By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
As Chris Douglas walked around the Wood County Fair last month, he was dismayed to see Confederate flags being sold by a vendor.
“It’s something I’ve kind of gotten used to,” as a Black man living in Northwest Ohio, he said.
But Douglas, of Bowling Green, wasn’t expecting to see the Confederate symbol at the county fair.
“I don’t think it’s something somebody should have to get used to. Everybody should feel comfortable there,” he said. “It is disheartening to see that not much has been done.”
Last week, Douglas and other members of Not In Our Town BG discussed the recurring issue of Confederate flag memorabilia being displayed and sold at the Wood County Fair.
When asked last week about the fair board’s policy regarding Confederate flag items, Board President Kyle Culp said vendors are not allowed to display such items. However, the board does not monitor vendor sales, he added.
“As the fair went on, we became aware of one vendor displaying Confederate flags. Quickly after, he was informed of the policy and the flags were removed for the remainder of the fair,” Culp said.
“No other flag displays were reported, but we would have asked for them to be taken down if we had been made aware,” he said. “We encourage reporting of such displays to the fair office, board directors or on-site security so they can be addressed.”
Culp said he has little direct interaction with vendors, and is unsure exactly how the policy is presented to vendors.
“However, I know the vendor who violated the policy this year was a first time vendor and that the violation was noticed and resolved by fair board directors as quickly as possible after discovery.”
The issue of Confederate flags at fairs has been battled over for years in Ohio.
In 2015, the Ohio State Fair banned confederate flags from being displayed or sold at the fairgrounds in Columbus.
Some county fairs in Ohio joined suit, and ruled that confederate flags would no longer be allowed on their fairgrounds.
In June of 2020, the Ohio House of Representatives tabled a motion that would have banned the sale of Confederate flags at county fairs.
The amendment, sponsored by State Rep. Juanita Brent, D-Cleveland, was intended to be attached to a bill that updated regulations for county fairs. State Rep. Haraz Ghanbari, R-Perrysburg, voted to table, on what was a largely party-line vote.
In a statement, Brent, the ranking Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, said the flag “is a banner of white supremacy and a reminder of our nation’s original sin of slavery.” That they should still be displayed at fairs meant to celebrate what is best about Ohio is “a real shame and black eye.”
Locally, the battle lines were drawn in 2017 when Bowling Green resident Karen Wood noticed Confederate flags at the Wood County Fair and asked that they be removed. The fair board met to discuss the request and decided at that point to take no action.
Wood viewed this as a battle already fought by Wood County residents.
“Union Hill and Oak Grove Cemeteries are full of Union veterans who fought the racist traitors of the Confederacy,” she said.
“I refuse to get used to it,” she said. “If they’re not banning confederate flags, they are condoning them.”
In 2020, another Bowling Green woman, Carol Kinsey sent a letter to the Wood County Fair Board asking for a ban on Confederate flags. Kinsey said she waited for a response, but the only one she received was a single-word “yes” when she asked if the letter had been received.
“The Confederate flag conveys a message that is unwelcome,” Kinsey said.
The Wood County Commissioners sent a letter to the fair board in July of 2020 about Confederate flags or items bearing the image being sold or offered as prizes.
“We believe the overall intention of the Wood County Fair is to welcome all people to a community atmosphere that is educational, fun and respectful,” the commissioners’ letter stated. “The Confederate flag conveys a message that is unwelcoming to many people.”
The commissioners did not get a response from the fair board until six months later when the commissioners warned twice that the annual capital improvement funding for the fairgrounds could be withheld.
Then fair board president Mike Trout said the issue was complicated since it dealt with the First Amendment right of free speech.
The issue came up again on the heels of the Jan. 6 insurrection, when the image of a Confederate flag being paraded through the Capitol was jarring to many Americans – and led to a renewed push by some local citizens that the flags not be displayed or sold at the county fair.
After the Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol, another letter was sent to the fair board – this time by Jean Geist of Bowling Green.
“The parading of the so-called Confederate flag past the image of Abraham Lincoln in the Capitol on Wednesday should be a wake-up call to all,” Geist said. “I wrote to the Wood County Fair Board several years ago protesting vendors selling the so-called Confederate flag at the Wood County Fair, and received no response. The vendor was still there in 2019. I am asking the Fair Board to disavow any connection with this vendor or the marketing of this flag.”
Kinsey was back at the fair this year, checking for Confederate symbols at vendors’ booths. She reported during the Not In Our Town meeting that one vendor said he wasn’t aware that Confederate flags weren’t permitted.
Another NIOT member, Karla Davis-McGowan said she doesn’t know how to explain the presence of the flags at the fair to her grandchildren.
Not In Our Town members discussed the possibility of meeting with fair board members, along with the county commissioners and members of Welcome BG. They also talked about focusing on the topic of Confederate symbols in future community education.
