Wayne Country Fair officials say they will not restrict a vendor from selling Confederate flags at this year’s fair which begins Saturday. Local religious leaders and the Wooster/Orville NAACP have asked that flag not be sold because it is offensive to many people.
Andries Coetzee is pastor at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wooster. He opposes Confederate flag sales and says it should be banned from the event like other items deemed dangerous or extremely offensive. But he stresses that the groups opposed to the sale are not planning to disrupt the fair.
“We do not have it against individuals who come to the fair with a Confederate flag t-shirt or even with the confederate flag on their car, that’s each individual’s rights. But we do think it’s different if the fair allows vendors to display or sell the confederate flag.”
The groups opposed to the sale are organizing an online petition against it, and they will staff what they’re calling a racial justice booth at the fair. In an interview with WKSU, when asked about the controversy, Wayne County Fair official Pete Armstrong would only say the Confederate flag will be on sale.