July 7, 2010 in City, Idaho

‘Fiesta’ fair theme riles some in Bonner GOP

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Republican leaders in Sandpoint don’t want their participation in the “Fiesta at the Fair” theme for this year’s Bonner County Fair to be mistaken for a weakening of their resolve that English should be the primary U.S. language, or their support for cracking down on illegal immigration.

So they plan to decorate the GOP central committee booths with license plates from Arizona, ground zero in the latest political debate over illegal immigration, and replace any reference to “fiesta” with the word “celebrate” instead. They’ve also sent a letter to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer asking for help.

“The Republicans at BCRCC want to make it very clear that English is our primary language, and call our booths ‘Celebrate!’ and display some Arizona license plates if you have some to spare,” Bonner County Republican Central Committee Chairman Cornel Rasor, who also serves as a county commissioner, wrote in the letter to Brewer.

Rasor sought to distance himself from the clash Wednesday but acknowledged he signed and sent the letter.

“Having a fiesta theme at the fair was OK with me, I didn’t even think about it ‘til somebody brought it up,” Rasor said. “But their concerns are very real to them, so I don’t want to downplay it.”

He added, “If I understand it correctly, the word ‘fiesta’ and the word ‘celebrate’ are actually synonyms, and that’s what the people who were concerned about it were talking about, so technically speaking we didn’t have a different theme than the fair - it’s just a different spelling.”

At its monthly meeting in late June, the committee voted to “affirm” Arizona’s tough immigration law - a position also taken last month by the Idaho Republican Party at its annual convention - and to send the letter seeking the license plates for the fair booth to Arizona’s governor.

Rasor said an e-mail went around a week before the meeting from members who “didn’t like the idea that it was a Spanish theme, with the border problems. A couple others e-mailed and said, ‘Chill out, fiesta just means celebration, forget it.’”

Longtime Bonner County Fair Board Chairman Tim Cary of Priest River said, “This has got nothing to do with English or anything else. … We just come up with something that’s fun to decorate with, that’s all we do.”

Last year’s fair theme was “A Black Tie and Blue Jeans Affair,” and in 2008, it was, “Ewe Bee There - It’s Our 80th Fair!” Groups sponsoring booths at the August fair or submitting items in fair competitions decorate to the theme to win prizes.

Gail Curless, a Fair Board member, said, “We try to get it chosen by the first of the year, because there’s people who quilt and who do handicrafts and that sort of thing, and they want to know early on.”

She said she supported this year’s “Fiesta at the Fair” theme, which she said will offer lots of colorful options for decorating. “I think it’s a reach to be upset by the word ‘fiesta’ - that’s a big reach,” Curless said. “It’s sort of like making it ‘freedom fries’ instead of French fries.”

Cary noted that one of the fair’s longstanding food attractions is the Mexican food offered at the Search and Rescue booth. “Are we supposed to change the name of a burrito to something in English?” he asked. “I’m thinking there’s some narrow-mindedness here, but that’s just my opinion.”

State Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, said she missed last month’s GOP central committee meeting due to high school graduation festivities, and wasn’t sure what message the committee was trying to send.

“The Bonner County fair staff and the Bonner County fair board are terrific people, and I’m sure that their choosing ‘fiesta’ as the theme for the fair had nothing to do with immigration laws,” she said. “They were looking for something that was upbeat and positive.”

Rasor said there were only “two or three that objected to it” on the central committee, and the overall direction from the committee was “to support Arizona, something a lot of committees are doing these days.”

13 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  spokanada on July 07 at 3:41 p.m.

  They might as well outlaw pinata’s. The GOP is a joke and these people need to get a life. It’s a county fair for crying out loud.

• 

  Loudin on July 07 at 4:22 p.m.

  This is the sort of stupidity that occurs when you eat too many Freedom Fries.

  Don’t these numbskulls understand that the Hispanic-American demographic is the fastest growing voting segment in this country? Don’t they get that being anti-Hispanic is pushing those votes to the Democrats?

  Idiots…typical Idaho GOP idiots. Way to marginalize yourself!

  PS: We are at war in two countries and the only thing that the GOP and their followers want to talk about is an immigration issue that’s existed for decades. Phonies…total flakes. Why, when Bush was President and both houses were GOP majorities, wasn’t this HUGE problem addressed then? Again, total partisan phonies…

• 

  PlanB on July 07 at 4:33 p.m.

  Time for a bill legalizing stopping suspected republicans and asking them for their papers. They will be deported to Republicanica for re-programming if they can’t prove they have signed the GOP oath and made at least one racist comment that day.

• 

  Arpie on July 07 at 4:48 p.m.

  I’m afraid it will be the other way around. The BCRCC will be watching which of the quilters and decorators get too colorful with their creations and drum them out of the party.

• 

  spokanecommunistparty on July 07 at 4:51 p.m.

  At Republican Fairs, they have one of those “dunk a poor person tanks” go to http://movetoamend.org/ and sign this petition overturning the supreme court’s decision ruling that corporations are people. Than share it on Facebook!!

• 

  chefxh on July 07 at 5:28 p.m.

  *eye-roll* Oh, please. Those who idolize Joe Arpaio have never had to live in Maricopa County. Arizona is the “crazier than thou” state, folks, get it? (Closely followed by craziness rival, my native Missouri.) Do not emulate. This border is not that one. If you want to end the violence, reform immigration in favor of the cheap labor we insist on anyway, and end the pointless war on drugs.

• 

  spokanecougar on July 07 at 5:39 p.m.

  Wow.

  Still waiting for a bill to pass to make stupidity illegal, then we wont have to hear about crap like this.

• 

  tlm509 on July 07 at 6:47 p.m.

  This just in. Bonner County Republicans will vote next month to eliminate St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the county.

• 

  riverlaw on July 07 at 7:18 p.m.

  I think our Country would be much better off if we banned this kind of stupidity instead of blaming people who look different than us for all of our problems.

• 

  SugarShane on July 07 at 7:34 p.m.

  Not sure why they equate Spanish with Mexico, its the primary language in MANY different parts of the world. Unless maybe they’re just racists. Ever been to Sandpoint for a Bonner County Fair? Its one of the whitest cities in Idaho.

• 

  Scoutster on July 07 at 8:13 p.m.

  I wonder if homo sapiens will be permitted to enter.

• 

  MrNatural on July 08 at 11:03 a.m.

  When I read this article my first reaction was how boorishly juvenile. Then I realized that this is subtle ethnic cleansing by paranoid meatheads. Along with “freedom fries” and other flag-sucking identity crises these people maligned their ancestral lineage and have taken what it means to truly be and American (pardons for Mr. Vespucci) and are just plain racists. I think instead of going to the fiesta I will patronize the Chautauqua up in Chewelah

• 

  Arch_Druid on July 11 at 11:59 a.m.

  You guys want to know something? The Bonner County GOP right now have Raul Labrador (and his name sure ain’t John Smith) potentially representing them in a race against Walt Minnick. And yet, the Bonner County GOP are prepared to literally shoot themselves in the foot for raising a fuss over Fiesta. Fiesta being a word that Mr. Labrador would likely say?

  This is worse than a joke, folks. The GOP want their majority back AND engage in the worst sort of stupidity imaginable. Only in Idaho.