(The Center Square) – The Pierce County Republican Party will have a booth at this year’s Washington State Fair after all. The fair opens in two weeks.
After being told by fair organizers that the Pierce County GOP could not gather signatures for citizen initiatives or sell merchandise at its booth in the ShowPlex arena, Pierce County Republican Party Chair Dave McMullan and other officials decided they would not participate in the fair.
The two sides came to an agreement at a Thursday meeting.
As reported by The Center Square, fair executives had asked McMullan to sign a contract to abide by the rule changes.
McMullan said county Republicans have conducted signature gathering and sold merchandise at the fair for years, and it’s never been an issue.
The party was not willing to sign the contract and announced last weekend that it would not participate in the fair.
“These activities have always been an important part of our outreach – allowing us to connect with voters, share our values, and support grassroots civic engagement,” read an Aug. 10 Facebook Post from the Pierce County Republican Party. “We believe in the importance of free expression and equal access for all political perspectives at public events. Unfortunately, these new restrictions single out and limit the ability of organizations like ours to fully engage with the community. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to forgo participation this year.”
On Wednesday afternoon, McMullan texted The Center Square that he would meet with fair executives on Thursday afternoon.
Just after 4 p.m. on Thursday, McMullan called to say an agreement had been reached and the Pierce County Republican Party would participate in this year’s fair.
“We met with their government affairs committee and most of their board. We had a great discussion and discussed all the issues,” McMullan explained. “They acknowledged that there were things that they did or could have done that would have been better to rectify this earlier. So, it’s a learning experience, and we can move on without any animosity. I think that’s an absolute positive thing. But no, we fixed everything.”
A WSF official confirmed the agreement.
“The Washington State Fair Event Center and chair of the Pierce County Republican Party met and discussed the parameters of their booth at the upcoming fair,” WSF Public Relations Manager Stacy Van Horne emailed The Center Square on Thursday afternoon. “We have come to a mutual understanding to allow the GOP to continue gathering signatures and selling merchandise at their booth inside the ShowPlex building.”
McMullan said he got some answers to his questions about the fair’s policy change regarding signature gathering and merchandise sales.
“They said they’re a huge organization and there are complaints of all different types of stuff, and they can’t handle everything all at once,” he said. “So, you know, they came to the – they made some decisions that they think nip something in the bud or creates what they think is a fair compromise, and, and it doesn’t work out that way. So ultimately, they decided they agreed with us and, you know, now it’s up to us to live up to our end of it and be a responsible vendor, which I feel we always have been.”
The Washington State Fair opens Aug. 29 and runs through Sept 21.
