Saturday, April 20, 2024
As the cool air of the morning faded, Steven Stafford strode across the grassy expanse between his apartment building and Lake Granbury hoisting a red, white, and blue “Trump 2020” flag.
Stafford had heard on Facebook that a “Trump boat rally” was happening Saturday morning and it would pass behind his home.
“This is Trump county,” Ellen Stafford said.
So Ellen and her husband, Steven, gathered four of their grandchildren to join them. Twelve-year-olds Pennylane and Emma Roper had folding lawn chairs tucked under each arm, with 3-year-old Hannah Roper in tow. Seven-year-old Kylan Roper completed the gaggle of children.
Organizers were expecting more than 400 boats to participate, the Brazos River Authority estimates between 300-500 boats showed up for the parade. The flotilla gathered at Hunter Point Park off the Weatherford Highway and cruised roughly 10 miles to a cove south of Rough Creek Park. Similar events were held across the country this summer, including one on Lake Travis in Austin where several vessels sank.
No major incidents were reported on Lake Granbury, according to Judi Pierce of the Brazos River Authority.
”We were very lucky,” Pierce said.
By late morning, a group of around 50 people sharing a shady sliver of grass under a live oak tree — a stone’s throw away from the Pearl Street bridge — were treated to a parade of boats at least a mile long.
“I don’t think Lake Granbury has seen this many boats,” said Don Meeker, wearing a stars and stripes shirt.
Boats of all sizes — from personal watercrafts that seat 2 to pontoon boats ferrying mobile parties festooned in red, white and blue — cruised west down Lake Granbury. Boat horns blaring, and the people on the bank responding with encouraging whoops and hollers.
“This is wonderful,” said Barbara Smith, 87, sitting on a bench smiling from ear to ear. “We’re excited.”
Smith had been driven to the Lake by friends. “We’ve got all generations here,” she said, pointing to the Roper children.
“All of these people just came out to have a good time,” Donna Williams said. “Even if you don’t know anybody, you just get together because you just feel like you’re friends.”
Williams is a transplant from Santa Barbara, Calif., “escaping” the West Coast six years ago.
This gathering was more than just fun and games, however. This was a political rally.
“This says,” said Randy Whitworth pointing to the crowd around him, “that the country is coming together for a good man.”
Two dozen people high up on the pedestrian walkway of the Pearl Street bridge waved flags and “Trump” signs as the parade of boats cruised under them. Motorists honked their horns in support. The procession lasted nearly half an hour.
“I don’t know where they all came from, but they all brought their boats,” Meeker chuckled. Meeker had come out to the lake after participating in a small flag-waving Trump rally in town.
“Trump’s the man,” said Terry Cross, with her Golden Retriever mix Bailey by her side. “That’s for sure.”
