Great American State Fair Opens on National Mall, Run by Donald Trump’s Freedom 250

The Great American State Fair opened on the National Mall and is run by Freedom 250, an organization created by President Donald Trump to run his administration’s official events, with the event scheduled to run into July.

“At the Great American State Fair, you can find a dinosaur’s rib cage”

Associated Press

The fair featured a 110-foot tall Ferris wheel, the lone ride at the fair, and a smaller arch similar to ones the Republican president has used to adorn other events, as crowds came in small numbers early Friday and spent little time at security.

Associated Press

Visitors described the fair as a chance for states to come together and show off their unique characters, famous natives, industries and history and geographical diversity, with goats, sheep and a calf whose mooing could be heard across the Mall courtesy of the Washington High School Future Farmers of America from Jefferson County, West Virginia.

Sharyn Bovat, who said she lived in Florida but has remained in the Washington area since having a heart attack this year, said, “Half the country is divided with the other half. I wish they would create a USA 250 for all the people. I’m tired of the politics.”

The AP report said the arch was the main thing that gave the event a political overtone, with Bovat adding, “It makes me think of Germany.”

The fair’s booths were built inside structures that resembled the neoclassical architecture of the nearby National Gallery of Art, and among the items representing Montana was a gigantic rib cage, a scaled-up version of apatosaurus, which is a cousin to the better-known brontosaurus.

Visitors to New Jersey’s booth saw an ornate sandcastle made from 7,000 pounds of sand brought from the Jersey Shore and built over the course of four days by an artist, and Andy Walters and his wife, Kirsten, attended with their three children from Wapakoneta, Ohio, the boyhood hometown of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong.

WRAL

Not all states participated or staffed their booths, with Maine, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania opting to not send delegations, citing costs, scheduling or politicization concerns.

WRAL’s AP account said some booths, including those for Hawaii and Alaska, were unstaffed, and Hawaii’s did feature a couple of rocking chairs that tired visitors put to good use.

Alonzo Lewis Jr. and Kelly Domizio, from Rome, New York, said the rocking chairs were “This was really pretty cool,” while Lewis added, “Was it necessary, I don’t think so. It feels forced. There’s so much separation.”

The fair is run by Freedom 250, an organization created by President Donald Trump to run his administration’s official events, and its creation caused tension with America250, a congressionally created group designed to plan the nation’s 250th anniversary.

“WASHINGTON (AP) — A dinosaur rib cage”

WRAL

WRAL’s AP report said the fair kicked off this week on the National Mall and that the entryway led straight to the 110-foot tall Ferris wheel and a smaller arch, which some visitors linked to political overtones.

The AP report described Pennsylvania’s senators John Fetterman, a Democrat, and Dave McCormick, a Republican, saying Saturday they had gotten together with several business trade organizations to “make sure the Keystone State would have a showcase worthy of its singular place in our nation’s history.”

The Economic Times and AP both described the fair as a run by Freedom 250 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of U.S., while also listing the same state-by-state attractions such as Texas’s space capsule, a facade of the Alamo and a statue — Big Tex.

At the same time, the AP account said the consensus among people interviewed was that the fair was a great idea and perhaps an opportunity missed, with Kirsten Walters saying she wished something similar would be held more often, without the overtones, and Domizio saying, “We are enjoying the day but it feels forced.”