“It is “not appropriate to be handing water balloons to little children and inviting them to throw” them at such a display, Tracy said. “I’m sure there are some that wondered, ‘Why is that lady in a cage? Why are they being mean? Why are they throwing water balloons at her?’ ”

Julin estimated that his group handed out about 400 water balloons during the parade.

As for those who might take offense, “I mean if they do, they do,” Julin said. “We believe if Hillary gets in, it’ll be bad for moving our political agenda forward. ... Also, it wasn’t just kids, there were a bunch of adults grabbing water balloons and cheering.”

Craig Williams, chairman of the Carroll County Republicans, said the local GOP had nothing to do with the float but did publish photos of it on Facebook.