WASHINGTON \u2014 The gloomy, overcast weather on Saturday didn\u2019t disturb visitors who attended the first weekend of President Donald Trump\u2019s Great American State Fair, an event commemorating America\u2019s 250th anniversary on the National Mall. <\/p>\n
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The fair features food and culture booths from all 56 states and territories, plus displays from federal government agencies in temporary halls lining several blocks of the Mall that kept attendees dry while it drizzled at some points on Saturday morning. In the middle, a massive Ferris wheel extends into the sky, just beyond a scaled-down replica of the arch<\/a> Trump hopes to build permanently in the capital. <\/p>\n The arch is one of the president\u2019s marquee projects to remake Washington, D.C., alongside his mission to repaint the Reflecting Pool and to put his name next to former President John F. Kennedy\u2019s on the Kennedy Center.<\/p>\n Some of the projects have faced legal challenges and earlier this month, Trump\u2019s name was removed<\/a> from the side of the performing arts center at the direction of a federal judge. And the reflecting pool, which was meant to be the shade of \u201cAmerican flag blue<\/a>,\u201d has faced physical challenges, including an algae bloom and chipping paint.<\/p>\n The state fair has been promoted by Trump and members of his administration, who have been accused of injecting partisanship into a nonpartisan anniversary. <\/p>\n But over a dozen attendees at the fair on Saturday \u2014 on both sides of the political aisle \u2014 told NBC News that they did not feel the atmosphere at the fair had any kind of political tint even as Trump has tried to redesign Washington, D.C., in his image and as musical acts dropped out <\/a>of the event. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of neat because here it\u2019s just been all about America, and I haven\u2019t seen the political things,\u201d Pamela L., 59, who was visiting the capital from Virginia Beach for her husband\u2019s annual birthday trip and declined to share her last name, told NBC News. \u201cPeople are just being people [and] enjoying, you know, they\u2019re being kind, opening the doors, holding them for each other, and it\u2019s just kind of neat to see.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that her family jumped at the chance to attend the fair \u201cbecause we don\u2019t get to go to all the states. It\u2019s kind of neat to see them represented.\u201d<\/p>\n Nicole Briggs, 52, and Heather Hatter, 48, also traveled from Virginia to see the fair with their children and told NBC News that they didn\u2019t feel like any particular political views were being imparted on attendees.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a once-in-a-lifetime event for our generation,\u201d Briggs said, adding later, \u201cI think it\u2019s a great atmosphere. The vibe is great.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s just very patriotic, proud of America and all it represents,\u201d Hatter added, as announcers introduced Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler to the stage near a petting zoo.<\/p>\n The fair, which kicked off Thursday night with an opening ceremony hosted by the president, was the center of controversy<\/a> late last month after several musical performers who had been expected to perform<\/a> throughout the fair dropped out<\/a>, with several citing political concerns.<\/p>\n The 16-day event was put together by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership created by the Trump administration to organize events in the capital related to the nation\u2019s semiquintennial. The group bills itself as nonpartisan and is separate from<\/a> America250, a group created ten years ago by Congress to prepare for the U.S.\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n Freedom 250 is organizing several other events in Washington, D.C., and around the country this summer, including Sail 250, a FIFA World Cup FanFest, the Salute to America fireworks celebration on July 4 and the Patriot Games later this fall.<\/p>\n On Thursday, the president opened the fair<\/a> after a performance of \u201cGod Bless the U.S.A.\u201d by Lee Greenwood, telling attendees on the Mall, \u201cthis anniversary is a time to be proud of our past, but it is also a time to lift our sights, expand our ambitions and raise our expectations of what America can be.\u201d <\/p>\n His speech was preceded by fighter jet flyovers and performances by military bands, as well as a partisan speech by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who derided the musical acts that pulled out, saying the military bands were, \u201cway better than those libtards that canceled on us.\u201d<\/p>\n Daniela Guerrero, 25, lives here and came to the state fair expecting to see Republican-tinged programming.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we heard a lot, like in our communities, that it was gonna be like a MAGA rally,\u201d she told NBC News, as her friend Grace Guber, 27, echoed, \u201c100%.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt, I think, has been very much nonpartisan,\u201d Guerrero added. \u201cThe people showing up have been a mix of tourists just trying to, like, celebrate freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n Lloyd and Melinda Paris traveled to the capital from Georgia with their grandchildren on their way back from one of their grandson\u2019s baseball games in New York.<\/p>\n Lloyd Paris, 76, told NBC News that what Trump has done in Washington, D.C. is \u201camazing,\u201d but, \u201cI didn\u2019t come here because I\u2019m a certain political persuasion.\u201d<\/p>\n His wife, 71, added, \u201cwe would have come even with the previous president,\u201d as the two peered to the line for the ferris wheel, where their grandchildren waited for a turn. <\/p>\n Several states, including at least six<\/a> led by Democratic governors, declined to send delegations to the state fair, citing financial burdens. At least one Democratic governor, Oregon\u2019s Gov. Tina Kotek, cited concerns of partisanship.<\/p>\n \u201cThe State of Oregon will not be participating in the Great American State Fair due to both the cost of participating in the Fair and growing concerns that the event in Washington, D.C., is shaping up to be a more partisan affair than originally presented,\u201d a spokesperson for Kotek\u2019s office told<\/a> the Salem Statesman Journal.<\/p>\n Lynn Frank, 52, traveled to the capital from North Carolina, another state that did not send a delegation to the fair, and said she was \u201cincredibly disappointed,\u201d when Gov. Josh Stein, D-N.C., decided not to send a delegation to the fair.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s some things they all do that, you know \u2014 there\u2019s things you like and things you don\u2019t like,\u201d Frank added, \u201cBut that to me \u2014 a state fair shouldn\u2019t be political.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 The gloomy, overcast weather on Saturday didn\u2019t disturb visitors who attended the first weekend of President…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-731367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260627-great-american-state-fair-ww-1146-1c5d95.jpg\")
The fair features food and culture booths from all 56 states and territories.Nick Mason \/ ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260627-great-american-state-fair-ww-1150-6a3ad4.jpg\")
The Nevada state booth on the National Mall in Washington, on Friday.Valerie Plesch\/ \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260627-great-american-state-fair-ww-1151-2b69bb.jpg\")
The Kentucky state booth, an homage to whiskey and agriculture, in Washington on Friday.Valerie Plesch \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260627-great-american-state-fair-ww-1148-2-1f25d9.jpg\")
Attendees shielding themselves from the sun before the kick-off celebration on the National Mall on Thursday.Oliver Contreras \/ AFP via Getty Images![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260627-great-american-state-fair-ww-1149-2-a1dff0.jpg\")
President Trump officially opened the fair after a performance of \u201cGod Bless the U.S.A.\u201d by Lee Greenwood on Thursday.Chip Somodevilla \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260627-great-american-state-fair-ww-1145-257716.jpg\")
A rodeo event on the National Mall in Washington on Friday. Bryan Dozier \/ ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters<\/p>\n