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Indiana State Fair asks vendors to stop selling Confederate items

Posted at 3:35 PM, Aug 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-20 16:20:37-04

INDIANAPOLIS -- Vendors at the Indiana State Fair have been asked to stop selling goods with Confederate symbols.

The Indiana State Fair said they received complaints about Confederate flag items being sold by a vendor by one of their guests. 
 
Spokeswoman Sharon Smith said that "in light of recent events" they had requested that all vendors remove that type of item. In Charlottesville, Virginia white nationalists violently clashed with opponents earlier this week. 
 
"Input we receive from fair guests is important to us," said Smith. "We received a complaint about an item depicting the Confederate flag from a fair guest and we requested that, in light of current events, this type of item be removed." 
 
Smith said most of the vendors at the fair don't have anything with Confederate symbols on them anyway. 
 
The Indiana State Fair does not have a formal policy outlining the use of Confederate flags on the fairgrounds, according to Smith, but all vendors must sign a contract allowing fair officials to remove "items that are deemed offensive."