May 22, 1993

This month marks the 28th anniversary of “Rushstock ’93” — the glorious gathering of at least 80,000 dittoheads in Fort Collins, CO.

It was an amazing event that unfolded spontaneously, beginning with an ordinary caller to the radio program. Dan Kay from Fort Collins greeted Rush and then said: “And hello to Dan Hubbard in Dallas, Oregon, who turned me on to the show, and thanks for sending me his used Limbaugh Letter, since I can’t afford a subscription yet.”

rush: Wait a minute. He’s sending you his used Limbaugh Letters?

dan: Well, xeroxed copies.

Rush teased Dan about copyright infringement and intellectual property rights, and then declared, “Dan, here’s what we’re going to do. You must organize a bake sale.” He was making fun of Bill Clinton for taking the money of elementary school kids from their little bake sales around the country to supposedly reduce the federal deficit. “Does your wife bake?”

dan: Well, yeah, but she hates your show. That’s another reason I can’t get The Letter, she won’t let us put the finances to it.

rush: Then it is up to you to go out and earn money independently from your wife… This is a great way to get even: bake some stuff [to raise $29.95]… You will appreciate it so much more than if we just acted sorry for you and gave you a subscription.

A few minutes later, an offset printer called who wanted to “print the fliers advertising this guy’s bake sale.” It started to snowball. Business after business donated services. Root Outdoor Advertising offered a billboard for free advertising. Kathy and Steve Abernathy of Brennan’s restaurant in New Orleans donated “chocolate suicide cake,” and offered to send world-class Chef Mike to Fort Collins. Over the next several days, it became impossible to field all the calls of entrepreneurs who wanted to get in on the bake sale.

As momentum built, caller after caller pledged to be there. A May 22 date was settled on, the venue secured, and Rush agreed to appear. The recently installed President Bill Clinton may have been the darling of the news media, who doted on his every gesture, but the real news in the heartland was the growing excitement and fun over travel and meetup plans at Dan’s Bake Sale.

As the big day dawned misty and rainy, the small Colorado town and its surroundings boasted a state fair atmosphere. People were setting up booths to sell food, T-shirts, and political swag lampooning Clinton and the media. And then came the deluge of both weather and people. Amidst a downpour, Rush fans flooded in from everywhere across the fruited plain — and from all points of the globe: Europe, Australia, even Angola! Soon there was a 25-mile traffic jam into Old Town Center — and a seven-mile-long caravan of buses. The gathering was growing in size beyond what anyone (except Rush) imagined. AP reported: “Fans were drenched by a heavy rain. But they refused to move” from the venue, waiting for the man of the hour.

Finally, Rush was helicoptered in above the cheering throng, and as he stepped on the stage — this actually happened — the clouds parted, and the sun shone down on the entire venue, still glistening with raindrops. A jazzed Rush surveyed the crowd and exclaimed:

I see proud Americans! I see people who’ve met a lot of people you didn’t know, you’ve met a lot of new friends, and you’re happy today, right? [Crowd roars] Good! Ladies and gentlemen, I love you all from the bottom of my heart… I want to encourage you to continue to be yourselves and to be happy and above all, don’t get down! I know the dominant media culture makes it look like what you and I believe in is the minority, but it isn’t. We are the majority of thinkers in this country!

As the crowd chanted, “Rush! Rush! Rush!” he continued, “Stick to your principles, folks! They may fear you for that, but that’s when you’ll make your point.”

Thus, at Fort Collins, the curtain was peeled back for the first time. There are so, so many of us! And that scares the hell out of the left. On 2/27/21, The Washington Post published a sneering piece about it, with the snarky title: “Dan’s Bake Sale: The Weird Weekend Rush Limbaugh Fans Took Over a Colorado Town.” The article claimed the crowd was comprised of “thousands and thousands of middle-aged men in golfing clothes” — “all men,” with “not a single woman” there. Ridiculous! There were tens of thousands of men, women, children, families, tens of thousands of proud Rush Babes — including the newsletter staffers.

Fun, good cheer, and capitalism. What a party! With no mess, no crime, no arrests, no looting or rioting. Nothing but joy, camaraderie, and fellowship among likeminded great Americans. One of the most successful deceptions of the left is that your values are weird, and you are alone. Rush proved them wrong: you are the people who make America great. You, the people, are the power. Never, ever forget it.

Photos courtesy Walter W. Huang