Trump boats rally on lake

CELINA - Local supporters of President Donald Trump took to the water Sunday, parading along the edges of Grand Lake to promote their chosen presidential candidate as the November election creeps closer.

Hundreds of boaters flying American and Donald Trump campaign flags paraded around the lake Sunday afternoon after news spread of the boat rally, organized in part by local citizen Brian Will and several of his acquaintances. Over 1,000 people showed interest in the Facebook event, and hundreds marked themselves as going.

Participants gathered at Boater's Beach around noon before beginning a clockwise parade around the edge of the lake around 1 p.m., with spectators on shore watching with binoculars in some areas and waving flags to show support in turn.

State auditor Keith Faber, a Celina native and co-chairman of Trump's 2020 Ohio campaign, also joined in the boat parade with other members of the president's Ohio campaign staff.

It was great a day, Faber said, and a nice show of support from Mercer County and the Grand Lake community. The event was safe and people were respectful, he continued.

"It showed the contrast from how conservatives protest versus the other side," Faber continued.

In a statement to the paper, Will and the other organizers of the event said that after seeing pro-Trump boating events at Lake James in Indiana and Clearwater in Florida, they decided to utilize their own "great" lake to support the president as he vies for a second term in the presidential office.

"We feel Trump is the best choice for this country (and) we want to show our support," the statement read.

Prior to the pandemic, the nation's economy had been thriving, they said, and they felt things have slowly been returning to normal.

"He is all about making America great again. He's focused on making America first and bringing back jobs to the American people," the statement read.

Will said he hoped Trump would remain president next year, and keep the economy thriving.