RED LION, PA — A family’s idea that developed out of thin air came to life in Red Lion Borough’s Halloween parade when they built a float depicting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in jail.
A video of their float has been shared on Facebook over 1,000 times and has had over 40,000 views. Two weeks out from the General Election, they said they wanted to build support for Republican nominee Donald Trump.
“We were just going to set up something here for Halloween for trick-or-treating, and then we went a little further, and decided let’s just put it in the parade,” said Red Lion resident Sonya Holloway.
The Holloways were sitting at the kitchen table talking about the 2016 presidential nominees when they came up with the idea. It took them roughly 8 hours and a couple of days to build it. The float included a jail, a wall and their family members dressed up as Clinton and Trump.
“An uncommon idea came out of the air and it came to life,” Sonya’s husband Mark Holloway said. “The more the idea was on the table to be in the parade, within the hour we were buying masks, and a couple things, and working on costumes. We had some time so we went outback and built the jail. We put it on the trailer, and built the wall and everything on the float. We just went and had fun. It was a family thing. We all participated.”
Sonya dressed up as Clinton, and her dad, Robert Blymire, dressed up as Trump. During the parade, they played out an act of Trump handcuffing Clinton.
“The law has not been applied evenly and equally to everybody,” Mark said. “It’s like the higher ups down in DC in the political realm seem to be above the law. And the common people are held to different standards. And that’s what really got the conversation going and us worked up.”
The Holloways’ daughters said they enjoyed helping to build the float, as well, adding that it was meaningful to them because they are concerned about losing their Constitutional rights.
Even though they can’t cast their vote, Lexi, 14, and Paige, 12, said they have had open minds, and have listened to both sides, however, they side with Trump. They said they don’t agree with all of Clinton’s beliefs.
Also in the float, the Holloways and Blymires played music – from “America the Beautiful” to Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” – and campaign soundbites.
The Holloways registered with Red Lion Recreation to part of the parade, which was held Monday, Oct. 24. They said they didn’t have any resistance to participate.
