Missoula Rises and several other organizations joined together at Playfair Park on Thursday afternoon to present an alternative to President Donald Trump's rally at the airport.

Founder and Director of Missoula Rises, Erin Erickson, said the gathering was a response to what she termed as ‘hateful rhetoric’ that would be presented at the Trump rally, as well as a ‘get out the vote’ campaign.

“We felt that the best thing to do in response to what we deem as his divisive and hateful rhetoric on policy, we thought we would pull together a community event to showcase what Missoula is all about, love, acceptance and community,” said Erickson. “We are also focusing heavily on getting out the vote. We have a bus that’s running from the University, to Playfair to the polls on a continuous loop, so that people can register to vote or cast their ballot.”

Erickson was asked what she would say to President Trump if she was offered a face-to-face meeting with the chief executive.

“I would ask him to do the right thing and resign,” she said. “The policies that he has enforced and the way in which he has continued to divide our country unnecessarily, he is not fit to be the President. It’s not because he’s a Republican, because there have been many other Republican presidents that I have a deep respect for, but he does not behave presidentially, and I think that it’s sad for our country.”

Mayor John Engen was also scheduled to speak at the event.

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