At one time it was much more conservative but for the last decade or so it has tended to split more down the middle.
I am a down the center guy and lately feel pretty much party less, not happy with the machinations of right or left, but that is a story for another post.
Most of us have friends across the ideological spectrum, I surely do. Viva la difference.
Many of my best friends are arch conservatives, hey, at least they have an opinion.
I have shared laughs and conversation with the Fallbrook Republican Women's Club as well as the most left wing progressive folks you could imagine.
Honest political discourse is good.
Parking a truck in front of your business with a "Fuck Joe Biden and the people who voted for him" banner is not. At least in a small community like Fallbrook.
Point of the story: I was out of town during the last Fallbrook Avocado Festival, somehow I have managed to miss the last twenty or so. But I received several texts that told me that the first thing you saw when approaching the festival from the south on Main Avenue was a big MAGA booth in front of Ace Hardware.
Now we have always had Fallbrook Democratic Club booths and Fallbrook Republican booths and even an occasional John Birch booth or float at these sorts of things. All well and good. But MAGA? Why not just say, welcome to the Klan meeting?
And if you have to give the Let's go Brandon folks a booth, why not in the middle of a row, why the first thing you see upon approach?
Many people already equate Fallbrook with the late Tom Metzger and white supremacy. His presence will certainly never be forgotten here. The positioning of a fringe right group at the entrance to the festival reinforces a false notion about the character of our town. It is needlessly divisive and polarizing.
Who really knows if the ultimate positioning of the MAGA booth was a random or intentional act? I know for a fact that it made some people feel uncomfortable, who knows if they will come back? How would conservatives feel if there was a NAMBLA or Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence booth? I can only guess.
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I asked Lila at the Chamber about this yesterday and she said that she had heard similar complaints from others. She said that it was not her decision, she contracts the logistics of the festival to a company called Kennedy that does Street Fairs in the area and it was their call. But she didn't sound real happy with it either.
I hope that people show better sense in the future.
Thanks for speaking up Robert. I wasn’t here for the festival but agree that the small town doesn’t need that kind of divisiveness. The healthy kind of differences you describe are another matter.
ReplyDeleteAloha, W
That decision, reportedly by Kennedy & Associates to allow political elements at the Avocado Festival was not in our community's best interest.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Chamber may not be taking responsibility, they are the ones that must take responsibility.
Do they not have any choice of who to contract with? Are they being bullied? Threatened?
Someone must be the adult and keep the community's best interest in the forefront.
By allowing ANY political elements (I am non-partisan) - they are not staying true to a community festival.
Did Kennedy & Associates have their palm greased for allowing that booth - and the placement of it?
Thank you, Kennedy & Associates for painting that big red stripe across Fallbrook that we have worked so hard to get rid of.
Tom Metzger was the most destructive thing to our town. By allowing political trash, you just re-energized the negative.
If Kennedy & Associates don't get invited to a serious "Come to Jesus" meeting about their decision-making, they need to get the boot.
Please do the right thing.
Debbie Ramsey
I always think of Metzger when I think of Fallbrook. I used to worry that he and his ilk would kill you. Really worry. I figured the whole town was like him.
ReplyDelete