'It's bleak.' Canadian baseball fans nervous to visit Seattle under Trump

Usually when the Toronto Blue Jays come to Seattle, a lot of Mariners fans skip the games.

That’s because the ballpark is almost completely overrun by Canadian baseball fans who have come south from across the country as part of an annual pilgrimage.

"I’ve come down here the last three summers and it doesn't even feel like being on the road here, which I love, because it's all Canadians here,” says Adam Menikefs, who lives in Vancouver but is originally from Toronto.

He and his girlfriend rode the light rail from downtown Seattle to the ballpark, as they do every time they’re in town.

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"This time we get on — not a single Jays fan was on the train,” Menikefs says. “ That was the start of where I was like, ‘okay, things feel different.’”

Menikefs thought surely when he got to the game there would be the typical sea of royal blue Toronto jerseys.

But that didn’t happen. Attendance was down Friday night by about three thousand people compared to the last time Toronto visited last July.

“It is the bleakest, most little amount of Jays fans that I've seen in the three years that we've been coming down,” he says, “there's usually three quarters Jays fans. We've seen two or three total groups of Jays fans.”

Menikefs's girlfriend, Lilah, who was born in the U.S., says she was not surprised to see fewer Canadians than in previous years.

“I told him that before coming down,” she said. “I was like, ‘There's going to be way less Jays fans here, people are boycotting.’”

Since the election of President Donald Trump, and his talk about taking over Canada, she says people don't want to spend their money here.

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“It's nothing against Americans,” she says, “it's just against the administration. The U.S. president is threatening our sovereignty and wants to take over our economy.”

Lilah didn’t want to share her last name since she worked on a political campaign during the recent Canadian election. The number one issue she heard from voters, she said, was how would Canadian leaders stand up to U.S. leadership.

“They’re not even seeing us as our own citizens, our own country, own people.” he says, “We don't even feel respected to come here.”

That hurts Seattle hotels, restaurants, and tourist spots. Many places in town offered specials and discounts over the Blue Jays weekend for visiting Canadians to remind them that they - and their dollars - are welcome here.

Red Canadian maple leaves with hearts were hung up near the popular Pike Place Market. Some bars offered a discount if people flashed their Canadian ID.

And, to be fair, a lot of Toronto fans did show up. Like Kelly Greir, who came from nearby Vancouver Island to attend all three games of the series.

"I've been a Blue Jay fan pretty much my whole life, and it's been on my bucket list to make it down here,” she says.

Greir said she did have Trump on her mind when she headed south.

"I absolutely did. Yeah it's almost enough to not come,” she says, “but I'm such a big Blue Jays fan so I just kind of decided to put that behind and said we're gonna come have good time."

One Toronto fan was waving a big sign that said, "Better a Carney than a Clown." He didn't want to share his name as he's trying to renew his green card.

"My parents were supposed to visit this month, actually, but they canceled the trip,” he says. “They're just not sure about what might go on at the border, at the crossing."

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reports the number of Canadians coming into America has dropped about a quarter since the start of the year.

Troy Lamar, a pedicab driver around the Seattle ballpark, said he definitely sees the difference. He counts on a Blue Jays series to mean good business. But Friday night was slow, he said.

"There are usually Blue Jays fans everywhere and you feel the vibe,” Lamar says. “But today the vibe was minimal."

Adam Menikefs says he understands why many Canadians are boycotting. He hopes in the future that baseball fans can feel comfortable to visit their neighbors to the south and enjoy some baseball together.

"We're all kind of suffering. We're all feeling it. Everything's worse, like this game is going to be not as fun. The game is going to be less exciting."

It was exciting for the Toronto fans who did show up: the Blue Jays beat the Mariners in that first game on Friday night.