About 60 people gathered Sunday in Bowling Green so the rest of us could “feel the Bern.”

They marched from Kroger across from The Medical Center on U.S. 31-W By-Pass to the intersection with Broadway Avenue under bright sunshine and a cloudless blue sky.

Bernie Sanders is their man.

Lauren Wetenkamp, 23, of Bowling Green, said she spent about two hours building and painting signs that supported Sanders, an independent U.S. senator from Vermont, in his bid for the Democratic U.S. presidential nomination. Sanders is opposed by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He faces a critical primary election in New York on Tuesday.

Democrats in Kentucky will make their presidential choice in the May 17 primary. Wetenkamp said the group may hold a second march on the campus of Western Kentucky University closer to the primary election date.

Lynn Hooker, 44, of Smiths Grove, said the U.S. presidential primary is the most important election that she’s ever seen.

“This is the first time that I have not had to vote for the lesser of two evils,” said Hooker, who said the media isn’t covering Sanders’ campaign as closely as Clinton’s.

The U.S. postal carrier for the past decade said there was a meeting in July last year to organize the Sanders’ campaign locally and efforts have continued from there.

Hooker also appreciates Sander’s view on today’s prison system, in particular sentencing of individuals in the court system.

“I have a son in prison,” she said. Casey Coleman, 22, is in an eastern Kentucky prison on drug charges. His 13-year sentence is up for parole this year.

Raleigh Hooker, 14, Lynn’s daughter, held a clipboard and helped with keeping track of the marchers as they got out of their vehicles in the Kroger parking lot.

Raleigh is too young to vote, but she watched how Sanders has conducted his campaign.

“He’s not just for rich people,” Raleigh said.

Wetenkamp is particularly taken by one phrase she attributes to the Sanders’ campaign: “When we stand together, we will always win.” That was just one of the messages she wrote on her hand-painted signs.

Just before the march ensued, David B. Harrison, 51, of Fountain Run, showed up with a blank posterboard and a black magic marker. He asked if anyone could write the message he wanted on his posterboard. Just before the marchers took their first step up the bypass, he placed the posterboard on the ground and quickly wrote, “Medicare for All.”

Harrison, who lives on a 107-year-old family farm, served as a caregiver for his 84-year-old father Bobby Harrison, who recently died.

Through that caregiver process, Harrison said he’s had dealing with the U.S. Veteran’s Administration and the regular medical system and he hasn’t been pleased with the results.

“I like that he draws attention to the dark side of capitalism,” said Ruth Ann Foxall, 51, of Warren County. “I also like his stance on the environment – he’s against fracking.”

— Follow business reporter Charles A. Mason on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.