This Great American State Fair is designed to showcase the amazing Republic we live in. Yet, because it is President Trump, Democrats and others have turned it into a partisan brouhaha. Pennsylvania, the BIRTHPLACE of our great nation, home of the Liberty Bell and the place where our Declaration of Independence was written, said NOPE to having a booth at the fair.

Visitors can salsa dance in Puerto Rico, milk a mechanical cow in Michigan, walk through an orange-scented citrus grove in Florida, practice their lasso skills in Wyoming, pick up Mardi Gras beads in Louisiana, send a postcard from West Virginia and peruse a Waffle House menu in Georgia. Many have prizes, billboards and screens playing panoramic videos on loop.

But some booths feature only the requisite poster board — with their name and some illustrated state symbols — and one or two empty chairs (one of the few available seats for weary fairgoers). At least 10 state governments, concentrated in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest, declined to send staff or spend funds on the fair.

Most of the states that opted out are led by Democrats. But all cited financial considerations, saying they’d have to spend at least $100,000 (and in some cases up to half a million dollars) of their own money and preferred to prioritize celebrations at home.

Some had more overtly political critiques, like Mass. Gov. Maura Healey, who called it a “ridiculous” use of taxpayer money. Donna Chobat, a retired teacher from Massachusetts, strongly disagreed.

Pennsylvania’s Governor, Josh Shapiro, is on record saying that the financial burden was too great and no one wanted to participate in putting together a state showcase booth. The question is, did he even ASK individuals and Pennsylvania businesses for donations and support? 

Which led to a missed opportunity to showcase the industries that have made PA what it is, among them steel. Or showcasing Amish food and ingenuity, Gettysburg with Abraham Lincoln’s Address, and so much more. 

All of them, including FOUR of the Thirteen Colonies, are on record whining about the expense and Trump politicization of the fair. The media, of course, is doing their darnedest to make it political. Cue the New York Times Slimes.

On the first day of the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, there were no butter sculptures, blue-ribbon livestock or prizewinning rutabaga pies to admire. But visitors could take in a gleaming portrait of President Trump, pick up a handbill promoting Turning Point USA and hear a speaker read a poem declaring every teen to be “a conscript in a spiritual world war.”

The 16-day event that started Thursday was organized by Freedom 250, a Trump-backed group that has been involved in a quiet tug of war with America250, a bipartisan group charged by Congress with coordinating the nation’s 250th birthday. The fair consists of exhibits and pavilions conceived to represent every U.S. state and territory, along with the cabinet departments. At least 11 states declined to take part officially, many of them citing budget concerns, and were replaced by smaller groups Freedom 250 selected to fill the gap.

Much of the media is working hard to find the people, including “scholars” who are naysaying the fair because they are claiming the booths aren’t showing the “right” parts of history, or are whitewashing it. What they refuse to realize is that this fair is about celebrating our country. It’s about each state having an opportunity to show off parts of their history and the landscapes of their states, Wyoming for example, that Americans should come to see and celebrate. It’s about the innovations born in many states that have contributed to the fabric of this nation. 

NBC even had to admit the fair is apolitical. 

This has to be one of the most shameful decisions by Rhode Island leadership, presumably @GovDanMcKee, to exclude one of the original 13 colonies all because the voters of the United States chose @realDonaldTrump as President.

If Obama or Biden were President and red states did… https://t.co/h0l5TBqVix

— Jon D. Brien (@JonDBrien1) June 28, 2026

Yes, if red states had chosen not to attend, the implosion across the Democrat establishment and media would’ve been nuclear. 

America 250? New England Says No Thanks; NH Says ‘Live Free or Die’ https://t.co/eS8CmRutao@nhgop @nhdems @KellyAyotte pic.twitter.com/2IdjiZKxWB

— NH Journal (@NewHampJournal) June 29, 2026

Massachusetts should’ve had a booth showing off Paul Revere’s House, the Boston Tea Party ships, USS Constitution, Freedom Trail, the fishing industry, colonial tea, and SO much more. Instead Maura Healy snidely proclaimed it was a waste of taxpayer money. 

John Adams, Massachusetts very own, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and President of the United States was left out of Maura’s political calculations. 

John Adams once wrote his wife Abigail to predict that Independence Day would be:

“celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”

It has now taken ordinary citizens to step up and man the Massachusetts booth themselves. Meanwhile, Senators Fetterman and McCormick of Pennsylvania took less than a day to get corporate sponsors and volunteers to put a booth together. 

“Pennsylvania is where America’s story began, and there was no way we were going to let the Commonwealth go unrepresented during our Nation’s 250th birthday celebration,” said Senator McCormick. “As the birthplace of American independence, home to the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg, and the engine for the arsenal of democracy, Pennsylvania has a special responsibility to preserve, celebrate, and share that enduring legacy.”

“Celebrating America’s 250th birthday and Pennsylvania’s special role in our country is important and bipartisan. We discovered our Commonwealth wasn’t participating in the Great American State Fair on the National Mall and we should be,” said Senator Fetterman. “We are now making sure Pennsylvania’s booth will highlight the Commonwealth’s agriculture dominance, our businesses, and what makes PA a truly awesome and historic place.”

In 1976, a significant portion of the country was NOT a fan of Jimmy Carter. Yet that was put totally aside. Why? Because we knew then as people should know now, celebrating 250 years of Independence and FREEDOM isn’t political. 

This incredible full size replica of the Liberty Bell is currently en route to DC and will be up for display in the Pa Pavillion tomorrow!#LetFreedomRing pic.twitter.com/neoy8HZXrM

— Luke Bernstein (@LukeBernstein) June 29, 2026

Ten states, four of them the original Thirteen Colonies couldn’t put love of country above politics. What a shameful choice they made.

Feature Photo Credit: AI-generated illustration.