The Pierce County Republican Party and an anti-abortion group have reached an agreement with the Washington State Fair after controversy over new fair guidelines led the groups to say that they wouldn’t participate in the event.
The Pierce County GOP and Washington Alliance for Life, an anti-abortion group, both publicly said they wouldn’t participate in this year’s fair, after the fair asked them to move to a “free speech area.”
Following meetings with the groups on Thursday, fair officials reversed course and said the groups won’t have to move to the free speech area during the fair, which will run from Aug. 29 to Sept. 21 in Puyallup.
Stacy Van Horne, spokesperson for the fair, told The News Tribune on Wednesday that the organizations had not been banned from the fair — rather, the fair asked them to move to the “free speech area” because of new guidelines that focus on guest-friendly experiences.
“It’s about having separate areas for different things at the fair,” Van Horne said.
Van Horne said both organizations have participated in the fair in prior years, but in different locations. The PCRP has had a booth inside the ShowPlex, a marketplace where retailers sell products. The Alliance for Life has been included in NW Connections, the fair’s educational programming inside the Expo Hall.
After the meetings Thursday, Van Horne emailed The News Tribune two separate statements — one for each group — that said the groups would be allowed to return to those locations.
Pierce County Republican Party at the Washington State Fair
On Thursday, PCRP’s vice chair, Kristen Bridgan-Brown, issued a statement on Facebook, calling the change a “victory.”
“Victory at the Washington State Fair!,” she wrote. “We stood firm—and the Fair listened. We will continue gathering initiative signatures & offering merchandise to our donors inside our ShowPlex booth!”
The News Tribune reached out to the PCRP. The group declined to comment.
Van Horne’s emailed statement about the change said: “The Washington State Fair Event Center and Chair of the Pierce County Republican Party met and discussed the parameters of their booth at the upcoming Fair. We have come to a mutual understanding to allow the GOP to continue gathering signatures and selling merchandise at their booth inside the ShowPlex building.”
Van Horne’s statement went on to say: “If official nationally recognized political parties apply to be in the ShowPlex amongst other paying vendors, they can operate under those policies and guidelines. All vendors at the Fair must do all business from inside their booths. Other politically-focused groups may still apply to be in the free speech area (located inside the Green Gate) at no cost.”
On Aug. 10, PCRP chair Dave McMullan previously announced on Facebook the organization would not participate in the fair because the fair wouldn’t let them gather signatures or offer merchandise.
“The Pierce County Republican Party will not be participating in the Washington State Fair this year due to newly imposed restrictions that prohibit us from offering merchandise for donations to support our work, as well as gathering signatures for citizen-led initiatives,” McMullan wrote. “These activities have always been an important part of our outreach — allowing us to connect with voters, share our values, and support grassroots civic engagement.”
Van Horne clarified that the free speech area is not new, but the guidelines are.
“Free speech area has been around for more than a decade it’s intended for signature gathering and things of political nature as mentioned in our statement,” Van Horne wrote. “The GOP has been inside the ShowPlex and will continue to be.”
During a phone call with The News Tribune on Wednesday, Van Horne said the fair changed its guidelines in 2024, requiring the PCRP to go to the “free speech area” by the Green Gate. Van Horne said PCRP violated those policies last year by gathering signatures and selling merchandise in the ShowPlex.
“We changed our policies about all of that last year, and they didn’t adhere to those – they can’t sell merchandise and they can’t gather signatures, and if they want to gather signatures, they can only do that in the free speech area,” Van Horne said on Wednesday, before the agreement was reached. “People who are out buying candles and bamboo bedsheets don’t necessarily want to be hawked at and pulled into a booth to sign things and stuff.”
Washington Alliance for Life at the Washington State Fair
The PCRP shared a post on Aug. 9 with a photo of a letter from the fair to the Washington Alliance for Life. In the letter, the fair declined to let the Alliance for Life participate in its NW Connections program.
Following the fair’s meeting with the group on Thursday, Van Horne said the fair will allow the Washington Alliance for Life to participate in this year’s NW Connections program in the Expo Hall, and will continue to have conversations about the booth’s content.
“The Washington State Fair Event Center met with Alliance for Life and have come to a mutual understanding regarding booth space at the Fair. Alliance for Life will be allowed to have a booth as part of the Fair’s NW Connections program,” Van Horne wrote. “The Fair and the organization will continue to work together to ensure the display and content shared will focus on education, connection and providing resources to guests.”
The News Tribune reached out to the Washington Alliance for Life. Teri Conover, the president of the organization, said Thursday: “We are thrilled that we’re going to be back at the fair. We are elated.”
Van Horne previously told The News Tribune the fair would not allow the organization to have a booth in NW Connections this year because the fair has shifted the direction of the program to be more outdoors-focused.
“NW Connections is basically an education area and the booths in there are free – there’s, like, 70 vendors,” Van Horne said Wednesday. “[Washington Alliance for Life’s] display and their programming has changed – and we’ve also kind of tried to change the direction of NW Connections to make it more cohesive with NW Outdoors.”
She also said the Washington Alliance for Life has changed its display in recent years, calling it “graphic.”
“They didn’t want to adhere to requests of how to update their display, and that’s where we split hairs,” Van Horne said Wednesday. “They say, ‘Well, it’s educational,’ but when you’re putting up pictures and graphic displays that look like the kind you would see at protests on the street – that’s not what their booth used to look like – that’s not educational.”
Van Horne said Wednesday that the fair invited the organization to participate in the free speech area, but the organization declined.
‘It has nothing to do with what we believe in.’
Van Horne said Wednesday that the fair did not make its decisions with politics in mind, and that fair officials are always having ongoing conversations as they update their guidelines.
“It has nothing to do with what we believe in. The fair has and always will be apolitical,” Van Horne said. “It’s not like anybody’s been banned from the fair or anything – every single year, somebody applies for various areas and we look at a multitude of factors.”
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