"I'm just so happy, inspired…" said Trinki Brueckner, a longtime Barrington resident who helped organize the local event. "I've heard the line (of people) goes all the way to the center."

People lined both sides of County Road, starting at the intersection with Federal Road and going south past the Barrington Congregational Church. Many people held signs and most wore face-coverings or masks.

Ms. Brueckner said she was very pleased with the turnout, as was Rev. Dale Azevedo, the pastor at the Barrington Congregational Church.

"Absolutely. We were really anticipating a small, little group and maybe a few of the other houses of worship joining us, and it really did take off," he said. "It seemed to me that there's a lot of people in Barrington who are unaffiliated in many ways and just needed an outlet and a place to be to say something.

"And I was surprised by the number of children. It was beautiful to see so many families, especially those with young children, feeling comfortable and teaching. This is a teaching moment, to raise our kids right."

Ms. Brueckner worked with Helen Schall and others on the church's mission and justice team to plan the event. She emailed invitations to town officials and the local media on Friday morning. She said the plan was to allow people an opportunity to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement in a quiet and peaceful manner.

Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha attended the event and said he was pleased with what he saw.

"I think it's great. It really shows the community coming together, trying to show our support for Black Lives Matter," he said. "It's a lot of Barrington people. We've got some people from out of town. A couple of people didn't know it was happening and they stopped in (to join)."

There was a large police presence at the event — officers from Barrington, Bristol, East Providence mixed with the crowd along County Road and took up posts on the roads leading to the congregational church.

Mr. Cunha said it was important to have police at the event because of the large turnout of people.

"I'm not sure how many are here," he said. "Well over 1,000. We were only expecting three dozen."

Barrington Town Council member Jacob Brier stood with his family along County Road near the entrance to the park and ride parking lot. He said he was happy to see so many people take time on a Sunday afternoon to attend the event.

"I'm very happy with the turnout this received," he said. "The council was invited Friday morning and I saw that they didn't have a Facebook event up, so I said 'Hey, can I help?' I posted it and right away a lot of people" responded, he said.

"I'm really glad because there's an attitude in Barrington to raise this voice. We don't have a lot of challenges bigger cities, bigger towns have. That also shelters us from feeling the need to raise our voices, to say this is not OK… and make that statement."