The ugliness and the back and forth of the 2016’s presidential election has taken a toll on some voters, and one McComb business wasn’t going to have anything to do with it.
Topisaw General Store, located at 105 Main St., held an anti-election watch party on Tuesday night.
Owner David Varnado said he, along with others, had grown tired of the election.
“Everybody’s sick of hearing about Clinton and Trump,” he said.
So Varnado threw the party as a way to relax and escape what was happening — even for a little bit.
He said he hoped customers who came to the party would abide by his request — to get together and not talk politics.
And customers obliged. They came in, ate chilli and played family-friendly board games such as Yahtzee, Twister and Clue.
There were no televisions and no talk of the election, just good clean fun.
Dr. Carl Feind and his wife Babara, who are avid news readers, said they quit watching the news.
“I stopped watching it after (FBI Director) James Comey said he hasn’t changed his opinion,” Carl Feind said.
Thomas Simpson and his wife Elise said they took their children to the polls with them when they went and cast their vote.
“They had a lot of questions. My youngest child just wanted to push buttons. My oldest was anxious and wanted to know who was going to win,” Elise Simpson said.
Paul Rouhrig said the diversion at Topisaw General Store was a pleasant relief from the election.
“It’s a first. You try not to think about it, but it’s all we’re thinking about,” he said.
Frank and Kim Edwards said they’re burnt out from the bitter contest.
“It was petty and childish. It was like they were seventh-graders fighting and the real facts were hard to find,” Frank Edwards said. “I’ve never seen such ugliness.”
Of President Barack Obama, Edwards said, “I was very happy. He was a decent president. He wasn’t the best but he was decent.”
Despite opposing Trump, he said he believes the country “will go on.”
Edwards said this election brought out a side of people he hasn’t seen.
Kim Edwards said that when Trump toured Baton Rouge after the flooding in August, she saw a different side of him.
“I saw the pictures and they were real. It showed him with a heart. It showed he had compassion,” she said.
But still, she wasn’t voting for Trump, calling him too unpredictable.
“It’s real frustrating. I know what I have with Hillary, I don’t know what I have with Trump,” she said. “Hillary’s made some mistakes, what president hasn’t? But, she was for the people. I really think she believes in what the Democratic party stands for, it’s for the people. It may look like it’s for herself, but she’s really looking for the people. When she spoke she was speaking for the people.”
Lynn McInnis said she’s been breaking out in a sweat during this year’s election, but Tuesday’s politics-free gathering broke all of that.
“It’s good food and great company,” she said.
Trish Lamkin said the gathering served as a nice distraction from an otherwise hectic night.
“It can’t consume us. We’ll move along and go to bed with an answer,” Lamkin said.
