But why does it take several hours...and can you be late?
But why does it take several hours...and can you be late?
I had contacted the Iowa Trump campaign office to get an idea of how early I would need to get to venue to be guaranteed entry—didn’t want to drive 3 hours only to be turned away.
It was suggested to me that if I got there by 9:00, I would likely be early enough to get in. There were at least a couple hundred folks ahead of me by time I got there—shortly after 9.
So I waited an hour outside, then went through security—very fast, and found seating, and then waited till he started, which was noon. I chatted with folks, during that time—Iowans are very friendly :)
I think Muscatine was the smallest venue he has done (with the exception of the morning rally at the John Wayne Museum). The Muscatine venue was so easy to attend with no line of cars, & lots of parking.
If attending one of the larger rallies with 12,000-15,000, I would imagine you would want to be there a couple hours prior to doors open to guarantee entry.
At Muscatine, I don’t believe the doors closed at the start of the rally. I believe that people were coming in late—I don’t think anyone was turned away—again, this is a small town really not near a large metro area, so people were walking to rally from their homes, coming after church, etc. At a large rally, coming in late, you might risk being turned away due to crowd size. But
If anyone is thinking of attending, I would suggest a call to the state or national campaign office for more information.
Also, anyone attending needs to have gotten a ticket to gain admission. Tickets are free and on his website, but it was stressed at Muscatine, needed ticket for entry.
I feel like I “lucked out” logistically at this rally—good weather, easy drive, easy parking, relatively short lines, comfortable seating and temperature in venue, etc. But IMHO it would have been worth the trouble to go to a larger one, had this one not been on the schedule :)