HAGERSTOWN, Md. — The People’s Convoy is expected to return to Hagerstown Speedway on Tuesday, but it remains unclear how locals will receive them.
The truckers, who are demanding an end to the national declaration of emergency concerning COVID-19, announced plans to come back to D.C. earlier this month.
The convoy first traveled to the D.C. region in March after setting up a base camp at the Hagerstown Speedway. At the time, hundreds of convoy participants gathered at the speedway, in their cars and trucks, to support the movement. The convoy was also met by many locals along the National Pike waving flags empathetic to their cause.
Hagerstown resident Adam Turner lives just a few blocks away from the Hagerstown Speedway.
He said he supported the convoy’s mission.
“I like what they’re doing,” he said. “I like the purpose of what they’re doing and anything to block up D.C. traffic and get them to think about what’s been going on, I want them to do.”
Turner added that he felt convoy participants were neighborly to people living in the area.
“There was a lot of nice people down here,” he said. “Met some people from down South, [I] offered if you need anything, come on down here and knock on the door, if there’s anything I can do to help you.”
But not everyone agreed. One of Turner’s neighbors, who did not want to be named, said she was not happy the truckers were coming back to the area.
“At first, I thought, it was cool, Day 1, and that was about it,” the neighbor said. “After that, we were overrun, you [couldn’t] even get gas, they got the gas stations full and here I am scraping pennies for gas and these guys are wasting it.”
The neighbor added that she felt the truckers created needless traffic and created too much noise.
“We had three weeks of no sleep,” the neighbor said. “Honking for three weeks straight. We were looking for a hotel.”
Right now, it is unclear how many truckers will arrive in Hagerstown on Tuesday or when they will eventually make their way down to D.C.
However, some convoy participants who arrived early at the Hagerstown Speedway Monday told the region to expect truckers from all across the country to attend.
