‘Dixie’ fair gets name change after divided NC city argued whether it invoked slavery
After months of debate, city council members in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, voted Monday night to change the name of the historic Dixie Classic Fair that some community members said was too closely linked with slavery.
Of the seven members present, four voted in favor of the change, two against and one abstained, WXII reported.
“Glad to see the overwhelming racists in NC didn’t get their way this time! Tired of confederate flags & offensive names!” resident Heather Ford tweeted after the decision.
A new name, which has not yet been decided, won’t go into effect until 2021, per WFMY. The 2019 Dixie Classic is already slated for Oct. 4-13.
WXII reported some suggestions for the new name include the Twin City Fair, Camel City Fair, Triad Classic Fair and the Winston-Salem Classic Fair.
Concerned citizens first sounded the alarm at an April city council meeting, saying the word “Dixie” is reminiscent of the Confederacy and slavery in the South, The Winston-Salem Journal reported.
Soon after, the newspaper reported Assistant City Manager Ben Rowe urged the Fair Planning Committee to prepare for a name change.
The city announced in a tweet April 24 that it was starting the process, but not without public input first.
Community members were invited to submit new name suggestions online, and the Charlotte Observer reported the city also circulated a survey to rebrand the fair.
But one resident suggested the input from that survey wasn’t taken into consideration during the vote Monday.
“I thought that the people spoke and made it clear that the name should remain the same! It will always be the #DixieClassicFair,” she said on Twitter.
The Dixie Classic Fair is more than a century old but adopted its current name in 1956, WFMY reported.
At the time, the news outlet reported city leaders were searching for a name that encompassed “the fair’s broad regional reach” given that spectators came from North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.
But the city is divided on whether it warrants an update. WXII reported the majority of the 11,500 responses generated from citizens during the public input state were in favor of keeping the name.
Some took to Twitter Tuesday to voice their reactions.
