No one on the Trump Train Sept. 19 was satisfied with just bumper stickers.
No one on the Trump Train Sept. 19 was satisfied with just bumper stickers.
Hundreds of vehicles decked out with U.S., law enforcement and Trump flags, cardboard signs and painted slogans paraded through Geauga County starting at 9:30 a.m. in Bainbridge Township, where they gathered in the parking lot on the south side of Giant Eagle.
By the time the horn-blowing caravan wended its way up Chillicothe Road to state Route 6, around Chardon Square, down state Route 608 through Middlefield and Burton villages and back to the parking lot before 1 p.m., organizer Jim McNeal said the train had accomplished it purpose.
“It was meant to spread the positive vibes of Donald Trump as president,” he said over the phone as the group left Middlefield. “The number of car horns blowing back at us and people waving was amazing.”
Trump Trains are gaining momentum in Ohio. One of the largest hit the tracks in Cincinnati Sept. 13, where thousands gathered in a “rolling rally” to promote their choice of Republican candidate Donald J. Trump for his second term in the White House.
McNeal, who organized the Geauga County event with sponsors Geauga County Tea Party and Free Ohio Now, said there were at least 28 other similar events organized just last Saturday. Free Ohio Now was organized in opposition to the way the state reacted to the coronavirus pandemic by closing businesses and schools.
But McNeal was especially gratified by the response to the political election aspect of the parade.
“We’ve done car rallies previously in Geauga County and had really good success,” he said Sunday.
Alerted by Facebook, the county tea party website and word of mouth, many cars arrived to begin the tour — and many more drivers joined up when they saw it, McNeal said. Before people started to peal off to go home at state routes 87 and 44, the train stretched for several miles.
“We must have had 50-to-1 thumbs up from observers,” he said, adding some displayed other digits, but there was no violence.
“The enthusiasm was entirely contagious,” McNeal said, adding another Trump Train is being planned in the next few weeks and details will be available at www.geaugacountyteaparty.com.
While most of the joiners Saturday were from Geauga County, some boarded the train regardless of their home town.
John Stinson and his granddaughter, Allyse Stinson, 11, of Solon, were going the other way in Chester Township when they saw the Trump Train and they turned around to tag along, Stinson said.
Originally a restaurant owner in Bentleyville, he now lives in Florida, but was happy to join the party. He was amazed at the length of the train.
“I think people are still driving around the square in Chardon,” John joked while standing by his SUV in Bainbridge Township. “People were yelling out the windows, ‘The Liberals are coming!’”
“It was crazy. Every other car would beep or wave,” said Flip Garbo, of Russell Township, adding law enforcement cooperatively blocked traffic to let the train through the intersection of state routes 87 and 608.
“It was a happy time,” he said. “The Middlefield cops were awesome.”
