Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) stepped in to organize Pennsylvania’s presence in “The Great American State Fair” in Washington, D.C. after Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said state officials could not find a business to sponsor the booth.
In a Saturday press release, McCormick’s office said that the two senators had “announced a coalition of Pennsylvania organizations that will ensure the Commonwealth has a strong presence at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall.”
“The effort is being made possible entirely through private partnerships and will not use any taxpayer dollars,” it added.
“Celebrating America’s 250th birthday and Pennsylvania’s special role in our country is important and bipartisan,” Fetterman added in a statement. “We discovered our Commonwealth wasn’t participating in the Great American State Fair on the National Mall and we should be.”
Fetterman has increasingly bucked his party during Trump’s second term and has a prickly relationship with Shapiro, who has been floated as a 2028 presidential contender.
Pennsylvania is one of multiple Democratic-led states that said it was skipping the Great American State Fair on the National Mall.
“Unfortunately, due to the high cost to taxpayers and not being able to secure PA businesses to sponsor the booth, Pennsylvania will not be a participant in the Great American State Fair,” a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development told The Hill on Friday.
Shapiro told The New Republic earlier this week that no businesses were interested in sponsoring the booth when asked.
“It reflects this sad state of affairs that we find ourselves in — that the president has politicized this to a degree that businesses don’t want to participate,” he told The New Republic.
However, The Philadelphia Inquirer quoted a source saying the issue was time, not interest, as the administration gave the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry two weeks to sort out sponsorships.
“The Governor’s team asked us for assistance with business outreach for the Great American State Fair just two weeks before the event. While there was interest, the short time frame made it difficult for many businesses to fully commit,” Jon Anzur, the chamber’s senior vice president of public affairs, told the Inquirer.
“We are now reengaging those and other companies as we partner with Senators McCormick and Fetterman,” he added.
The fair is meant to showcase the history, tourism and traditions of every U.S. state and territory, commemorating the country’s 250th birthday. Multiple states decided not to be a part of the event because of financial and partisan concerns.
Freedom 250, a group commissioned by the Trump administration to prepare a series of events marking the two-and-a-half century anniversary, organized the fair.
A “Freedom 250” concert announced as part of the festivities also saw about half a dozen musical acts back out, with some saying they weren’t aware of the political ties of the event.
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