Kane GOP Parading for Trump pivots on parking plan

The Kane County Republican Party has retooled its parking plan for the Parading for Trump caravan on Sunday, Aug. 18, announcing that participants should park at Lily Lake Grade School, 5N720 Illinois Route 47, Lily Lake.

Kane County GOP Chairman Andro Lerario said they instead should park in the lot between the school and the ballfields.

Participants should arrive at 9 a.m. and then line up at 10 a.m. to caravan on Route 47 to go north to Woodstock for a Trump rally.

“Nobody has called me from the school (Central District 301) or anyone else that we can’t use the parking lot by the ballfields,” Lerario said. “Nobody called to yell at me.”

The Kane GOP originally notified supporters to go to the Campton Township Highway Department parking lot, but Lerario said that address was used for the sake of having a location.

“We had no intention of using that parking lot,” Lerario said. “We were never going to park in the highway department parking lot.”

Still, the Kane GOP’s information to park at the highway department was posted in various places, including its Facebook until recently.

The Campton Highway parking lot is still listed as the meeting location on the Parading for Trump website.

Campton Township Highway Commissioner Sam Gallucci said he didn’t know about the Parading for Trump parking plan until he read it and called Lerario to tell him they can’t park there.

“We’ll be out there Sunday with three of our men, cones and barricades,” Gallucci said.

Lerario said he would drive by the highway department and put up cones himself if necessary.

But his intent is to guide the Parading for Trump traffic to the parking lot by the school.

“We’re going to be using that area and the street next to it for any overflow,” Lerario said.

“We are meeting for a parade for no more than an hour and leaving,” Lerario said. “It’s a public lot. Do I need permission if we are going to throw a ball around Sunday with some people and play catch? They’ve got picnic areas. They should put up a sign that says, ‘No public parking allowed’ or something. There’s no sign like that.”

Lerario said he also sent information to Sheriff Ron Hain and Campton Hills police if they want to monitor the situation.

Central District 301 owns the ballfields and possibly the parking lot, but a spokesman could not confirm that.

The spokesman wrote in a text message that no one at the district has had communication from the Kane GOP, and that there would be no official comment.