But none of that stopped Miranda Compton and her daughter from boarding their flight Friday to Washington from Georgia to attend the second anniversary of the Women’s March.

“It’s my dream come true,” said Compton, 49, a retired assistant high school principal from Lakemont, Georgia, population 2,200. “For the first time in my lifetime, I don’t feel like the only feminist in my town.”

Two years after millions marched around the country and the world in an unambiguous rebuke to President Donald Trump, much smaller crowds appeared at Saturday’s events surrounding the second anniversary of the Women’s March.

There was much to celebrate. The first march galvanized many women across the country to become politically active for the first time in their lives. Many poured their energy into helping to elect an unprecedented number of women to Congress last year.

But Saturday was also a test of how the Women’s March movement has weathered a storm of controversy in recent months.

Tamika Mallory, co-president of Women’s March, the group that has planned the march in Washington, has been under fire for ties to Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, who is widely reviled for anti-Semitic speeches. The Women’s March has issued a series of statements denouncing anti-Semitism and apologized for its delayed response to the controversy.

In Washington, Trish Klein, Jody Kanikula and Amy Hain from Chicago said they had an intense discussion about the charges of anti-Semitism before deciding to make the trip.

“We were conflicted,” said Hain, 40, a sales director at a semiconductor company, on Saturday. “There’s always going to be some discussion of different views, and we didn’t want it to derail the bigger picture.”

In New York and Philadelphia, rival events were being held — one backed by local organizers and the other backed by affiliates of the national group.

“This year has been incredibly difficult,” said Karen Cosmas, executive director of March Forward Massachusetts, which plans the marches in the Boston area. “First, to be clear about our distinction from national organizations. Second, to answer questions repeatedly about our own values because they are conflated with what four women in New York say and do.”