President Donald Trump boasted that at least 45,000 people attended his kickoff celebration for the Great American State Fair on Wednesday night, one of many events put on by his Freedom 250 group to mark America’s 250th birthday.
“The Crowd was incredible last night, packed to the brim — At least 45,000 people were there, with a huge Television and online audience,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I wish we were able to have an even larger area, which we will be able to do on July 4th when I’ll be speaking again. The airplane flyovers and music were fantastic. Everybody stayed right until the end of my Speech because they loved hearing about a truly successful America.”
Neither Freedom 250 nor the National Park Service provided the Washington Examiner with their own crowd size estimates.
Trump asked Freedom 250 to put on the event after multiple musical acts, who said they didn’t know Freedom 250 was aligned with Trump, pulled out of a separate planned concert series.
Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan are the only original artists who remain committed to the concert series after the departure of the likes of Bret Michaels and Martina McBride.
“As the visionary behind the Great American State Fair, we are excited to announce that President Trump will personally kick off this historic celebration on Wednesday, June 24 in an opening ceremony celebrating America’s 250th birthday,” Freedom 250 spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez told the Washington Examiner earlier this month. “This has never been about performers or celebrities. The spotlight belongs to the United States of America and not to any individual artist.”
Crowd size has always been a sore spot for Trump after his 2017 inauguration crowd size was compared unfavorably to that of former President Barack Obama‘s in 2009.
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During his speech Wednesday, Trump also encouraged people to attend his July 4 Salute to America rally next week, another Freedom 250 event.
“July 4 we will have the greatest show of all on the National Mall,” he said. “Your favorite president will be speaking, so please show up. If we have to empty seats, the fake news will say, he didn’t fill out the arena. I will be proudly speaking as we ring in our 250th year with the largest fireworks display in world history, 10 times larger than any that we’ve ever done in Washington or in the United States.”