Confederate battle flag flies over Great Northern Fair

Editor’s note: This version corrects an editing error that referred to the battle flag of The Army of North Virginia as “The Stars and Bars.” That refers to the original flag of the Confederate States of America.

During this year's Great Northern Fair, the battle flag of the Army of North Virginia, widely recognized as a symbol of white supremacy, could be seen flying prominently at a flag-selling booth in front of the fairground's arena main entrance.

No members of the Great Northern Fair Board or the Hill County Commission have been willing to comment on the propriety of such a symbol being flown at the biggest yearly event in the county, but some at the fair were clearly not happy about it.

The Havre Daily News asked 11 people at the fair what they thought of the Confederate flag being flown and while some declined to comment others were definitely not happy.

Fairgoer Lia Smith said the fact that a symbol of white supremacy was flying in front of the arena is appalling to her, but, unfortunately it doesn't surprise her at all that it's there.

"That's just the state of things right now, I guess," she said. " ... It's pretty messed up."

Another fairgoer who did not provide his name hadn't noticed it yet and was shocked to hear it was being sold at the fairgrounds.

"Damn, what the hell are they thinking?" he said.

Another rolled her eyes and said she noticed it the first day she came up and was completely floored by it.

The Havre Daily News received reports that complaints had been made to the fair office.

When the fair secretary was asked about it after Wednesday's fair board meeting, she said she can't comment.

Condemnations of the flag's presence were not universal among fairgoers.

Josh Glahn and Brady Allen said people need to stop being so sensitive.

"I just don't like that everyone has got to p*ss and whine about something that happened. OK, it happened, it's our history," Glahn said.

Allen agreed and said he's not offended by it.

"People are so touchy feely about every little thing in today's society. I could walk past that booth and not think twice about it," he said, " ... It's not something I get bu***urt over."

Another fairgoer who did not name himself had a more curt response, saying "I don't f***ing care."

Five others declined to comment.

The vendor flying and selling the flags was not associated directly with the county or the fair, but was an independent vendor approved by Fairgrounds Manager Frank English and the Great Northern Fair Board.

Commission, board, give limited response to issue

English and Fair Board Chair Michelle Burchard said after Wednesday's meeting they didn't know that the vendor would be selling the Confederate flag specifically, but said they have the legal right to sell that flag.

"We don't screen our vendors," Burchard said.

Most of the board members and one of the Hill County commissioners did not directly, and in most cases at all, respond to questions about whether it was appropriate to have a flag perceived by many as a symbol of white supremacy flown at the county fairgrounds, or whether they would approve of similar flags supporting the LGBTQ+ community or Black Lives Matter or pro-choice on the issue of abortion being sold at the fair.

When asked about the matter last Friday morning via email, board member Ken Erickson said later that morning that the matter would be discussed at the next fair board meeting.

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will address it at our next board meeting," his email read.

The board did not discuss the issue at Wednesday's meeting.

The meeting was not noticed to the public, which Burchard said after the meeting was an oversight resulting from the busy fair week.

When asked after the meeting about the propriety of selling the flag, at the Great Northern Fair, she said she would not comment.

No other fair board members commented either and all left before Havre Daily could follup up with other questions.

English said after the meeting that his opinion on the matter is moot because what the vendors sell is not up to him as they do not prohibit people selling whatever they want, as long as it is not illegal.

Two members of the Hill County Commission, Diane McLean and Jake Strissel, also declined to comment on the propriety of the flag being so prominently displayed at the fair.

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson has been out of the office for the past two weeks and couldn't be reached for comment.

Strissel defended the vendor's legal right to sell the flag and said his personal feelings are "irrelevant."

"I recognize we currently live in a very politically charged country where people have strong feelings about current issues on both the national and local levels," he said.

He also said the First Amendment to the Constitution protects freedom of speech.

McLean said the decisions on what vendors are at the fair are made by the fair board.

When Havre Daily followed up repeating the question about whether the flag is appropriate for sale at the fair, whether it has the potential of creating a hostile environment for non-white fairgoers and whether she would support sale of items like rainbow flags supporting LGBTQ+ people, freedom of choice for abortion or Black Lives Matter items, McLean said, "I, respectfully, won't comment on these questions."

Vendor: Flag is symbol of Southern heritage

The booth displaying and selling the flags was run by Lisa Lou, and included a plethora of politically charged flags and political items, as well as pamphlets promoting the false idea that the 2020 Election was stolen.

Lou said she's lived in many places but is originally from the south, and that the flag is not a symbol of racism.

Shortly after this statement however she also made unprompted negative comments about Black Lives Matter, the civil rights movement protesting police killings of Black Americans across the U.S., calling the movement "violent," and falsely claiming that national-level news media is actively covering for them.

Lou said she is not a racist, and people whose feelings are hurt by the presence of the flag at the event need to get over it, but went on to say that she has been a victim of anti-white racism and decried her treatment by "the left."

She said she's sold far more of these flags in Montana and Idaho than she ever did in North and South Carolina, and in far less time, although she said the flag is a symbol of Southern heritage.

While the content's of Lou's booth leaned exclusively right-wing, she said she would not have an issue with a left-leaning flag seller flying a Trans Pride Flag, or selling merchandise with pro-choice slogans or anything like that, because she doesn't judge how people make their livelihoods.

While no one at the Hill County Commission the Fair Board or the fairgrounds manager would comment on the propriety of the Confederate battle flag, Strissel and English said they wouldn't have an issue with something like that either.

"Sell all the rainbow flags you want," English said.

A history of the flag and its use

The Confederate battle flag, while not actually the official symbol of the Confederacy, is the most recognizable modern symbol of the southern states that seceded from the United States of America in 1860 and 1861, in large part to preserve the practice of slavery, which precipitated the U.S. Civil War.

While some see the flag as a symbol of southern heritage, non-white Americans, particularly Black Americans, widely view the flag as a symbol of white supremacy, a veneration of the people who fought to keep them enslaved.

In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War the flag largely faded from public use outside of specific functions directly honoring those who fought and died for the Confederacy.

However, like a great deal of Confederate monuments and iconography, its popularity saw a resurgence in the early 1900s, and even more during the Civil Rights Era when Black Americans were fighting for equality.

The flag became popular among opponents of the movement as well as hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, eventually becoming a mainstream symbol of the South in the eyes of many.

The flag's resurgence in popularity was not wholly organic, but a reaction to these movements and much of the Confederate iconography in the South was placed in deliberate attempts to alienate and terrify people of color.

In recent decades, however, debate abour the flag's use has increased, and public displays of the flag in the South are less and less common.

Mississippi had the Confederate Emblem in its state flag, but voted in 2020 to retire the flag, and in 2015 South Carolina removed the flag from its state capitol. Many southern states have been removing Confederate monuments as well, many of which went up long after the end of the Civil War as well.

While public perception of the flag has become more negative overall, it still sees use by many including modern far-right and white-supremacist groups.