Asheville Trump supporters start lining up for rally; police announce demonstration zones
ASHEVILLE - As former President Donald Trump plans to make a campaign stop in Asheville on Aug. 14, his loyal followers have begun to line up outside the downtown venue over a day in advance. The Asheville Police Department has now announced demonstration areas for expected protests.
As metal barriers, portable toilets, and road blocks are set up for the event along Haywood Street near the Harrah's Cherokee Center, April Owens, and her nephew, Justin Hay, were the first in line just a few hundred yards from where Trump is expected to speak in the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. Owens is from Mount Carmel, Tennessee, and Hay from Haysi, Virginia.
Owens, who said it will be the 21st Trump rally she's attended, came to see who she calls the "best president of our era." She said her top issues were immigration and the economy and called Trump "the only choice" for president. On the afternoon of Aug. 13, Owens said she and Hays would be in line "until it starts," at 4 p.m., noting that she has visited Asheville before.
Trump is running against current Vice President Kamala Harris as he attempts a second-term in the White House after losing the 2020 election. He's expected to speak in a "townhall policy discussion" format on the economy at 4 p.m. on Aug 14. Doors will open at 1 p.m. The campaign has reportedly paid the city $82,247 to host the event in Asheville, the Citizen Times previously reported.
Just across the street from where Owens and Hays were sitting in lawn chairs, the APD has begun to cordon off an area — just above the so-called "Pit of Despair" — that will be dedicated to protestors expected to attend the event. Two other designated protest areas — one in Prichard Park and another at Pack Square — have been announced on the APD Facebook page.
After Trump visited downtown Asheville in 2016 in a rally that led to several arrests and various libel suits, city Police Chief Mike Lamb told Citizen Times that he expects the Aug. 14 event to be "different from 2016."
Lamb, who was onsite outside of the Harrah's Cherokee Center the afternoon before the rally, said he expected the event to hit capacity. The Thomas Wolfe Auditorium seats 2,431 people.
"We'll allow attendees to start lining up early," city Police Chief Mike Lamb told the Citizen Times, noting that other Trump rallies have seen attendees line up as early as 3 a.m.
Once it hits capacity, the event will "be closed off," said Lamb, who suggested that attendees dine downtown or shop if they are not able to make it inside, noting that the town has many "fine restaurants."
Upon hearing that North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson would also be in attendance, Owens got excited, saying she has "high high hopes" for the right-wing candidate who is facing Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein.
Robinson recently received heat for telling members of an eastern North Carolina church that “some folks need killin’ in July and after a nonprofit called Balanced Nutrition Inc., run by his wife Yolanda Hill, was found to owe more than $130,000 to N.C. Department of Health of Human Services.
Parking nearby
Multiple roads will be temporarily closed around the event and will likely reopen at 10 p.m. Aug. 14.
City owned parking garages will remain open during the rally. The parking garage for Harrah's Cherokee Center will be open with entry and exit access only from Rankin Avenue. Pack Memorial Library will be closed Aug. 14.
Event parking rates will be applied starting Aug. 14 at 8 a.m. at the following garages:
Harrah’s Cherokee Center - Asheville garage.
Rankin garage.
Wall Street garage.
Some on-street parking locations are closed as of the evening of Aug. 12, with remaining vehicles in these spaces after 9 a.m. this morning towed at the owner’s expense:
Haywood Street between Battery Park and Page Avenue.
Page Avenue between Haywood Street and Battle Square.
Hiawassee Street.
Vanderbilt Place.
W. Walnut Street.
More: Donald Trump is rallying in Western North Carolina. But why Asheville?
Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected]. If you like this type of journalism, consider a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Trump supporters line up in Asheville; demonstration zones announced