Uphold the welcome, family atmosphere, and diversity of the Wayne County Fair.
Monday, April 18, 2016 - 7:45pm
Join the monthly meeting of the Wayne County Fair's Board Meeting at 7:45 pm in asking them to uphold the welcome, family atmosphere, and diversity of the Wayne County Fair.
A coalition of individuals and community organizations galvanized before the 2015 Fair in the aftermath of the shooting by white supremacist Dylan Roof on June 17, 2015 in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina where nine people died. Several appeals by individuals and the Wooster/Orrville NAACP for the Wayne County Fair to maintain an atmosphere of welcome and acceptance by adopting the Ohio State Fair's non-discrimination clause failed. This clause states that:
‘The Ohio State Fair has long held a policy that prohibits the sale of merchandise that contains offensive wording, lettering or graphics. As such, beginning with the 2015 Ohio State Fair, the sale or display of confederate flags and/or confederate flag merchandise shall be prohibited. Any vendors found to be selling any items featuring the image of the confederate flag will be asked to promptly remove those items.’”
In January the Wayne County Fair Board confirmed their stance to allow the sale and display of confederate flags and related merchandise as they adopted the resolution of the Ohio Fair Managers Board of Fair Delegates of the Ohio Fair Managers Association stating the group would "permit and support a fair's decision to allow private vendors to sell Civil War merchandise." Their main motivation factor, they claim, is not to violate the United States Constitution's provisions for freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of enterprise.
Again at the March meeting of the Fair Board, our pleas to uphold an atmosphere of welcome and acceptance was rejected. For a County Fair that claims to be "Ohio's Foremost Agricultural Fair", we believe that a request to uphold the welcome, family atmosphere, and diversity of our community is a reasonable request, and one that hopefully will be attained.
The meeting will be at 7:45pm at 199 Vanover Street, Wooster, Ohio 44691
For more information or if you would like to get involved contact Andries Coetzee, Pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, here.
Read Pastor Coetzee's latest blogpost here.
« Back to Calendar
