WEST PEORIA — A couple of entries in West Peoria's Fourth of July parade that depicted various versions of President Donald Trump — including one of the president in a flesh-colored body suit seated on a golden toilet — sparked a deluge of angry calls to City Hall on Wednesday. The entries prompted city officials to apologize for the procedural lapse that allowed the floats into the popular patriotic parade that draws thousands of spectators.
"It has been a bad day," said office assistant Pam Zych, the city employee who fielded the barrage of calls on Wednesday from angry Trump supporters and others who thought the entries were inappropriate.
The first entry was a Cadillac convertible with two people in the back seat impersonating Donald and first lady Melania Trump. Zych said that entry angered callers who thought it was in poor taste because it evoked the image of the assassination of President Kennedy in the Dallas motorcade in 1963. The Melania actor wore a pink pillbox hat, a historic icon that closely identifies with Jackie Kennedy, not the current First Lady.
West Peoria resident Nick Baker owned up to the Cadillac entry.
"It was just a couple of goofballs having fun in a parade," Baker said Wednesday. "I am not a political activist by any means. It was not our intent to present a serious message."
The entry behind the convertible was more provocative. It included a group of Trump-dressed men raising an American flag meant to recreate the famous photo of American soldiers raising the flag on the island of Iwo Jima in World War II. It contained two women in a cage wearing cat ears next to a sign that read, "Grab that pussycat. Build that wall," a reference to the infamous Trump video where he profanely describes inappropriate behavior toward women. A Trump mannequin sat in a bathtub full of money. And on the back of the float was an implied naked masked-Trump seated on a gold toilet holding a cell phone and presumable crafting his next tweet on Twitter. The toilet paper holder on the float contains images of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, in an apparent equal-opportunity message across political boundaries.
Although city records show otherwise, Baker did not take responsibility for the second entry.
Mark Wrhel, the owner of West Peoria's Haddad's Grocery, and the parade's lead organizer until two years ago when the city took over its coordination, helped line up entries before the parade on Tuesday.
"When I saw the Trump entries, my first thought was 'What is this'? Whrel said. "I was super uncomfortable with it, but didn't know what to do. Nobody told us we had the authority to pull an entry out of the parade. What is worst is that (Zych) bore the brunt of all the anger when she had done such great work on the parade for months. She was blindsided by all the anger when she literally had nothing to do with it. I understand the argument for First Amendment protection of expression, but I feel bad I let (the Trump entries) go down the road. (The parade volunteers) didn't know what to say or do."
City Administrator Kinga Krider said the city believes it was deceived by the applicant for the entry.
"We were misled from the beginning when we were told the entry was of a presidential motorcade with Secret Service agents and that is all," Krider said Wednesday. "We work hard to make this a family friendly event and not to include anything that would have to be explained to children afterward.We will make the necessary changes to make it harder for something like this to every happen again."
Mayor Jim Dillon said the Trump entries spoiled a well-run and fun-filled event.
"I was at the front of the parade pushing my 6-month-old granddaughter, which was the thrill of my life," Dillon said Wednesday. "Then all this happened and threw some egg on the city's face."
The parade has inadvertently offended others in the past. A Prisoner of War float with a shackled man in a cage upset some enough that it was banned for a couple of years, but returned this year. Opponents of abortion rights handed out little plastic fetuses in the past. A float last year showed a Hillary Clinton impersonator behind bars and in handcuffs.
Scott Hilyard can be reached at 686-3244 or by email at shilyard@pjstar.com. Follow @scotthilyard on Twitter.
Editor's note: The initial story incorrectly stated the age of Mayor Jim Dillon's grand-daughter. She is six months old.