State Fair ‘strongly discouraging’ Confederate flag merchandise

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indiana State Fair is “strongly discouraging” vendors from displaying or selling items in support of the Confederate flag.

The Indiana State Fair Commission says a policy in place for years states that offensive merchandise is not allowed. What constitutes offensive is up to the discretion of the board.

Here is the ISFC’s full statement on the issue:

The Indiana State Fair Commission continues to be a welcoming place for all and to ensure that, during this fair and future fairs, we are strongly discouraging our vendors from displaying the confederate flag and any merchandise in support of the flag. Many of our vendors have participated in our fair for several years and we value our relationships, including their first amendment rights. While we have limitations on enforcement we have maintained the following policy with all of our vendors in past years.

The Indiana State Fair is welcoming to all and does not support any offensive merchandise or behavior from any of our vendors. Per your concessionaire contract and manual ISFC has the discretion to require the exhibitor to remove from the grounds any exhibit, display, handouts, demonstration, entertainment, or other event or item(s) for sale, which the ISFC, in its sole discretion, considers objectionable.

While we don’t anticipate any issues we are prepared to monitor vendors on site to the best of our ability and will evaluate our future relationship with any vendors not in compliance.