The Rick and Morty “Don't Even Trip Road Trip” tour, Rickmobile and all, made a stop at the Lowry Parcade Wednesday night.
It attracted a massive turnout from fans of the wildly irreverent cult cartoon show. A half hour before the truck, festooned with a fiberglass likeness of drunken mad scientist Rick Sanchez, opened its doors and began offering exclusive merchandise for sale, a line snaked around the usually-quiet Lowry Park block. Hundreds of fans — many dressed as characters from the show — chanted popular lines from the show, confusing locals but keeping spirits high.
The event brought so many people to the surrounding neighborhood that authorities had to end the event a half-hour early, which sparked questions about whether it should have been schedule at a larger venue.
The Rickmobile tour is as much a promotion of the show's currently-airing third season as it is a tribute to its dedicated fans, who have turned the show into not only one of Adult Swim's most popular shows, but a something of a subculture, with in-jokes and characters on full display (something of which the show's writers seem acutely aware). The DJ was playing music edited with random Rick belches thrown in and a waving, inflatable tube version of Mr. Meeseeks stood near the Rickmobile.
John Craft, the assistant tour manager and one of the drivers of the Rickmobile, said he expects the tour's success to continue beyond the Tampa stop, and that an average of 1,300 total visitors attend these events. And while brief rain may have dampened a few costumes, nothing stopped the enthusiasm of the fans.
“Rain, sleet, shine or snow, the Rickmobile will be there,” said Craft.
The “Don't Even Trip Road Trip” heads down to Miami Friday, before wrapping up the tour October 6 in New York.
