Today is more than just another Tuesday, Today, we decide what kind of city we want to live in.
The question is simple, but the consequences are profound: Do you want to be ruled by unelected bureaucrats, or represented by fellow citizens who answer to you?
Over the past few decades, we’ve watched a dangerous trend take root. Decisions that affect our roads, our homes, our businesses, our safety, and our children’s future are being made behind closed doors, by people we never voted for and cannot remove. That is not self-government, that is administrative rule.
Representation Is a Responsibility
In America, government is supposed to be for the people, by the people. That means every official, every policy, every tax, and every decision must be accountable to you, the voter, not to a city manager, or some appointed “expert.”
But that only happens when you show up.
This election is not about popularity, appearances, or titles. It’s about whether Hillsdale will be governed by a city staff that drives the agenda, or by elected representatives who listen, deliberate, and act according to the will of the people.
Who Benefits from Bureaucratic Rule?
Make no mistake: those who prefer to be ruled by bureaucrats are turning out in force today. Why? Because they depend on the bureaucracy to:
Use government force to take from others,
Push ordinances that favor their interests,
And have unaccountable insiders pick winners and losers.
They want policies decided for them, protections granted to some and withheld from others, and a system where influence and insider access matter more than the voice of the citizen.
If you believe in equal treatment under the law, lower taxes, and a government that answers to the people rather than controls them, then you must be just as motivated to vote today—more so.
Go knock on your neighbor’s door. Call your friends. Offer someone a ride. Spend the day getting as many people to the polls as you possibly can.
Rule or Representation: You Get to Choose
Do you believe your voice matters?
Do you want a say in how your money is spent, perhaps, you’re tired of being taxed into poverty?
Do you want your concerns to be heard by someone who answers to you, not controlled by the bureaucracy?
Then today is your day.
Every vote cast helps determine the future, not just of City Hall, but of local self-government itself.
Will we double down on government by default, or return to the foundational American idea that we elect neighbors, not rulers?
Hillsdale will get what it deserves today—one way or another. Be part of breaking the chains of bureaucratic rule.
🗳 Vote Today
📍 Hillsdale Community Library 🕖 Polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
This is your city, this is your future, Don’t let it be decided without you.
And no, we don’t need to mention any names here. The candidates in this Mayoral race are polar opposites, and the contrast is plain to every voter paying attention. If you believe in being heard, not herded, then your choice today is crystal clear.
A Servant Leader with Broad Support, Real Results, and Unshakable Principles
The Hillsdale Conservatives are proud to officially endorse Matthew Bentley as the next Mayor of Hillsdale.
With the field now narrowed to two, the distinction couldn’t be clearer, One candidate serves the people, the other serves the bureaucracy.
Bentley isn’t just the only conservative left in the race, he’s the only one with the backbone, clarity, and principles necessary to lead Hillsdale in a time of crisis and change.
A Unifier Across Party Lines
It speaks volumes that Bentley has earned the support of Republican, Conservative, Libertarian, and Independent groups, not just in our county, but across the state. That kind of coalition doesn’t come from political pandering. It comes from trust, earned through action.
He’s also gained strong support from members of the Hillsdale College community, who recognize in him the rarest quality in politics today, conviction rooted in timeless American values.
He doesn’t play sides, he builds bridges, And he does it all while standing firm on principle.
Leading with Courage, Not Cowardice
While his opponent, Scott Sessions, hides behind bureaucracy and refuses public dialogue, Matthew Bentley shows up, every time. In Bentley’s own words:
“Scott seems to have been unwilling to meet with me in a public forum to provide the clarity the citizens need to make an informed vote.”
Let that sink in, When voters ask for transparency, Sessions disappears, When the moment calls for courage, Bentley stands alone, unshaken.
That’s not politics, that’s leadership.
Record of Action, Not Empty Promises
Bentley’s campaign isn’t built on platitudes, it’s grounded in the record of a fighter:
He opposed the “Road Diet” and ran for mayor because “the will of the people” was being ignored by city leadership.
He’s reforming Special Assessment Districts, so families aren’t blindsided by excessive infrastructure costs: “The onerous $5,000 cap for residential homeowners can be lessened or eliminated.”
He’s spoken honestly about homelessness and crime, praising local nonprofits like Share the Warmth, while demanding the county expand jail capacity to address the hundreds of unserved warrants in our community: “Vagrancy and the criminality associated with it cannot be tolerated… City Council needs to back the police.”
Unlike his opponent, Bentley isn’t just focused on city staff and optics. He’s already working with county and state officials to push back against overreach, defend due process, and fight for lower taxes, smaller government, and citizen-led government.
The Final Choice
Scott Sessions wants to keep the machine running quietly, Matthew Bentley wants to restore local control to the citizens.
This race isn’t just about personalities, it’s about who answers to the people, and who answers to the bureaucracy.
So here’s where we stand,
Bentley is the people’s candidate, Sessions is the system’s.
We at the Hillsdale Conservatives are choosing boldness over bureaucracy, accountability over silence, and principle over politics.
Vote Matthew Bentley for Mayor on Tuesday, November 4th
🗳 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 📍 Hillsdale Community Library
Let’s elect a mayor who fights for you, because he already has.
A Civic Report on Sheriff Hodshire’s Intimidation, the Fair Board’s Contradictory Actions, and the Ongoing Abuse of Authority in Hillsdale County
A Sudden Reversal
After weeks of locked gates, intimidation, and the use of law enforcement to exclude citizens, the Hillsdale County Agricultural Society has abruptly reversed course.
On Thursday, residents who were previously denied membership received an email from Fair Manager Sabine Young, stating that—after consulting an attorney—the Society will now “allow” people to apply for membership with a $10 fee and membership card.
“We have consulted an attorney, and we are going to allow you to apply for membership with $10 and filling out the membership card.” — Sabine Young, Fair Manager
For many residents, this message was astonishing not because it extended an offer, but because it confirmed what they already knew: the Fair Board had acted unlawfully.
The Letter That Started It All
Just weeks earlier, every citizen who attempted to pay their $10 membership fee had received a formal rejection letter from the Society’s Executive Board of Directors:
“After careful review, we regret to inform you that due to violations of our code of conduct, we are unable to grant you membership in the Hillsdale County Agricultural Society at this time. The Society upholds high standards of integrity, respect, and professionalism among its members. Adherence to these standards is essential to maintaining the positive and collaborative environment our organization strives to promote.” — Executive Board of Directors, Hillsdale County Agricultural Society
No specific “violations” were ever cited. There were no hearings, no incidents, and no evidence—only a vague moral accusation used to block citizens who had done nothing more than attempt to join.
From “Code of Conduct” to Confession
The shift from that rejection letter to the latest email is staggering. At first, the Society claimed residents had violated its “code of conduct.” Then, when those same citizens began documenting the unlawful refusals and the Sheriff’s involvement, the Fair Board reversed itself—admitting it had sought legal counsel and would now “allow” people to “apply.”
Both claims cannot be true. Either those residents were guilty of misconduct, or they were unlawfully denied and are now being invited back under pressure. The latter is self-evident. The reversal is an implicit confession that the original denials were unlawful, discriminatory, and indefensible.
The Role of Law Enforcement
The contradiction didn’t end on paper. When citizens questioned the denials, Fair Board President Nathan Lambright—who also serves as the Undersheriff of Hillsdale County—used his position to enforce those illegal decisions.
Armed officers were called to the fairgrounds multiple times to confront residents attempting to pay their $10 dues. When the public persisted, the Board held a secret meeting inside the Hillsdale County Jail, guarded by the Sheriff’s Department.
Following that meeting, Sheriff Scott Hodshire issued a message threatening residents with trespassing charges. Deputies on scene acknowledged that the jail is public property, but the Sheriff later declared the area “restricted,” turning what would have been a misdemeanor into a potential felony.
That use of law-enforcement authority to suppress lawful civic participation constitutes retaliation under color of law, potentially violating both MCL 750.505 (misconduct in office) and 18 U.S.C. § 242 (deprivation of rights under color of law).
The Legal Reality
Under MCL 453.233 (Act 80 of 1855), any resident over 18 who pays the membership fee “shall be a stockholder or member therein.” The Society’s own website repeats it:
“A person becomes a member of this society by paying the sum of ten ($10.00) dollars… Those members eligible to vote must have paid thirty (30) days prior to that meeting.”
That is not a request—it is a statutory right. By refusing those payments, the Fair Board violated both state law and its own Articles of Association. Under MCL 453.234, anyone who tenders payment in good faith is a member by law, even if the Board refuses to record it.
A Pattern of Deception
Board Claim
Contradiction / Reality
“The Fair is a community event.”
Later declared “private property.”
“Applicants violated the Code of Conduct.”
No evidence, no process, no record.
“The Fair doesn’t take tax money.”
MDARD state grants of $40,000 (2018) and $63,916 (2023).
Belated admission after legal exposure that membership must be accepted.
Every contradiction served one purpose: to control access and silence dissent.
A Broader Breach of Public Trust
The key figures behind these actions—Lambright (Undersheriff), Sheriff Hodshire, former legislator Bruce Caswell, and former judge Mike Nye—have all held positions of public authority. Their silence or complicity has turned a once-respected agricultural society into a case study in how public office can be misused to protect insiders and punish citizens.
When a county’s top lawman uses his badge to threaten residents exercising lawful rights, that isn’t “security.” That’s authoritarianism in a small-town uniform.
And when long-trusted officials stand silent as those violations unfold, that silence is complicity. Whether through fear or allegiance, their inaction amplifies the harm.
Damage Control Isn’t Accountability
The new email inviting “applications” doesn’t undo a month of misconduct. It doesn’t erase the intimidation. And it doesn’t absolve officials who broke the law.
The Fair Board’s sudden compliance only came after public exposure, legal documentation, and outside reporting to higher authorities, including:
The Michigan Attorney General’s Office
The Michigan State Police Professional Standards Division
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
The Internal Revenue Service
Those agencies now possess:
The denial letters citing nonexistent “code violations”
The Sheriff’s threats of prosecution
Records of the secret jail meeting
The follow-up email confirming attorney consultation and reversal
Together, they form a timeline of unlawful exclusion, intimidation, and deception.
Restoring Integrity in Hillsdale County
True accountability begins with transparency and restitution:
Recognize every tendered $10 as valid membership under Act 80 of 1855.
Hold a lawful, open election in December, supervised by a neutral authority.
Investigate the Sheriff’s Department’s involvement in intimidation and retaliation.
Sanction or remove any official found to have violated their oath or misused public resources.
The Fair calls itself “The Most Popular Fair on Earth.” To earn that title again, Hillsdale’s leaders must understand that popularity means nothing without integrity, accountability, and law.
A Turning Point
This story is not merely about the Fair—it is about fairness. And Hillsdale County residents have made it clear: they will no longer be locked out of their own institutions, no matter who stands at the gate.
By Friday—the day after the Society’s reversal—nearly forty new memberships were accepted without incident. The Fair Manager and staff were polite, courteous, and professional. Not a single call to the Sheriff’s Department was made. No disruptions. No conflict. Just citizens exercising the rights they already had under law.
For 175 years, the Hillsdale County Fair has been where families meet, neighbors reunite, and generations show what this county can grow and build together. That legacy does not belong to a board or a badge—it belongs to the people of Hillsdale County.
So let this be a turning point. Let every citizen who loves this county and believes in fairness take part—pay the $10, become a member, and help guide the Fair into its next chapter.
The Fair Office is open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (closed Wednesdays) and will be closed Monday this week. Residents have until November 14th to become members eligible to vote at the December election meeting.
If you believe in an agricultural fair that puts 4-H and open class first—that values honesty, transparency, and equal access—be part of the change. The Fair’s best years don’t have to be behind it. For the next 175 years to truly live up to the name “The Most Popular Fair on Earth,” it must once again belong to everyone.
Thanks again to Fox 47 for covering and documenting this as it unfolds.
A Civic Report on Sheriff Hodshire’s Intimidation, Secret Meetings, and the Unlawful Exclusion of Hillsdale County Residents.
For the first time in 175 years, Hillsdale County residents arrived at their own county fair, not to ride the Ferris wheel or eat elephant ears, but to attend the Agricultural Society’s monthly meeting and, once again, try to become members—only to find the gates locked.
The Hillsdale County Agricultural Society, led by President Nathan Lambright, who also serves as Undersheriff of Hillsdale County, held what can only be described as a secret meeting at the County Jail.
Fortunately, not all Fair Board members agreed with these actions. Several quietly informed residents of the abnormal venue change, confirming that the meeting had been moved.
Under Michigan law, the fair isn’t a private club, it’s a state-chartered agricultural society organized under the Agricultural Society Act of 1855.
MCL 453.233 (Act 80 of 1855) “Any person who has attained the age of 18 years and shall pay into the treasury of the society … shall be a stockholder or member therein and entitled to all the privileges and immunities thereof.”
Translation: Pay the fee, become a member. No screening, no board approval, no politics.
For generations, the Hillsdale County Fair begged for volunteers. Now, with the help of the Sheriff’s Department, and even the use of the county jail, its officers are breaking that very statute to keep residents out.
A Familiar Script
If this sounds familiar, it’s because Hillsdale has seen this play before: secret meetings, selective enforcement, and intimidation.
It happened during the delegate-election disputes, when local government representatives violated the election law to hold on to the local Republican Party. It surfaced again when the County Clerk admitted under oath to destroying election materials. Same faces. Same tactics. Different stage.
The Private-Property Defense & Why It Fails
After first promoting the Fair as a “community event,” President Lambright now claims the Hillsdale County Agricultural Society is a private organization on private property, free to exclude whomever it wishes.
That claim has been used to:
Expel a political group for distributing factual literature, he did not like.
Refuse lawful membership payments from residents, and
Conduct “closed” meetings not at the fairgrounds, but inside the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Department, a public facility funded by taxpayers.
What the Law Actually Says
On paper, the Society is a private nonprofit under Act 80 of 1855. Michigan’s Attorney General confirmed in Opinion No. 6983 (1998) that such societies are private corporations and not automatically “public bodies” under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or Open Meetings Act (OMA).
However, “private” is not a magic word. That classification does not excuse violations of Act 80, the Michigan Nonprofit Corporation Act (MNCA), or the Society’s own Articles of Association.
Even as a private corporation, the Society must:
Admit members who meet statutory requirements and tender dues,
Hold annual elections and meetings open to those members, and
Provide fair notice and procedure for amendments or discipline.
Refusing to accept payment, locking out qualified members, and hiding behind “private property” converts a lawful corporation into an unaccountable clique, something Michigan law expressly forbids.
The Attorney General’s own guidance draws the line clearly:
Agricultural societies may be private for FOIA and OMA purposes, but they remain bound by state law and their governing documents for membership, elections, and access.
The Hillsdale Fair Board has crossed that line, twisting private status into a weapon of exclusion while conducting its “private” meetings in a public jail under armed guard.
Public Officials Turn a Blind Eye
Among those sitting silently on the Fair Board are Bruce Caswell, former state legislator and county commissioner, and Mike Nye, retired Hillsdale County judge. Both men spent decades interpreting and enforcing Michigan law, yet neither has objected publicly as their own board disregards it. Their silence isn’t neutrality. It’s complicity.
Even more troubling is the behavior of Sheriff Scott Hodshire. After the closed meeting, held inside the county jail, the Sheriff issued a message threatening residents with trespassing prosecution for attempting to attend. Deputies on scene acknowledged the jail is public property, but the Sheriff claimed the area was “restricted” and “unsafe.”
Apparently it was safe enough for Fair Board members who said they “didn’t feel safe” around citizens bringing ten-dollar bills.
New members—those who lawfully tendered payment, were thus barred from a meeting of a society created by state statute, held in a public facility, under the orders of sworn officers whose duty is to uphold that law.
It sounds like satire. It isn’t. It’s Hillsdale County, 2025.
Misinformation, Manipulation, and the Abuse of Public Trust
The crisis surrounding the Hillsdale County Fair is not an isolated administrative dispute, it is part of a broader pattern of misinformation and abuse of authority by individuals who have held or still hold positions in local government.
Many of these figures have used their official titles and influence to manipulate public perception, blur the lines between lawful authority and personal control, and silence those who question their actions.
A Pattern of Deception
Residents were first told the Fair was a “community event” open to all. When that became inconvenient, it suddenly became “private property.” When confronted with state law guaranteeing membership, the board shifted again, claiming “safety concerns.” Each excuse contradicted the last, yet each was delivered with the confidence of authority designed to make people doubt their own understanding of the law.
This isn’t confusion, it’s strategy: a calculated pattern of mixed messaging and emotional manipulation aimed at exhausting citizens and protecting power.
Abuse of Office
Law enforcement authority was used to enforce a political exclusion, not to maintain peace.
Elected and retired officials lent credibility to unlawful actions through silence.
The Sheriff’s Office issued threats of prosecution against citizens who lawfully tried to attend a meeting of a society organized under a public statute.
Public resources—the County Jail, deputies, and vehicles—were used to shield a private group from lawful scrutiny.
Each of these acts represents a breach of public trust and a misuse of office under color of authority. Those who swore an oath to uphold state law instead used their positions to circumvent it.
The Damage Done
These actions have eroded faith in local government and deepened division within the community. A tradition built on agriculture, fairness, and fellowship has been turned into a fortress of secrecy and fear. Through lies, omission, and intimidation, public servants have convinced citizens that questioning them is disloyal.
That is not leadership — it is the corruption of civic trust. And it can only be repaired through exposure, accountability, and truth.
Legal Breakdown: Violations of Charter, State, and Federal Law
1 — Violations of the Society’s Own Articles
Membership Rights (Art. 4 & By-Laws §§1-3): Membership is automatic upon payment. The board’s “approval” rule unlawfully amends those rights without the required 30-day notice and two-thirds vote (Arts. 33–34).
Board Authority (Arts. 26–34): Changes made without a member vote are void.
Misuse of Code of Conduct (§§25–26): The Code governs event behavior, not political speech; using it to silence groups is viewpoint discrimination. Relevant Law: MCL 450.2304-.2305; Levandusky v One Fifth Ave., 553 N.E.2d 1317 (1990).
2 — Violations of Michigan Nonprofit Corporation Law
MCL 450.2303: Refusing dues violates procedures for member admission.
MCL 450.2304: Blocking qualified members from elections disenfranchises them.
First Amendment & State Action: Because the Fair relies on public funds, deputies, and city services, it operates as a limited public forum (Rosenberger v UVA, 515 U.S. 819 (1995)). Exclusion for speech is content-based discrimination under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 18 U.S.C. § 242.
4 — Summary of Violations
Article / Section
What It Says
How It Was Violated
Art. 4 / By-Laws §§1-3
Membership automatic upon payment
Board refused payments
Arts. 33–34
Amendments require notice + 2/3 vote
“Approval” rule imposed unilaterally
Code §§25–26
Applies to behavior, not speech
Used to expel or silence groups
Art. 6 / MCL 450.2541
Duty of good faith & loyalty
Board acted in bad faith
Tendered Payments Still Create Membership
The Society’s own posted rule states:
“A person becomes a member of this society by paying the sum of ten ($10.00) dollars… Those members eligible to vote must have paid thirty (30) days prior to that meeting.”
That rule is self-executing. Once a qualified person tenders payment, membership legally attaches—even if the board refuses to accept or record it.
Under MCL 453.234, anyone “enrolled and recorded at least 30 days prior” may vote. The Nonprofit Corporation Act likewise requires annual meetings and protects members from “willfully unfair and oppressive conduct.” (MCL 450.2489.)
A court can order recognition of those memberships nunc pro tunc (retroactively) and compel a lawful members’ meeting. In short: the board can exclude non-members, but it cannot manufacture non-membership by refusing payment.
Why It Matters
The fairgrounds have always been more than midway lights and livestock. They’re where Hillsdale shows what it grows, where the county’s pride meets its people. When those in uniform or office use that power to silence neighbors and decide who may participate, they aren’t protecting tradition; they’re dismantling it.
But power only works when people stop showing up.
The next Fair Board election meeting, traditionally held the second Monday in December at 7 p.m. in the 4-H Dining Hall, is when members elect those who govern the Hillsdale County Fair. Those who have tendered payment are members by law. Those intimidated by the Sheriff and Undersheriff are free to attend and vote.
There is still time to attempt membership. You may be unlawfully denied, but every attempt documents the pattern, and every witness matters. Ask questions. Be seen.
Restoring Integrity in Hillsdale County
The events described in this report have revealed more than a broken process, they have exposed a systemic breach of public trust by those who were sworn to protect it. When law enforcement officers use their badges to shield political allies, when public officials rewrite the law to serve convenience, and when citizens are punished for participation, the rule of law itself is under assault.
Outside Authorities Are Being Notified
Because Hillsdale County’s own leadership has shown itself unwilling or unable to correct these violations, the proper authorities beyond the county are now being notified. This includes documentation and sworn statements being prepared for review by:
The Michigan Attorney General’s Office,
The Michigan State Police Professional Standards Section,
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, and
Other oversight bodies responsible for enforcing nonprofit, civil-rights, and public-integrity laws.
These notifications are being submitted not only by members of the Hillsdale Conservatives, but by numerous residents who have been unlawfully denied membership and restricted from attending Agricultural Society meetings that were secretly relocated to the County Sheriff’s Department as a means of intimidation.
Evidence shows that the County Sheriff himself has used his position to issue threats of prosecution against citizens who simply sought to observe or attend a meeting guaranteed to them by statute. Such conduct—by any public officer—constitutes a misuse of authority under color of law and may violate both state misconduct statutes and federal civil-rights protections (42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 18 U.S.C. § 242).
Immediate Corrective Actions Recommended
Recognition of All Tendered Memberships Every resident who timely offered the $10 fee must be recognized as a lawful member, regardless of the board’s refusal to accept payment.
Independent Oversight of the December Election The next annual meeting should be supervised by a neutral authority, such as the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development or a court-appointed inspector—to ensure fairness and compliance with Act 80 of 1855 and the MNCA.
Public Disclosure and Transparency The Society must make its Articles, bylaws, membership rolls, and meeting minutes available for inspection, as required by state nonprofit law.
Accountability for Misconduct Any public officer who participated in unlawful exclusion, intimidation, or misuse of public facilities should be referred for investigation under MCL 750.505 (common-law misconduct in office) and MCL 15.272 (Open Meetings Act violation – misdemeanor).
Restoration of Public Confidence Reforms should include open access to meetings, clear financial reporting, and removal of any official found to have acted in bad faith or outside their authority.
The Broader Principle
This issue transcends the Fair itself. It is about whether law still means the same thing for the powerful as it does for everyone else. When ordinary residents must appeal to state and federal authorities just to exercise rights plainly written in Michigan statute, the problem is no longer procedural, it is moral.
Yet out of this corruption has come clarity. A community once divided by fear is now united by truth. The people of Hillsdale County are standing up, not for politics, but for the principle that no one is above the law, and no citizen should need permission to participate in their own county fair.
Citations
MCL 453.233 (Act 80 of 1855) • MCL 453.234 • MCL 453.101–103 • MCL 450.2303–.2305 • MCL 450.2489 Michigan AG Opinion No. 6983 (1998) • Michigan Nonprofit Corporation Act • IRS 501(c)(3) Regulations 42 U.S.C. § 1983 • 18 U.S.C. § 242 • Rosenberger v UVA, 515 U.S. 819 (1995) MDARD Grant Records (2018 & 2023) • City of Hillsdale Council Packet (2023) • MSU Extension 4-H Budget Records
in liberty, The Hillsdale Conservatives
A final misconception to clear up.
When cornered, the Fair Board insists it can bar residents because the Fair “doesn’t take taxpayer money.” That would be a cute story—if it weren’t provably false.
State Grants: The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) has funneled tens of thousands in state dollars into the Hillsdale County Fair: • 2018 – $40,000 Grandstand Rainwater & Handicapped Plaza Project • 2023 – $63,916 Technology Upgrade (MDARD County Fairs Grants)
County Tax Authority: Michigan law explicitly allows counties to levy taxes for the benefit of agricultural societies. (MCL 453.101–103)
City Support: Every year, the City of Hillsdale closes streets, assigns police, and manages traffic for the Fair Parade—public manpower and money at work. (City Council Packet 2023 PDF)
County-Funded 4-H Programs: MSU Extension’s 4-H and FFA programs—supported by county tax dollars—run straight through the Fairgrounds. (MSU Extension Hillsdale 4-H Info)
Between the grants, the taxes, the city crews, and the county programs, the Hillsdale County Agricultural Society is about as “private” as a courthouse on parade day. When an organization built by law and funded by taxpayers hides behind badges and locks the doors, it isn’t protecting privacy—it’s violating civil rights.
Thank you, Fox 47 News — and Darius — for shining a light. Now it’s our turn.
By The Hillsdale Conservatives (standing with 4-H families, open-class exhibitors, and everyday Hillsdale residents)
First, a thank-you. Fox 47 News has covered what’s happening at our fair. We’d like to thank Darius for his professionalism and attention to detail — something too rare in Hillsdale County when the subject is accountability.
What’s going on
The Fair Board has a meeting Thursday, October 23 at 7:00 PM. In the past few weeks, people from our group, 4-H, open class, and unaffiliated neighbors went to the office with $10 to join the Agricultural Society — the way it’s always been done. Instead:
We were told to fill out a new “application” for board review.
Police were called on residents who calmly cited the law.
Some were ordered out of the office for simply trying to pay and join.
This isn’t normal. And it isn’t lawful. It’s a tactic to decide who gets to vote before the election — a way to protect the status quo by refusing new members.
This was never about “politics”
What’s happening at the window is the symptom, not the disease.
A small circle has been steering the fair away from agriculture — away from 4-H, open class, and the heritage that made us “The Most Popular Fair on Earth.” Many noticed the empty stalls and absent vendors this year. We’ve since learned that the most successful fair manager was fired a few years ago by the same people now blocking memberships. The results are on display: less agriculture, more fences around decision-making.
They treat the fair like a festival with rides, concerts, and expensive food — entertainment without the engine. But the engine of a county fair is agriculture: farmers and families, 4-H kids learning animal husbandry, craftspeople, growers, makers — the people who show what Hillsdale can do.
Call it what it is: control
Changing the intake from “pay $10, get your card” to “apply and wait” right before the 30-day voting cutoff is a form of election manipulation. We’ve seen the same mindset elsewhere in this county — rules bent to control who participates, while those who expose it get blamed.
We were thrown out of the fair earlier this season for distributing public information to our neighbors — and to this day the Sheriff and Prosecutor have not opened a public, good-faith investigation into the county clerk’s admitted actions on the stand regarding election records. When those sworn to uphold the law don’t act, it encourages the same behavior here: move the goalposts, deny the public, and call it procedure.
Who should lead our fair?
People with agricultural roots and respect for the mission — or people chasing prestige and pretty lights? The fair was founded by statesmen, farmers, and everyday people 175 years ago. It will be restored by the same kind of people now.
What we’re doing — and what you can do
Go to the fair office and attempt to join. Bring $10. Ask to pay dues and receive your membership card. If denied, politely ask them to put the refusal in writing and note the name of the person refusing.
Bring neighbors and friends. Everyone who cares about agriculture and community has a stake.
Come to the meeting: Thursday, October 23 at 7:00 PM. Bring $10 and attempt to join there as well. Your presence matters.
Document what happens. Be courteous, record the date/time, and save any paperwork. We’re building a public record because transparency is how communities course-correct.
Our pledge
We’re not leaving, and we’re not shouting. We’re showing up — with $10 in our hands and Hillsdale’s agricultural spirit in our hearts. The fair belongs to the people who build it, fill it, and love it.
See you on October 23 at 7 PM. Bring $10. Bring a friend. Let’s return the Hillsdale County Fair to the people who make it The Most Popular Fair on Earth.
How Conservative Principles Built America, and How to Re-center a Corrupted Republic
The argument of the last several centuries isn’t really “left versus right.” It’s liberty versus control. From barons forcing a reluctant king to sign a charter to colonists insisting that rights come from God and not Parliament, the through-line is clear: free people keep fighting to make rulers respect limits. That fight, anchored in ordered liberty, local responsibility, free speech, equal justice, property rights, and moral agency, is what we now call conservatism. It has always been the centerline of the liberty tradition.
Our Founders encoded that center into the machinery of government: a constitutional order built on separated powers, federalism, due process, and open debate. The system was designed to protect pre-existing rights and to restrain political passions, left, right, or otherwise. Over time, though, the order has been pulled off axis by two corrosive forces: a far Left that tries to remake human nature through bureaucracy and speech-policing, and a far Right that mistakes authoritarian rule for freedom and sabotages governing coalitions. Both expand coercion, just with different slogans. The way back is not novelty; it is memory, recovering the conservative center that has always made liberty workable.
The liberty tradition: subjects to citizens
Long before 1776, the English-speaking world learned two hard truths:
People are dignified yet fallible. Freedom without guardrails dissolves, and power without limits corrupts.
Virtue and knowledge grow from the bottom up. Families, churches, associations, and markets form character and solve problems better than distant rulers. Madison understood this principle well.
The American Founding operationalized those truths. It secured rights that predate government, divided power so ambition checks ambition, reserved most decisions close to home, and kept public life open to argument rather than enforced ideology. That’s not “far anything.” It’s the mainstream of Western freedom—the conservative center.
What worked—and why
America took off because the operating system matched reality:
Rights above rulers. Law binds the powerful and protects the meek.
Checks and balances. No one faction can seize everything at once.
Federalism. States and communities tailor solutions to their people.
Free exchange and free speech. Prosperity and truth are discovered, not decreed.
Equal rules, not equal outcomes. Justice applies the same standard to all.
These commitments created space for families to rise, businesses to build, and civic groups to thrive. The center held because citizens shared a practical creed: work hard, tell the truth, raise your kids, love your country, and treat opponents as neighbors—not enemies.
How we drifted: two corruptions of the same mistake
In our time, the center has been squeezed by extremes that make the same error, they overestimate what politics can fix and underestimate what politics can break.
The far Left pushes a therapeutic-authoritarian project: redefine dissent as harm, narrow the Overton window, outsource authority to “experts,” and rule by perpetual emergencies. It promises uplift, delivers dependency, and calls it compassion. It replaces persuasion with penalties and pluralism with litmus tests.
The far Right answers with strict authoritarian ideology, more government, more edicts, more restrictions, trading liberty for control under a different banner.
Both paths centralize coercion, one through swelling bureaucracies, the other through strongman theatrics. Both erode the habits that make republican self-government possible: patience, persuasion, prudence, proportion.
A third, quieter corruption props them up: label inflation. Institutions fling “far right” at anyone who defends biological reality, color-blind law, or parental rights, exiling yesterday’s mainstream from today’s debate. That isn’t analysis; it’s gatekeeping. And it makes honest pluralism impossible.
Re-centering: the conservative core
To recover a functioning republic, we don’t need a new ideology. We need to reassert the conservative core that has always been the liberty center:
Human dignity & moral agency. Rights are inherent; government secures them, it doesn’t grant them. Treat citizens as responsible adults, not clients to be managed.
Rule of law, equally applied. End double standards. Protect the vulnerable first. Choose process and evidence over passion and PR.
Subsidiarity & federalism. Make decisions at the lowest competent level—family → community → state—where knowledge and accountability live.
Pluralism & free speech. A big country needs room for disagreement. Protect conscience; keep public institutions viewpoint-neutral; defeat bad ideas in the open.
Opportunity through abundance. Build what makes life affordable: energy, housing, infrastructure, and skills. Clear chokepoints; trust enterprise; reward work.
Fiscal realism & stewardship. Live within our means. End omnibus gimmicks with single-subject bills. Sunset old rules unless re-justified.
Mediating institutions matter. Strengthen family, faith, and voluntary associations. Government cannot manufacture virtue; it can stop punishing it.
A practical program (measurable, non-extreme)
Safe communities: prosecutor transparency; truth-in-charging; due-process-respecting, order-restoring policing that protects the poor first.
Parents first in education: curriculum transparency; universal choice portability; rigorous literacy/civics; neutral public rules for viewpoint diversity.
Abundance agenda: two-year permit clocks; yes to nuclear, pipelines, and refining; apprenticeships and skills-first hiring; zoning reform for workforce housing.
Clean budgeting: cap spending growth to population + inflation; single-subject appropriations; automatic continuing resolutions slightly below prior levels to end shutdown theater.
Speech & due-process protections: no government “jawboning” of platforms; strong conscience protections in law.
Administrative rollback: independent cost reviews; default sunsetting of major rules unless Congress re-votes them.
None of this is utopian. It’s civilization maintenance.
A word to each side of the coalition
To conservatives and the broader right: trade spectacle for statecraft. Count votes, write amendments, pass laws that last. Stop turning allies into enemies over marginal differences. Rebuild trust by delivering safer neighborhoods, better schools, lower costs, and honest budgets.
To Democrats who still value liberal norms: rejoin the liberty tradition. Defend free speech, color-blind law, and neutral public institutions. Curb the radicals narrowing the window of permissible thought. Help put **Americans, not rulers**back at the center.
The stake in the ground
The core American choice hasn’t changed since we stopped being subjects and became citizens: decree or law, ideology or argument, rationing or abundance, managed dependency or earned dignity. The conservative center—ordered liberty with real limits on power—built a nation where ordinary people could build lives. The far Left’s soft despotism and the far Right’s authoritarian ideals both pull us away from that center. They are mirror errors; the remedy is the same: limits, pluralism, and responsibility.
Plant the flag back in the middle of ordered liberty and hold it. Make the country safe enough to raise kids, free enough to speak the truth, prosperous enough to build a future, and humble enough to live within its means. That is how Americans tamed kings and parliaments. It’s how we’ll tame our own worst impulses now.
Choose builders over burners. Reward competence over clout. Re-center on the conservative principles that turned wilderness into unimaginable prosperity—and will make America worthy of her promise again.
How Hillsdale County Fair Blocked Membership to Control the Board
By The Hillsdale Conservatives (4-H families, open-class exhibitors, and Hillsdale County residents have also been denied)
We went to the Hillsdale County Fair office with ten dollars—the same way membership has always worked. We were refused. Instead of taking dues and issuing cards, staff pushed “applications” for board review and told people to leave. When we cited the Agricultural Society Act and the Fair’s own published rule, 911 was called on county residents standing at a service window.
This didn’t just happen to us. 4-H parents, open-class exhibitors, and unaffiliated neighbors were also denied membership the same way. The pattern is obvious: change the intake rules on the spot, keep new members from enrolling before the 30-day voting cutoff, and hold the board.
What We Saw (and Recorded)
Multiple residents—us included—tendered $10 and were refused.
Staff required a new “application” that goes to the board instead of accepting dues.
After we cited the law and the Fair’s own membership rule, we were ordered to leave and police were called.
Members of the Hillsdale Conservatives along with 4-H families, open-class participants, and unaffiliated residents reported the same refusal over the past few weeks.
Our video shows the refusal and the “application” requirement. (Video attached in article.)
We are not speculating. We documented it.
What Their Own Rule Says (and What It Now Means)
The Fair’s published membership rule is simple: pay $10 → you’re a member, and if you want to vote, your dues must be paid 30+ days before the annual meeting. That long-standing practice—confirmed by past and present board members—was replaced this year, without member notice or vote, by a board-controlled application wall.
Effect: If the office won’t accept dues, new members can’t clear the 30-day deadline. That shrinks the electorate in advance and preserves the status quo. Basically, manipulating the board election.
This is not “neutral policy.” It is functional disenfranchisement.
Why We Call This Corrupt
Process switched at the window. The Fair did not announce a member-approved bylaw change; it just refused dues and imposed a board gate no one had seen before.
Targets the timeline that decides elections. Blocking timely enrollment alters who can vote, which alters who controls the board.
Same election manipulation we’ve seen elsewhere. In sworn testimony from the August 12–13, 2025 court proceedings, the county clerk—by the clerk’s own admissions reflected in transcripts—acknowledged conduct affecting the integrity of election records. Transcripts for this have been published in our past article https://hillsdaleconservatives.com/2025/09/18/__trashed-2/
We are drawing a straight line: when officials change rules to control who gets to participate, that is manipulation of an election in substance, if not in name. What happened at the Fair window is the same logic—use position to manipulate the electorate, keep the power.
What We Were Thrown Out For
We were removed from the fairgrounds earlier this season while sharing public information with the community, information the public has the right to see and discuss. The Board President claimed “rules were violated”, yet when pressed, refused to name any. Now the board itself doesn’t follow its own rule for membership. The hypocrisy speaks for itself.
Where Are the Sheriff and Prosecutor?
Michigan law assigns duties here. The Sheriff and Prosecutor have not opened a good-faith investigation into the clerk’s admitted conduct. That refusal to act, despite clear statutory duties—erodes trust and enables the same rule-bending logic now being used at the Fair office. Coincidently, the Board President is the Undersheriff!
(If either office has initiated a bona fide investigation, we welcome public confirmation and will publish it.)
Status Quo in Hillsdale County
If a board can refuse dues and screen applicants until after the voting cutoff, it controls who counts.
If law enforcement won’t enforce the law when admissions are on the record, power holders learn they can change rules without consequences.
If residents sharing public information are the ones removed, speech becomes a privilege granted by the very people being criticized.
That is how communities lose self-government—slowly, procedurally, and always “just this once.”
What We’re Demanding—Right Now
Accept the $10 and issue cards immediately to every eligible resident who tenders dues.
Back-date enrollment to the first tender date for everyone who was refused, so the 30-day voting right isn’t stolen.
If bylaws truly changed, publish: (a) the member notice given 30+ days in advance, (b) the exact amendment text, and (c) the membership vote record.
Cease removals and 911 calls on residents who are lawfully asserting membership rights and sharing public information.
Sheriff and Prosecutor: Announce an investigation into the clerk’s admitted conduct in the August 2025 proceedings and report publicly on steps taken.
How Residents Can Help (Simple and Lawful)
Bring $10 to the office. Say: “I’m an eligible resident tendering $10 membership dues.”
If refused, calmly ask for the refusal in writing and the bylaw being applied. Note names, date/time, and any posted language.
Email the Fair the same day summarizing the refusal and re-tender payment by certified mail (enclose a check).
Add your account to the community log; attach any video.
Share this article so neighbors can inform themselves and get involved in getting Hillsdale County Fair back to being The Most Popular Fair on Earth..
The barns were quieter this year. You could still smell fried dough drifting down the midway and hear the rattle of rides as the carnival lights flickered on at dusk, but something was missing. Where once the fair was alive with kids brushing calves in the 4-H barn and homemakers carefully setting out pies for open class, there was now resentment and whispers.
“They aren’t listening to us anymore,” said one longtime exhibitor, lowering her voice. “They act like agriculture is an inconvenience.”
The Hillsdale County Fair — The Most Popular Fair on Earth — had always been the showcase of everything Hillsdale grew, built, and believed in. But in recent years, members resigned, managers forced out, youth leaders walked away, and exhibitors found themselves sidelined. The agricultural heart was being pushed aside.
And then came this year’s eruption, when the Fair Board President — who is also the Counties Undersheriff — declared the fair “private property,” expelled a booth calling for accountability, and claimed politics had no place at the fair that was built by farmers and political leaders.
That was the moment the last straw fell: how could The Most Popular Fair on Earth become a playground for entrenched political government figures who use their government positions and influence to ignore the very rules they selectively enforce to push longtime contributors out?
A Stage for Everyone
The Fair began in 1851, when a local legislator named Henry S. Mead stood outside the courthouse and read aloud the bylaws of a new Agricultural Society. This society, he declared, would belong to the community — any resident who paid their dues could join and vote for it’s board.
The first fair took place on the courthouse lawn. Cows and oxen tied out front, jars of jam and quilts displayed on benches inside. It was more than a farm show. It was the county itself on display. After a few years of bouncing back and forth between Jonesville and Hillsdale growing through friendly competition, the Fair found it’s current home.
As the decades passed, the fair expanded — a racetrack in 1865, a grandstand in 1872, harness races in the 1890s that rattled the ground as crowds roared from the stands. Railroads carried in visitors from Lansing, Toledo, Fort Wayne. By the turn of the century, midway rides and food stalls filled the grounds, turning the week into a carnival as much as a fair.
It wasn’t just a showcase. It was a fair, a festival, and a carnival rolled into one — the one place the whole county met itself. That’s when people started calling it “The Most Popular Fair on Earth.”
Politics in the Midway
And politics was never absent.
In the 1850s, the same men who exhibited livestock also traveled to Jackson to form the Republican Party. The courthouse that hosted quilts and preserves also hosted abolitionist speeches. During the Civil War, flags draped the barns as speakers rallied support.
By the late 1800s, stump speeches and prize hogs shared the newspaper columns.
For over a century, Republicans and Democrats alike used their booths to call opponents crooks and liars. Nobody was expelled. Politics wasn’t an intrusion — it was part of the fair’s heartbeat.
The Night of the Expulsion
That tradition cracked in 2025.
The Hillsdale County Conservatives set up their booth with posters documenting what was already on record: that the County Clerk admitted to election crimes, and that the Sheriff and Prosecutor refused to act. For three days, nothing happened.
On the fourth morning, the Director stopped by, polite and calm.
“We’d like you to stop handing out flyers,” she said.
The booth complied. She thanked them and left.
That night, the Building Superintendent stormed in, red-faced, and barked:
“Pack it up. You’re out.”
When asked who gave him authority, he refused to answer. Later, the Board President admitted it was his order. His reasoning shifted like smoke: first it was about “rules,” though he couldn’t name one. Then it was about “community.” Then, finally, he declared the fair was “private property” and the board was “not accountable to the community.”
That peeled away the mask.
The Fair Board President’s Claims — and the Truth
“The fair is private property. We don’t answer to the community.” The Agricultural Society Act of 1855 brought to fruition by Hillsdale’s own Henry Mead requires open membership to all county residents for a small fee, elections, and accountability. To say it is private property is to deny both the law and the society’s founding purpose.
“Politics has no place at the fair.” History proves the opposite. Politics was there from the first abolitionist speeches, through Civil War rallies, through decades of party booths. To erase politics is to erase the fair’s own history.
“The board will vote to take politics out.” A vote cannot erase law. The society exists for its members, not for its officers. The board cannot strip away rights protected by state statute or 175 years of custom.
“The Superintendent can remove booths for objectionable content.” No bylaw grants this authority. Even if it did, it must be applied equally. But here, one booth was silenced while others posted similar political attacks without consequence. That is not authority. That is discrimination.
“Other booths can say what they want. But not the Conservatives.” That is the definition of selective enforcement. Michigan nonprofit law requires equal treatment. To admit to a double standard is to confess the abuse of his position.
“Holding government accountable breaks the rules.” No such rule exists. What truly breaks tradition is entrenched political government figures using their positions of power to shield themselves from criticism — while violating the same standards they enforce on others.
The Pattern Behind the Curtain
The pattern is familiar. A Clerk admits to crimes. A Sheriff and Prosecutor refuse to act. Both expelled from higher Republican committees. And now, their ally — the Fair Board President and Undersheriff — silences critics at the one place the entire county was meant to come together.
This is not about rules. It is about control. It is about entrenched political government figures using their government positions and influence to not only ignore the rules they selectively enforce on others but violate them when it serves their own interests.
The Truth at the Heart of the Fair
The Hillsdale County Fair was never theirs. It never belonged to a handful of board members behind closed doors. It belonged to the people — to the farmers, the 4-H children, the homemakers, the merchants, the politicians on soapboxes, and the families who filled the stands on a September night.
Henry S. Mead’s bylaws declared it in 1851. The Agricultural Society Act confirms it still today.
The Ending We Choose
Every controversy comes to its reveal. And here it is: the fair has been hijacked, hollowed out, turned against its own people. But the solution is written in the law and in our history.
For $10, any resident can join the society. After 30 days, members can vote, elect directors, and change the course of the fair.
The Agricultural Society Act of 1855
This Michigan law (Public Act 80 of 1855) created a legal framework for county agricultural societies. These societies were to operate as public-benefit institutions with open membership, annual elections, and transparent records.
The Hillsdale County Agricultural Society was one of the earliest formed, inspired by local legislator Henry S. Mead. His vision was simple: the fair would belong to the community, not to a few corrupt board members. That remains the law — and the legacy.
Hillsdale, this is your fair. Your history. Your stage.
If we allow entrenched political government figures to silence us, then we lose not just a fair but the heart of our county. But if we stand as the people of 1851 once stood — together — we will prove again why Hillsdale is home to The Most Popular Fair on Earth.
Contact the Fair office and become a member, your vote matters. The meeting to determine the leadership of the Fair is Historically the second Monday in December. You must be a member 30 days before you are able to vote. The office appears to be open mon-tue 8am-2pm thur – fri 8am to noon.
If the Fair Office ignores you, contact the Hillsdale Conservatives Facebook page.
The Hillsdale County Fair was born in 1851, when farmers and civic leaders created the Hillsdale County Agricultural Society. Its purpose was simple but profound: to bring together the people of Hillsdale County for an exhibition of crops, livestock, tools, and ideas. That first fair was held on the courthouse lawn in Hillsdale, before moving to dedicated fairgrounds that became one of the county’s central civic spaces.
From the beginning, the fair was about more than agriculture. It was about community identity. Families came together, competed for premiums, and celebrated their shared way of life. The fair became known as “The Most Popular Fair on Earth,” a nickname that stuck because it captured the event’s deep connection to Hillsdale’s people.
Politics in the Midst of Agriculture
In the mid-19th century, county fairs across Michigan were de facto civic forums. Before radio, mass newspapers, or modern roads, there were few opportunities to gather hundreds or thousands of people in one place. Fairs filled that role. Politicians and reformers seized the opportunity: speeches were given under shade trees, candidates mingled with farmers near cattle barns, and campaigners distributed pamphlets beside stalls of apples and corn.
Hillsdale was especially important. In the 1840s, it hosted fiery abolitionist lectures, with national figures drawing crowds to the courthouse square. In the 1850s, Hillsdale became a hub of Republican Party organizing. The first Republican state convention was held in nearby Jackson in 1854, but the groundwork was laid by counties like Hillsdale, where citizens and farmers rallied against the spread of slavery. The county’s fair was one of the rare spaces where such debates naturally spilled into public life.
Even the fair’s founding documents were political: when the agricultural society organized its first constitution and by-laws, they were presented by Henry S. Mead, a state legislator from Hillsdale. From the very start, the fair was not just agricultural — it was political and civic, woven into the identity of the Republican Party at its birth.
The Fair Through the Generations
For decades, the fair was both spectacle and civic forum.
1850s–1860s: Farmers debated tariffs, railroad routes, and land policy under tents and in barns. In the shadow of the Civil War, fairs became places where loyalty, patriotism, and party allegiance were openly displayed.
Late 19th century: Harness racing became a premier attraction, drawing crowds as large as the politicians who used the grandstands as speaking platforms. County newspapers often reported both prizewinners and political speeches side by side.
20th century: As the fair grew in size and reputation, political booths became as common as food stalls. Both major parties handed out flyers, pinned posters, and courted votes among the crowds. For many candidates, the fair was the single best chance to meet thousands of constituents face-to-face.
By the time the fair earned its nickname, “The Most Popular Fair on Earth,” it had long been recognized as more than a farm show. It was the heartbeat of county life — where agriculture, community, and politics converged.
The 2025 Incident
That centuries-old tradition came under strain this year.
The Hillsdale County Conservatives, a grassroots group challenging corruption and the entrenched Republican establishment, set up their booth at the fair. Their posters called attention to a county scandal: the County Clerk had admitted under oath in court to committing state and federal election crimes, yet the Sheriff and Prosecutor — both Republicans — had refused to investigate.
For the first four days, their booth stood without issue. On the fifth morning, the fair’s Director came by. She was polite, asked the Conservatives not to hand out flyers. They immediately complied. she thanked them, and the matter seemed settled.
But that evening, the situation changed. The building Superintendent stormed into the booth, angry and aggressive, demanding that the Conservatives pack up and leave. The group explained that they were no longer handing out flyers, in compliance with the Director’s request. The Superintendent pointed instead to the posters displayed on the booth’s board. At no time had the Director asked for those to be removed. When asked who gave him the authority to expel them, he refused to answer.
The Conservatives were forced to leave.
The President’s Contradictions
Afterward, the Vice Chair of the Conservatives spoke with the President of the Fair Board — who also happens to be the Undersheriff of Hillsdale County, the same office whose Sheriff has refused to investigate the Clerk’s admitted crimes.
The President admitted that he had personally instructed the Superintendent to have the booth removed. He justified this by claiming that the Conservatives had been told to take down their posters, which is untrue. He then insisted that the fair was a “community fair,” and that politics had no place there.
When pressed further, he contradicted himself, declaring: “This isn’t a community fair.” Minutes later, reminded of his own words, he changed course again and said the board would be voting to “take politics out of the fair” in the future.
The Vice Chair pointed out that politics were already present this year, and that the entire dispute rested on a misunderstanding. The President refused to hear it. He claimed the Conservatives had “violated a rule” — but when asked which rule, he could not answer.
The Vice Chair then highlighted the obvious double standard: both the Republican booth and the Democrat booth have, in past years, displayed flyers calling presidents felons and governors liars. The President shrugged this off, saying simply: “They can do that.”
Finally, he made the most revealing statement of all: that the board owns the fair and is not accountable to the community.
What the Law Says
That claim does not square with Michigan law.
The Hillsdale County Fair is operated by the Hillsdale County Agricultural Society, a nonprofit organized under Michigan’s Agricultural Society Act of 1855 (Act 80). The Act gives agricultural societies legal standing to own property, collect fees, and host fairs — but it also defines them as public-benefit organizations.
Membership in the society is open to the public for a nominal fee, making it a community institution by design.
The society is required to elect a board of directors and hold annual meetings where members may vote — a structure meant to ensure accountability.
The fairgrounds themselves were historically part of Hillsdale’s original town plat, reinforcing the civic nature of the institution.
In short, the law was written to make agricultural societies accountable to their members and the community, not private clubs run at the whim of a few insiders. The President’s declaration that the board “owns the fair” and is “not accountable to the community” is not only historically false, but legally misleading.
The Fair as a Mirror of Cultural Controversy
Controversy at the fair is not new. In fact, it is a defining part of its role in the community.
Then vs. Now — Controversies at the Fair
Then
Now (2025)
1850s: Abolition and the founding of the Republican Party debated at fairs and public meetings.
Election integrity: Clerk admits crimes; Sheriff & Prosecutor refuse to investigate; Conservatives call it out at the fair.
1860s: Civil War loyalty and patriotism on display — fairs became stages for defining community allegiance.
Community trust: The fair board President, also Undersheriff, silences dissent and declares the board unaccountable.
Early 1900s: Prohibition and temperance reformers clashed with their opponents at fairs.
Accountability vs. control: Flyers critical of officials banned, while establishment party booths retain free rein.
1960s–1970s: Cultural divides over civil rights and Vietnam seeped into fairgrounds.
Modern divide: Establishment Republicans vs. grassroots Conservatives over corruption, speech, and who owns civic institutions.
Every generation has fought its battles on the fairgrounds. The 2025 controversy is not a break from tradition — it is the continuation of it. Where earlier generations fought over slavery, prohibition, or war, today the fight is about corruption, accountability, and whether public institutions belong to the people or to a ruling elite.
The lesson is simple: when controversy erupts at the fair, it shows the fair is still doing its job. It remains the mirror of the community, the place where Hillsdale comes face-to-face with itself.
Establishment vs. Conservatives
This year’s controversy also cannot be separated from the larger battle unfolding in Hillsdale County.
For years, the Establishment Republican Party has wielded control over nearly every lever of power: county offices, law enforcement, the courts, and even institutions like the fair board. Their grip is not about party principles but about control. Anyone who speaks out against their abuses quickly finds themselves silenced, punished, or pushed aside.
The Hillsdale County Conservatives, by contrast, have built themselves as the people’s party — fighting for accountability, transparency, and a return to constitutional values. They have exposed corruption, challenged unlawful behavior, and stood up for ordinary residents. That has made them a target.
At the fair, this conflict came to a head. The Establishment Republicans could not tolerate a booth that publicly named their own officials as corrupt. Instead of allowing open debate — the very spirit on which the fair was founded — they used their positions to shut it down. The board President’s statement that the fair is “not accountable to the community” reveals the truth: the Establishment believes Hillsdale belongs to them, not to the people.
Why This Matters
The Hillsdale County Fair was once a proud community institution, where citizens gathered not just for agriculture and entertainment, but for civic life. To silence dissent there is not just to eject a booth — it is to erase part of Hillsdale’s living tradition. A fair without political discourse is not true to its roots.
The incident this year reveals how deeply the Establishment Republicans control the county. They silence voices that challenge them. They use government positions to attack those who dare to speak up. They claim private ownership over what has always been the people’s fair.
This is not only a local controversy. It is part of a broader struggle over whether our civic institutions belong to the people or to a political elite that rules without accountability.
What the Community Can Do
Here is what most residents do not realize: you already have legal standing in how the fair is run.
Under Michigan law, any resident can become a member of the Hillsdale County Agricultural Society by paying a small annual fee — typically $10. Membership is not symbolic. It gives you the right to:
Attend the annual meeting.
Vote on who serves on the Board of Directors.
Introduce motions and hold the society accountable.
This means the fair does not belong to the Establishment Republicans alone. It belongs to every resident who takes the simple step of becoming a member. That is how the people can reclaim the fair — not only through protest, but by using the very laws the establishment wants you to forget.
What Comes Next
The date of the next Fair Board meeting is the forth Thursday of the month, Oct, 23, 7pm Fairgrounds. The Hillsdale County Conservatives will be attending, everyone is welcome.
We hold our meetings every first Thursday of the month — the next is October 2nd at 7 p.m. at 7 S. Manning. Everyone is welcome.
There, we will be discussing how to reclaim The Most Popular Fair on Earth for the people of our community — not those who would rule over them
As Vice Chair of America First, now the Hillsdale Conservatives. I concur with much of the Hillsdalians analysis and thank you for elevating this important discussion. I’d like to add a perspective that often goes unspoken in Hillsdale. Civil discourse is essential, yes — but behind the rhetoric, it is the actions and inactions of our leaders that brought us to this moment. If we are to move forward as a community, we must look at the full history, not just the soundbites.
The Myth of “The Most Conservative County”
For years, Hillsdale has been called “the most conservative county in the nation.” That phrase has been repeated in newspapers, on talk radio, and in campaign speeches. But the truth is more complicated. In practice, before America First emerged, Hillsdale County’s politics were controlled by a small circle of insiders — the old guard establishment.
This group was small in number but wide in influence. They held the county commission seats, city councils, township boards, and the Republican Party itself. Meetings of the Republican Party consisted of only a few dozen people at most, usually the same faces, recycling leadership roles among themselves. They called themselves conservatives, but their record told a different story: tax increases, rubber-stamp governance, backroom appointments, and open hostility toward grassroots conservatives who dared to ask questions.
For ordinary Republicans — farmers, small business owners, factory workers, and homesteaders — there was little room to participate. The meetings felt closed off, and decisions were made before the doors even opened. That was Hillsdale politics for decades.
The Grassroots Organizes
Before America First even had a name, we were simply neighbors who had had enough. We wanted the Republican Party to be the party of the people again, not the possession of a handful of insiders. So we began to study the system.
We discovered the power of precinct delegates — the men and women who form the backbone of the party. By organizing, knocking on doors, and talking to our neighbors, we grew the Republican Party in Hillsdale from “tens” to “hundreds.” In 2020, we successfully elected a new slate of delegates and replaced the old guard on the county party board.
The energy in those meetings was unlike anything seen in decades. For the first time in years, ordinary people felt like their voices mattered. The old guard responded not with collaboration, but with contempt. They never came back. They abandoned the very party they claimed to represent.
Enemies Within
From that moment, the old guard made it their mission to destroy America First. They did not try to beat us honestly, with ideas and debates. They knew they could not. Instead, they turned to secret meetings, procedural manipulation, lawfare and even arrests over facebook posts speaking out against them. In 2022, they interfered in delegate elections and leveraged connections in Lansing to try to claw back control.
It became clear: the old guard’s greatest fear was not losing to Democrats, but losing power to conservatives. Their priority was not defending Republican principles, but defending their own influence.
A Statewide Battle: Mike Shirkey
At the same time, America First was winning battles beyond Hillsdale. In 2022, we exposed and removed Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey from his leadership role in the state Republican Party. Shirkey, a Hillsdale figure himself, had built a reputation as a conservative while quietly cutting deals with Democrats in Lansing. He told voters one thing and did another behind closed doors.
America First stopped him from using that duplicity as a springboard to run for governor and removed him from the State/District/Local Republican Parties. Those victories shocked the establishment — not just in Lansing, but here at home. If we could hold Shirkey accountable, what would stop us from holding his allies in Hillsdale accountable, too?
The answer from the old guard was clear: nothing but an all-out fight.
The Library Debate and City Council Elections
The library issue that erupted in 2022 did not happen in isolation. It coincided with the Hillsdale City Council race between Josh and Penny — both, at the time, members of America First.
Josh was relatively new, but he had proven himself faithful to Republican principles, values, and the platform, a true fighter for Conservatives. Penny had been with us from the beginning. Both were endorsed by America First, because one of our core goals was to support Republicans who represented conservative values — something the old guard had always refused to do.
But during the library debate, Penny broke away. She began to argue that curating the library was equivalent to “banning books.” Meanwhile, Josh, serving on the library board, was working to remove inappropriate books from the children’s section.
It was no coincidence that Penny’s campaign took money from JJ Hodshire, the old guard’s chief financial backer and brother of the old guard’s sheriff. By aligning with local leftists and the establishment, Penny hoped to win over both camps. But the people of Hillsdale saw through it. They may still be learning who and what the old guard truly is, but they know the Left when they see it. Josh won.
The Rise of the PhD Boys
This period also marked the rise of the so-called “PhD Boys” — Councilmen Paladino, Bruns, and Bentley. They were not polished career politicians. They were citizens stepping into leadership, determined to hold city government accountable.
They questioned city staff. They demanded transparency. They refused to act as rubber stamps. And for this, they were labeled “negative” and “toxic.” Staff resignations — many of which were planned retirements or career changes — were blamed on them. Left-wing activists hurled slurs like “Nazis,” “fascists,” and “incels.” Anonymous social media accounts and AI-generated images depicted them as villains.
But what was their crime? Asking questions. Representing the people. Refusing to nod along with business-as-usual.
The PhD Boys’ fight in city hall paralleled America First’s fight in the party, County and State. Different arenas, same mission: reform, accountability, and representation. That is why America First applauds their courage and considers them allies.
Old Guard + Left: An Unholy Alliance
One of the strangest developments in Hillsdale politics has been the growing alliance between the old guard establishment and the local Left. They no longer even seem to be enemies, they openly support each other now, they use the same tactics and push the same narratives.
During the library debate, both groups accused reformers of “book banning.” Both repeated the claim that reformers created a “toxic culture” and “negativity.” Both used personal attacks and slander instead of debate.
Why? Because both fear reform. Both thrive on control. And both would rather see conservatives silenced than see conservatives succeed in the most Conservative County/City in the Nation no less.
Not Just Hillsdale
This battle is bigger than Hillsdale. Across Michigan, other counties are beginning to follow Hillsdale’s lead. They are recruiting delegates, reforming party leadership, and challenging establishment control. Hillsdale is simply the first, the loudest, and the most effective. That is why the opposition is fiercest here.
What happens in Hillsdale does not stay in Hillsdale. It sends a signal to the rest of the state — and even the nation — about what is possible when citizens reclaim their government.
Civility and the Legacy of Charlie Kirk
This brings us back to Charlie Kirk. His assassination was a national tragedy, but it was felt especially deeply in Hillsdale. Many here admired his Christian witness, his boldness, and his ability to debate tough issues without hating his opponents.
Kirk modeled true civility. He did not avoid confrontation — he embraced it. He asked hard questions. He challenged ideas. He was firm, even sharp at times. But he did it without dehumanizing his opponents.
That is the model Hillsdale needs. Real civility is not smiling while you sell out your voters. It is not polished dishonesty or backroom deals. Real civility is honesty. It is accountability. It is telling the truth, even when it makes people uncomfortable.
Where We Go From Here
The assassination of Charlie Kirk should be a wake-up call — not just nationally, but here at home. The toxic culture of smears, caricatures, and hate has consequences. It breeds mistrust, division, and even violence.
The time for placating those who refuse civil debate is over. It is up to us to reject the negativity that has overshadowed Hillsdale for too long. We must finish the work we have begun:
Good governance.
Lower taxes.
Listening to the people, not just insiders.
Truly representing those who elect us, using the Constitution to bind government, not Americans.
And above all, holding our representatives accountable.
Benjamin Franklin, when asked what form of government had been created at the Constitutional Convention, replied: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
That challenge falls to every generation. In Hillsdale, in Michigan, and in America, it falls to us now. Will those reading allow our Republic to fall to the toxic culture of the left and old guard who strive on conflict, mistrust and lies. Or will you stand up, get involved and be heard before our next generation will no longer be able to? The choice is yours, it always has been, don’t let apathy and fear silence you.
