Thousands gathered into Colorado State University’s Canvas Stadium Thursday evening to remember the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

In the first official event hosted by Turning Point USA — the youth advocacy group Kirk founded — since Kirk’s assassination at Utah Valley University last week, supporters, students, and free speech advocates littered a crowd dotted with red hats. Many wore USA-themed clothing; some waved American flags.

“I didn’t always agree with the man, but I respected what he was doing and I just felt like it was a loss,” said Duane Hansen, standing on the edge of the stadium’s mezzanine, a black t-shirt contrasting his long grey beard. “He was a man trying to do his best to create dialogue. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter red, blue, conservative or liberal, we’re all under the same flag as Americans and we should use words more than vitriol.”

The event, originally scheduled as a stop on Turning Point’s American Comeback Tour, was moved to the stadium for increased security after Kirk was shot the week before.

Police and campus security surrounded the venue as attendees entered through security checkpoints. Some law enforcement rode on horseback as a drone hovered overhead.

At a podium on the football field’s turf sat a black and white portrait of Kirk, dressed in a suit with his right fist in the air, bordered on both sides by flower bouquets. The stadium’s jumbotron, too, showed a photo of the late activist.

As evening shadows crept forward, a handful of speakers, some members of Turning Point themselves and some who had been close with Kirk, spoke about how the events of the previous week affected them and encouraged those in attendance that the organization’s mission was only beginning.

“Over the last few days, we’ve witnessed an organic, grassroots response to Charlie’s assassination, not led any a media tour or any particular organization, but all of you courageously saying ‘we are Charlie Kirk,'” said Isabel Brown, a CSU alumna and Turning Point contributor. “No one will ever be able to replace the giant shoes of Charlie Kirk as the leader of the youth conservative movement, but we are all Charlie Kirk, and those who doubt the strength of his message are in for a rude awakening.”

Brown, as well as other speakers, which included Gabe Saint, the president of the University of Wyoming’s Turning Point chapter, and Heidi Ganahl, who ran for Colorado governor against Jared Polis in 2022, received thunderous applause several times throughout their speeches. They sometimes had to pause to wait for the end of a standing ovation.

In addition to the adults dressed in pro-USA and pro-Donald Trump attire, a handful of children in attendance were as well. One, a baby boy named Elias with a flag-themed outfit and red bow on his head, was held by his nanny, Kaia Mioes, on the side of the crowd heading for the exits at the conclusion of the event.

“It’s devastating that he had to die, it shouldn’t have happened,” Mioes said, wiping away tears with her left hand while she bounced Elias up and down in her right. “But seeing people go to church for the first time, seeing people buy Bibles for the first time, seeing people go into this light and realize the truth makes it all worth it.”

Dressed in a white sweater with an American flag on the front and a matching white cap with “Make America Great Again” written in gold lettering, Mioes noted how Kirk had been a role model for her, and that his words helped convince her to abandon the Democratic ideas she was raised with in favor of those of the Christian faith.

“I hope for revival, I hope people will continue to give their life to Jesus and learn the truth, Mioes said. “This, what we are all gathered here for tonight, is what he wanted, and it’s sad that it takes a death, a murder, to get to this, but we are all here.

A funeral for Kirk will take place on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. President Trump confirmed he will be in attendance.