Confederate flag image removed from North Carolina booth at Great American State Fair

Images of the Confederate flag were removed from the North Carolina state booth at the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., in yet another controversy to blight the events meant to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. A video was captured and shared on X by a Spectrum News reporter who visited the booth on the National Mall on Friday. Several TV screens inside displayed the Confederate flag, which has never been part of the state flag. North Carolina was part of the Confederacy during the Civil War. The Trump administration-aligned Freedom 250, a public-private partnership, is hosting the fair for the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration. North Carolina’s booth was organized by private sponsors after the state opted out of participating in the event. The video display of the Confederate flag was removed by the event’s organizers, a source familiar with the planning told NBC News. Freedom 250 received initial design renderings of what was set to appear in booths and the video was not included in that, the source said. A source familiar with the event said the display was removed quickly on Friday. As of Monday morning, there were no Confederate flags on display; only the North Carolina state flag was visible. The fair, which began last Thursday and runs through July 10, has seen low turnout since it launched, a broken-down Ferris wheel, and early closures due to inclement weather over the weekend. Even before the event began, there was a major glitch for the organizers — several musical guests who were slated to perform at the fair backed out, including Morris Day and the Time, Young MC, Martina McBride, The Commodores, and Bret Michaels. A spokesperson for North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, said in a statement, “This flag does not represent the North Carolina that we love. America 250 is about unity and bringing our nation together. We are pl eased the flag that did the opposite has now been taken down.” One of the companies involved, North Carolina-based pickle company Mt. Olive Pickle Company, announced on Friday that it was withdrawing its participation from the event after several X users alerted it to the flag controversy. “We were unaware that an image of the Confederate flag was included in a video as part of this exhibit, and we have withdrawn our participation,” the company said in a post on X. “Our company stands on values of human dignity, opportunity, and freedom.” NBC News reached out to several other companies believed to be sponsors for the North Carolina booth. President Donald Trump kicked off the event last week with remarks on the National Mall. “This 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,” he said. “We will leave our children nothing less than the richest inheritance, most advanced civilization and highest standard of living in human history. There’s never been anything like it, but with all of that being said, the best is yet to come.”