Ron MacLauchlan has no defense for having no fence.

After almost a year of planning, he broke the news to hundreds of people on his Facebook page that this year’s annual pro-police celebration in Denver had been cancelled because he couldn’t get 2,000 feet of fencing in time for Sunday’s scheduled event.

“I’m at a loss for words and have been for a week,” said MacLachlan.

The 8^th Annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Day was to be held in Civic Center park. Advertised as a family friendly event with music and food, the celebration was supposed to start at 3 pm.

The founder of Pro Police Rally Colorado said that all of his paperwork was in order for the gathering, but when he went to pick up his permit last Friday, Denver police told MacLachlan he needed a fence to separate the group from onlookers and possible protesters. Fence companies told him they needed more notice to provide perimeter protection.

Police told MacLachlan that they believed several protest groups were planning on showing up to disrupt his gathering.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

In 2020, violence broke out when anti-police protesters stormed the gathering and attempted to rush the stage. MacLachlan said was hit with a skateboard. Denver Police arrested at least one person on suspicion of assault.

Maclachlan is disappointed but he’s not giving up. Next month, Pro Police Rally is traveling to Pueblo and he already has the rights for July 16, 2023 in Denver.

He holds rallies all over Colorado and in Wyoming and hopes to take his idea to every state. He came up with the idea when he watched the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. during riots over Michael Brown’s killing.

Counter-protesters always show up at his events when they’re in Denver, he said, but those have remained relatively calm.

He hopes people get the message that there’s no pro-police rally Sunday, “I don’t see us as trouble. I think where we’re at right now is trouble.”