The Barns Fell Silent
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.
in liberty,
The Hillsdale Conservatives
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