A northeast Ohio county fair board removed the Democratic Party booth from its event for what the board deemed offensive buttons.
According to reports, the removal occurred after a fairgoer shared the display on social media. By Friday morning, the fair board’s response had received nearly 2,000 views and over 1,000 comments on Facebook.
“The Ashland County Fair Board would like to inform you that we were made aware this afternoon of offensive buttons in the Democratic booth. We are a family-friendly fair and do not tolerate this from any vendor or merchant. We apologize to those who saw the display. The Democratic Party has been asked to pack up their booth for this year, so they will not be present for the remainder of our Fair Week. “This is not political; we simply cannot have this at our County Fair!” read the board’s Facebook statement.
The board removed the Democratic Party booth from the fairgrounds for the remainder of the fair, which concludes Saturday night.
The Center Square attempted to contact the Ashland County Democratic Party, the Ohio Democratic Party, the Ashland County Fair Board, the Ashland County Republican Party, and the Ohio Republican Party, but were unsuccessful.
Photos shared on social media with the fair board’s statement showed buttons that appeared to be aimed at President Donald Trump, depicting a red hat with the word “felon” emblazoned across it, along with the phrase “is he dead yet?” in small lettering.
Other buttons featured hats with the words fascist, resist, and fascism, as well as the number “8647” and the phrase “One day, we will wake up to his obituary.”
The incident occurred on the same day that Ohio’s Democratic and Republican leaders released a joint statement condemning violence and advocating for a peaceful future.
As previously reported by The Center Square, House and Senate leadership – Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, Senate Democratic Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, and House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati – issued a joint statement condemning the assassinations of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman, with the hope that the unity sends a stronger message.
“In a free and democratic society, there is absolutely no place for politically motivated violence, nor should anyone encourage or celebrate this type of heinous criminal behavior,” according to the organization’s statement. “As leaders from different sides of the aisle, we felt it was vital to join together to emphasize the significance of this message as we strongly condemn the assassinations of Charlie Kirk and Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman earlier this year.”
