Delaware County Fair Board
Fair Street
PO Box 344
Walton, NY  13856

Dear Members of the Delaware County Fair Board:

We know it was a difficult decision to cancel the Delaware County Fair, but given the pandemic our country is suffering through right now, it was absolutely the right decision.  We appreciate our governor and local county fairs making people’s health the number one priority in these difficult times.

The cancellation of the 2020 Delaware County Fair presents the Delaware County Fair Board with the perfect opportunity to finally, once and for all, ban all sales of merchandise bearing the Confederate flag.  You now have a full year to notify vendors and fair-goers that this symbol of hatred and oppression is no longer welcome in Delaware County, New York.

We have heard people defending the Confederate flag, as if it represents a spirit of freedom and the old South.  It actually represents the promotion of slavery and is the flag that was flown by those who defected from the United States of America.  Those soldiers may have fought bravely, but they were traitors to our union and their flag has no place outside of museums, with accurate information of what that flag represented.

Dr. Martha Pollack, President of Cornell University, recently advocated the removal of all Confederate flag merchandise from county fairs with which they are associated, stating, “The Confederate flag is a toxic symbol of the country’s racial history that sends a message that only certain people are welcomed and accepted at the fair."

The state of Mississippi has removed the Confederate flag from its state flag. 

NASCAR has banned the Confederate flag from being displayed at its events.

It is time, it is well past time, that the Delaware County Fair Board banned this symbol of hatred.  It is not enough to not be racist.  We must be anti-racist.  Please help Delaware County move to the right side of history. It is time, finally, to make the Delaware County Fair fair for all.

Thank you.