FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Protesters in Ferguson pressed pause Thursday to observe Thanksgiving, decorating boarded-up storefronts at times with Dr. Seuss quotes and gathering for church services and turkey giveaways — a stark contrast to previous days of outrage over the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown case.

No police or Missouri National Guard members stood sentry outside the Ferguson police station, which has been a nexus for protesters since Monday night's announcement that white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted in the August shooting death of 18-year-old Brown, who was black and unarmed.

On that downtown street, beneath a lighted "Season's Greetings" garland, light traffic passed where a trio of children took brushes to the plywood covering many of the storefront windows to foil potential vandals. One of the artworks quoted Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax" —"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it's not."

"We thought we'd do what we could to make it a little more attractive and then try to bring the kids into it and get them involved in making the businesses appear a little less scary, depressing," said Leah Bailey, whose 7-year-old son, Dennis, climbed a ladder to finish an orange dragon.

Since the grand jury's decision, protests have taken place across the country. Most have been peaceful. But at least 130 demonstrators who refused to disperse during a Los Angeles protest were arrested Wednesday night, while 35 people were detained in Oakland following a march that deteriorated into unrest and vandalism, according to police officials.

Back in Ferguson, Greater St. Mark Family Church sits blocks from where a number of stores went up in flames in the hours after the grand jury announcement. A handful of people listened to the Rev. Tommie Pierson preach Thursday, saying the destruction and chaos was by "a small group of out-of-control people out there."

"They don't represent the community, they don't represent the mood nor the feelings of the community," Pierson said. "I would imagine if you talked to them, they probably don't even live here. So, we don't want to be defined by what they did."

In downtown St. Louis, a group gathered near Busch Stadium for what organizer Paul Byrd called a "pro-community" car rally meant to be peaceful and counter the recent Ferguson violence he suggested has tarnished the region's image.

Byrd, a 45-year-old construction worker from Imperial, Missouri, declined to say whether he supported Wilson but noted, "I totally support police officers." The cruise was escorted by a city police vehicle; no protesters showed up.

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Link to grand jury documents: http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/ferguson-shooting/.