UPDATED: ‘Trump Train’ cars stretch from St. George to Hurricane in support of president’s re-election

Written by Aspen Stoddard
October 11, 2020

ST. GEORGE — The parking lot of the Washington County School District in downtown St. George was filled with vehicles Sunday morning as supporters of President Donald Trump embarked on what they called a “Trump Train” parade of cars in support of his reelection.

A participant in the “Trump Train” in support of the reelection of President Donald Trump on Oct. 11, 2020, from St. George to Hurricane, Utah. | Photo by Aspen Stoddard, St. George News

About an hour before the parade began, hundreds of people gathered in the school district parking lot, where a few vendors sold Trump 2020 flags and other merchandise. Music – ranging from country music to hip hop – sounded from all sides of the lot and people of all ages donned red Make America Great Again hats and Trump 2020 shirts. Throughout the event, whooping, hollering and horns beeping could be heard.

After the parking lot filled up, vehicles continued to show up lining Tabernacle Street; while other cars, lifted trucks, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles circled the block and weaved in between the crowds in the parking lot.

The parade, which began at noon and finished around 3 p.m., coursed east on St. George Boulevard, then took Red Cliffs Drive and Telegraph Road through Washington City before ending at Sand Hollow State Park in Hurricane and looped back.

For over an hour, the train of vehicles rolled east on St. George Boulevard. During this time, it was reported that the train stretched from the boulevard to Sand Hollow in one continuous stream.

After seeing similar events on the news, Jessie Riley, who organized the event, said he started searching for any upcoming local rallies. After not finding any, he decided on a whim to start a Facebook page to gauge local interest in a gathering.

“I really had no idea it was going to turn into this,” he told St. George News.

Vehicles participate in the “Trump Train” in support of the reelection of President Donald Trump on Oct. 11, 2020, from St. George to Hurricane, Utah. | Photo by Aspen Stoddard, St. George News

The purpose of this event in particular, he said, was to give a voice to their support for the reelection of Trump.

“It’s more than loving Trump; It’s about what he’s up against in D.C. because of the fact that he’s not a lifelong politician versus them. But above all, you’ll see far more American flags than you’ll see of any other kind of flag, and we’re all Americans. We’re all patriots. We love the freedom we get to enjoy, and we don’t want to see those stripped away by an agenda that doesn’t line up with those values.”

Whitney Brown, a participant at the event, told St. George News that she supports Trump for how well he’s been able to deal with the “shenanigans.”

“There’s no doubt about him winning,” she said.

If he doesn’t win, she said she thought it was most likely a rigged election.

“I haven’t really seen anyone come out and do Biden stuff, but I see nothing but Trump stuff going around,” she said, adding, “Trump 2020 and Trump 2024.”

Another participant, Ron Gautschi, told St. George News that despite what’s being shown on the news, he doesn’t believe Joe Biden to be in the lead.

“We keep hearing about Biden being ahead in the polls, and I just don’t see it. I mean, when you look at this,” he said, gesturing toward the crowds, “if Biden can’t get five people to show up at a rally, I think it kind of explains itself.”

People cheer from the sidewalk as vehicles participate in the “Trump Train” in support of the reelection of President Donald Trump on Oct. 11, 2020, from St. George to Hurricane, Utah. | Photo by Aspen Stoddard, St. George News

With regard to the size of the crowd, he said they heard that 175 people had signed up, but it looked like more than that and would probably continue to grow.

“Like in other things we’ve been in, we see people driving by, and we just jumped in on the fly – because we carry our flags with us – stuck them out the window and tried to show support,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot of it (support) over the past few weeks. It’s great. We want to see our president get a second term, so he can finish what he started because we think he’s doing a great job, and we’re behind him.”

Devoy Crapos told St. George News he came out to the event to support freedom, the second amendment and the president. While he hoped there would be more people at the event, he said he was surprised that there were that many people in one spot.

In response to what he thought about current data showing Biden leading the polls, he said he thought it was “false news.”

“It’s false news and false stats, and they’re not really taking the true stats,” he said.

Some participants loaded their boats into the water at Sand Hollow to continue the parade onto the lake. Most participants continued the train back to St. George via Southern Parkway to Interstate 15, and then I-15 to Bluff Street and back to the school district parking lot.

Updated Oct. 11, 4:45 p.m. with video, estimates on size, additional info and color from the scene.

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery.


Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction, Aspen Stoddard spent time writing and traveling before returning to St. George News. She now works as a managing editor.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGNews

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