SWEET HOME — A Back the Blue rally Wednesday evening that attracted 200 to 300 supporters of local law enforcement officers started with a plate of cupcakes.

“I brought a plate of cupcakes into the police department to say that I care about them,” said organizer Gina Riley, who retired in January as the department’s community services officer. “Then I decided that just wasn’t good enough.”

Riley posted an invitation for others to join her for a show-of-support rally in front of the Sweet Home Police Department. She didn’t know if one or 100 people would show up.

There was a huge smile on her face as the large crowd began assembling more than 30 minutes early. People ranged in age from toddlers to senior citizens and they brought along signs, flags, red, white and blue balloons and sparkly pompoms.

Although the words on their signs varied, the sentiments were the same: Sweet Home folks value and support their police department, as well as the Linn County sheriff’s deputies and Oregon State Police troopers who work and live in the 1,200-square-mile Sweet Home School District.

Riley said it is disheartening to watch videos of police officers being pummeled with rocks or flaming Molatov cocktails in cities across the United States in response to the May 25 killing of George Floyd, an African-American man in Minneapolis who died at the hands of a white police officer.

“I am saddened by the rioting and the hatred being shown toward police officers,” Riley said. “We’re a rural community, so we aren’t experiencing what’s happening in places like Portland and Seattle, but the families of our officers are seeing this stuff on TV. Children are wondering why someone would want to throw rocks or bricks at their fathers or mothers.”

Riley said as soon as she posted the event information on social media, “my phone began to ring off the hook. People wanted me to let our officers know they support them. Tonight we are throwing praise, not rocks, at our law enforcement folks.”

Oregon Jamboree director Robert Shamek said Sweet Home is his hometown and he wanted to “support all of my partners. It’s tough seeing the stuff on TV. This type of thing makes me excited that we live in a small town. We are tight and we stick together.”

A large group of veterans from the American Legion, VFW and VFW Auxiliary waved flags in front of McDonald’s as passers-by honked car and truck horns in support.

Lyndie Birkett, 11, was with her family to support her father, Mark Birkett, a deputy with the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.

“This is pretty cool,” Lyndie said. “It’s good to show support for all they do.”

City Councilor Courtney Nash said he showed up to “back our police. I think much of what’s going on in the cities is part of a political movement to get President Trump out of office.”

Nash said the Sweet Home Police Department has made good strides in upgrading training and equipment in recent years.

“I think we are well on the way to having one of the better departments around,” Nash said.

Retired Sweet Home High School athletic director Larry Johnson was also a volunteer firefighter for decades.

“As soon as I heard about this, I knew I was in,” Johnson said. “I do not believe we should defund any police department, and we absolutely should support our local police. They usually don’t get to hear the good stuff, only the bad stuff. Well, this is a very positive thing.”

Not everyone supported the rally’s sentiments. A woman yelled obscenities from a vehicle as it passed the group, and three young people chanted “Black lives matter” as they walked along a crowded sidewalk.