Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) organized a private delegation to represent Pennsylvania at Freedom 250’s Great American State Fair, overruling Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D-PA) claims that no businesses were interested in sponsoring the festivities. The bipartisan duo announced over the weekend that they secured private-industry sponsors to host the state’s booth at the giant Washington, D.C., festival at “no cost to taxpayers.” Sponsors said they joined the event because “Pennsylvania’s story is simply too important to be missing from our nation’s capital during America’s 250th birthday celebration,” and will include the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, and the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.The development comes after Shapiro confirmed last Thursday that Pennsylvania would not send a delegation to the 16-day Great American State Fair, the sprawling festival run by Freedom 250, which is the private-public organization President Donald Trump created to celebrate the United States’s 250th anniversary. In an interview with the New Republic, the governor criticized Trump, but credited a lack of interest from possible sponsors for driving his decision to pull out of the event. He said aides asked companies across the state about whether they would like to join the coming fair, but said that “none were interested.” Around $700,000 in taxpayer funds that Pennsylvania would have spent on the fair are instead being used for celebrations in the state, according to Shapiro.
Bipartisan effort axes Josh Shapiro's Great American State Fair boycott
Private groups signed on as sponsors of the Great American State Fair, John Fetterman and Dave McCormick said. But Shapiro said there was no interest.
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