Could Trump billboard battle bring tourism dollars to tiny Fla. town?

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The election of President Donald Trump has made the billboard near the intersection of Southern Boulevard and Interstate 95 the most enviable one in Palm Beach County.

Before Trump, the billboard was home to ads for Burger King and Keiser University, but now it has become prime real estate for sending a message to the president as he travels to and from Palm Beach International Airport and his winter getaway at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.

If Trump visits this weekend, as his motorcade heads east from the airport, he will pass the billboard's new message, which says "Impeachment Now" in big blue and red letters, with the smaller message underneath, "Make America America Again."

The anti-Trump message, paid for by a political group called the MadDog PAC, has prompted a pro-Trump group called The Committee to Defend the President to rent future space on the other side of the billboard to put up a "Thank You President Trump -- Keep America Great!" message.

So, this will mean that Trump will face impeachment as he drives to Mar-a-Lago, but then face adulation as he drives to the airport or to play golf once the supportive billboard message goes up on April 2.

This political jockeying is great news for Cloud Lake, a speck of a town that is home to about 130 people who live in about four dozen homes on a grand total of 0.1 square miles wedged between the west side of the interstate and the southeastern edge of the airport.

Part of that tiny footprint of Cloud Lake is the base of that coveted billboard. And it's what keeps the town going.

"About half the town income comes from the billboard," said Dorothy Gravelin, the town clerk.

The town doesn't own the billboard. It leases the land to Outfront Media, the company that owns the billboard, and the company pays the town $4,583.33 a month to lease the land at the base of the billboard.

That's big money and a big deal for Cloud Lake. Most people, even local ones, have no idea that Cloud Lake exists. But with the impeachment billboard up, passing motorists are pulling off Southern Boulevard at the right turn before the interstate ramp. That street is Lang Road, which takes you right into the town hall parking lot.

"They get out of the car, then walk back to the road to get a picture of the billboard," Gravelin said.

This is the closest thing to tourism that Cloud Lake has experienced.

"You've got to figure out how to sell those people something," I told Gravelin.

Cloud Lake T-shirts, mugs, tchotchkes. Move some merch.

C'mon, this is Florida. We have a proud tradition of fleecing unsuspecting travelers who pull off the road for any reason. Is there such a thing as Cloud Lake fresh-squeezed orange juice? There is now.

It doesn't even take the skulduggery of Cambridge Analytica to figure out who you are dealing with.

You already know all you need to know about the people who are stopping to snap a photo. They think Trump ought to be impeached. So they'd probably buy anything with Trump's photo on it that includes a caption written in Russian.

Or how about this for a merchandise slogan: "In Cloud Lake, it's always Mueller time."

Ca-ching. You could probably build a municipal shuffleboard court with that one.

You also couldn't go wrong with Russian nesting dolls painted to look like Rex Tillerson, Hope Hicks, Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and other casualties of the Trump administration. The little one in the middle would be Attorney General Jeff Sessions (you know his days are numbered).

Get busy, Cloud Lake. Once you get things rolling, you'll be the envy of your big city neighbors in Glen Ridge.

And, actually, even if Cloud Lake does nothing, this billboard could still be the gift that keeps giving.

Now that the political factions have discovered the billboard, and claimed opposite sides of it for their messages, they're not likely to give up their coveted visual space any time soon.

Fixed supply. Rising demand. That's a recipe for higher prices. And if the billboard company decides it can hike the rent on the space of this billboard, the contract with Cloud Lake calls for the town to share in those higher rents.

"If they charge over the base amount, we get 45 percent of the increase," Gravelin said.

And for tiny Cloud Lake, that would be yuge.

Frank Cerabino writes for The Palm Beach Post. Email: fcerabino(at)pbpost.com.

Story Filed By Cox Newspapers

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