More than 1,000 puppeteers and supporters of public broadcasting have signed up online to take part in a Million Puppet March to defend government support for PBS, says the Associated Press.

The campaign to stage a rally on the National Mall on Nov. 3, three days before the election, arose from Republican Mitt Romney’s statement during the first presidential debate on Oct. 3 that he would end federal subsidies for PBS, despite his fondness for “Sesame Street” icon Big Bird.

As of Wednesday morning, some 1,000 people had pledged on Facebook to attend the march, which organizers initially termed the Million Muppet March but broadened to include all forms of puppets, from sock puppets and marionettes to life-size mascots.