State’s Trump supporters gather for boat parade
Republicans from around Maryland made a voyage Saturday to Crisfield to form a statewide boat parade in support of President Donald Trump’s reelection.
Before the parade began, the flotilla of boats came together on the Tangier Sound, idling, as people honked their horns and waved at friends. The boats lined the horizon, flags flying above nearly every vessel.
Annapolis residents James Appel and Wendye Rich-Appel set out from the Eastport Yacht Club in their 29-foot downeast trawler at 8 a.m. They held on through choppy waters as they made their way down the Chesapeake Bay, and were surprised to see many boats decked out and spectators on the docks.
They flew 12 flags and a stars and stripes banner from the bow. One flag read “Make liberals cry again,” and another was a “thin blue line” flag, flown in support of law enforcement.
The Chesapeake Bay flotilla meetup on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland is one of dozens that have popped up in waterfront communities across the country with less than two months until Election Day.
On one boat in Crisfield, Dave Keys from Williards wore a navy blue suit and a wig, masquerading as the president. One man, shirtless, wore a Trump flag as a cape. Other boats had Trump paraphernalia strapped to them in various ways, in hopes of winning a contest hosted by organizers for the bestdecorated boat.
Darlene and Joe Rhoads drove down to Crisfield from Fenwick, Delaware, to watch the parade from the city pier.
An hour before the parade began, the couple were among the only ones on the pier. But by the time the boats cruised past, the pier was jammed with spectators in red, white and blue, many cheering.
Darlene Rhoads, who also owns a home in Carroll County, said she supports the president because she’s “tired of the way things are going for hard-working taxpayers.”
Rhoads said she voted for Trump in 2016, and has been voting since she was 18.
”Maybe not always for the right party, but as you get older, you learn,” she said.
James Appel, chair of the Anne Arundel County Republican Central Committee, pulled up alongside organizer Jennifer Ward of Crisfield to chat before the parade began.
Several others honked at Appel, who drove while his wife and her mother, Lisa Rich, perched on the bow to watch the spectacle.
They remained at the bow for the entirety of the 14-mile parade loop, past campgrounds and homes fronted with hundreds of people in folding chairs, with flags and signs in support of the president. The entire parade lasted about 90 minutes, and boats joined together after for a leisurely “raft up.”
Appel, an active supporter of the president, recently traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, to the Republican National Convention as a delegate.
Days afterward, Appel made a shorter trip from Annapolis to Washington to watch Trump accept the party’s nomination from the South Lawn of the White House.
He’s had a busy month with the convention, attending the speech at the White House, and trekking to Crisfield for the boat parade, and he has no intention of stopping until after the election, he said.