Unusual Kansas float led by person wearing Trump mask crashes Amish parade
A bizarre float with a pointed and demeaning political message apparently crashed a weekend heritage parade in Kansas’ most famously Amish community, touching off anger and boycott calls on social media.
The mystery float in Yoder’s Heritage Day parade featured someone in a Donald Trump mask riding a four-wheeler and towing a livestock cage of people in orange prison jumpsuits wearing masks of President Joe Biden, former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and former Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
It prompted parade organizers and the Amish restaurant that posted the pictures to disavow any responsibility for it and claim they don’t know who did it.
But not before the controversy grew legs well outside the quaint little town 35 miles northwest of Wichita that’s mostly known for farm-raised meat, hand-stitched quilts and homemade pickles.
Mckinsey McMullen of Wichita was apparently the first to raise an online objection to the float. She told The Eagle she stumbled across it while viewing pictures of the Saturday parade posted by the Carriage Crossing, a popular Yoder Amish restaurant and tourist destination.
McMullen is a widow and said she was scrolling through Carriage Crossing’s pictures to reminisce about past years when she had attended Yoder Heritage Day with her late husband.
She said was appalled by the overtly political and insulting float that appeared amid the parade’s usual array of equestrians, horse-drawn wagons, fire engines, farm equipment and garbage trucks.
“I just found it really disgusting,” she said. “Some of the American people are horrifying right now. It’s gotten so ugly and none of this makes sense.”
She said she believes people need to work out their political differences through respectful and civil discussion and would have been equally appalled if the float had had Biden towing Trump and Republican leaders in a cage.
After her online objections started gaining traction and created calls for boycotts, Yoder Heritage Day shut down commenting on its Facebook page and issued a statement saying the float was not a sanctioned entry in the parade.
“Good afternoon. We just want to let everyone know that Yoder Heritage Day nor any of the Yoder merchants were in any way affiliated with the Trump float,” the organization posted. “It was not a registered float in the parade, it entered during the parade and left at the end of the parade route. We have no knowledge of who it was. We ask that you do not disrespect the Amish community in Yoder.”
Wichitan Dana Smyser compared it to a cult-classic movie: “I find it hard to believe but okay, I suppose it is possible for a float to sneak in and out of the parade à la ‘Animal House.’”
In the 1978 college comedy, a derelict fraternity wreaks havoc with an unsanctioned float at a homecoming parade.
A TikTok video captioned “KEEP WATCHING SPECIAL APPEARANCE TRUMP 2024!” shows some parade attendees cheering and waving as the float went by, as the parade announcer describes a different float sponsored by Peoples Bank and Trust, which has a branch in Yoder.
Bank President Tom Pruitt said the bank’s entry was actually employees in their company T shirts throwing candy from a trailer and two floats back from the controversial float.
“We don’t condone anything of that nature and it’s a shame that those folks thought they needed to be a part of such an awesome community event as the Yoder Parade,” he said.
Carriage Crossing also shut down commenting on its posts and took down its photos of the Trump float, which had already been copied and circulated on social media.
“We would like to stress that the the controversial float in question was NOT A CARRIAGE CROSSING SPONSORED FLOAT,” the restaurant management posted. “We simply took photos of every float/entry in the parade and posted them, as we have every year for the past decade. The float in question was not sponsored by any specific business, rather it was just some locals attempt at humor.”
McMullen said the denials ring hollow, because the float was obviously inappropriate for a parade that bills itself as a family-friendly Amish heritage event.
She said the organizers should have realized that and told the float’s participants to stand down, rather than letting them process down the street with the other entrants.
And she said Carriage Crossing should have known better than “to post those controversial pictures in the first place.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 5:32 PM.
