MOUNT PLEASANT, Pa. — An annual Halloween parade is receiving backlash after a float appeared during the event that many people, including the borough’s mayor, called “hateful” and “unacceptable.”
The float depicted former President Donald Trump riding in a golf cart-style vehicle, with people dressed as Secret Service members surrounding him. On the top of the vehicle was a fake sniper rifle, and following behind was a woman resembling Vice President Kamala Harris.
That woman appeared to have her hands strapped together and was tethered to the golf cart.
It’s a display that turned a lot of heads at the parade Wednesday night, and online on Thursday.
“It’s a hot political season, probably not something I’d want at a children’s parade,” said Josh Huff, who was at the parade.
In a video sent to Channel 11 by a viewer, you can see the float in question.
There are people dressed as Secret Service members surrounding a golf cart-style vehicle.
Riding in the cart is a person wearing a mask of former President Donald Trump.
On the top of the vehicle is a fake sniper.
“The worst part of it was that there was either a rope or a chain attached to the back of the vehicle, and there was a woman who was to resemble Kamala Harris in handcuffs and chained to the back of the vehicle as though they were dragging her,” said Mount Pleasant Mayor Diane Bailey, a Democrat.
“This is not a good look, this is simulating a lynching down Main Street in Mount Pleasant. It is not the community I grew up in, not the community I came back to,” Huff added. “It was dark. It was dark. This has been escalated way beyond what it should be.”
Huff said he has a lot of questions.
“Somebody in power had to say hey, yeah, that’s fine. That’s okay,” Huff said.
Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek asked the mayor those questions.
Havranek: “How did this get approved? How did this make it through approval to get in the line to be in the parade and then continue on through the parade route?”
“That is a legitimate question, and I cannot answer that totally,” Bailey said.
The mayor is meeting with the borough manager and council president and might get the solicitor involved.
“Right now we’re just trying to do damage control the best we can, but after it’s already done I’m not sure that there’s much we can do except for going forward,” she said.
Channel 11 reached out to Bill Bretz, the Westmoreland County Republican Committee Chair.
He sent a statement saying, “We certainly don’t condone the simulation of political imprisonment or violence in any context no matter the party affiliation of those involved. In the final days before this critical election our focus is on engaging as many of our constituents as possible with an emphasis on sharing information about our outstanding slate of candidates to ensure we have a huge turnout next Tuesday.”
“This needs to stop,” Bailey said. “In this county, we need to go back to being educated adults, we need to go back to acting like adults.”
The parade is sponsored by the volunteer fire department. They released the following statement:
“We, the members of the Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department, want to take a moment to sincerely apologize for allowing the offensive participants to take part in the Mount Pleasant Annual Halloween Parade last evening. We do not share in the values represented by those participants and we understand how it may have hurt or offended members of our community. We’re proud to have sponsored this parade for over 70 years and its goal has always been to support our community’s children. We are committed to learning from this experience and ensuring that our future events celebrate the diversity and spirit of our community in a positive way.
“The annual Halloween Parade is a first come, first serve event and we have traditionally only provided safety & traffic control. We will be reviewing our planning processes to prevent a situation like this from happening again. Thank you for your understanding and support as we work to make our events more welcoming for everyone.”
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