{"id":4081,"date":"2026-07-02T10:04:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T10:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4081"},"modified":"2026-07-02T10:04:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T10:04:41","slug":"the-great-american-state-fair-airlift-inside-the-state-gop-effort-to-supply-the-fairs-massachusetts-booth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4081","title":{"rendered":"The Great American State Fair airlift? Inside the state GOP effort to supply the fair\u2019s Massachusetts booth."},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>WASHINGTON \u2014 The Massachusetts Republican Party has a number of priorities. Taxes. Budgets. Immigration. And now \u2014 Donna.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4079\">Four things to know about Mike Conley Jr. after reported one-year deal agreement with the Celtics<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>More specifically, Donna Festinger, 72, of Greenfield, who single-handedly decided to staff a booth at the Great American State Fair, President Trump\u2019s festival commemorating America\u2019s 250th birthday on the National Mall. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Festinger, a retired teacher, has spent the better part of a week spending 12 hours a day at the fair, rationing the few donated samples of maple syrup she scraped together as souvenirs for visitors she greets inside the Massachusetts booth. But now, she\u2019s getting reinforcements, and it has become a cause c\u00e9l\u00e8bre (and distraction from losing several candidates from the ballot)for the state GOP that has  sharply criticized the state\u2019s Democratic leadership\u2019s decision to skip participation in the fair. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>The event was set to host displays from all 56 states and US territories, but Massachusetts is one of a handful of Democratic-led states that declined to participate.Governor Maura Healey\u2019s office put the cost of the state\u2019s involvement in the fair in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The event is also being put on by Freedom 250, Trump\u2019s MAGA commission that supplanted the efforts of the nonpartisan America 250.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>So amid splashy and swag-laden offerings from other states, the Bay State\u2019s booth would have been empty, save a backdrop with \u201cMassachusetts\u201d written in script and some notable landmarks printed on the background. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But Festinger, hearing of the controversy, intervened.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Initially, Festinger was on her own out of virtually all the New England states (only New Hampshire did an official booth, the others have the empty backdrops). With permission from the fair organizers, she piled tiny bottles of maple syrup she got donated from Winston\u2019s Sugar House in Shelburne Falls into her Toyota Camry and drove the nine hours to Washington. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Globe wrote about herefforts last week, and soon, many other news outlets also featured her story. The Massachusetts State GOP took note \u2014 with members sharing her story on social media, collecting donations, and springing into action to get her more supplies. A social media post from a city councilor in Agawam went viral on X, adding fuel. Festinger is also a member of the Greenfield Republican Town Committee. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Now, things have changed. The state GOP shipped a collection of state flags, stickers, miniature American flags, and other themed swag to the national party, which hand-delivered it to Festinger on Wednesday morning. More is coming, according to State Committeeman Chris Ryan, who said he has collected nearly $1,000 in social-media driven donations and his state GOP website. The state party is also collecting donations through the Republican donation platform WinRed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cDonna\u2019s dedication reminds us that real leadership often comes from the grassroots,\u201d the party wrote in an email newsletter collecting donations. \u201cThe Massachusetts Republican Party thanks her for carrying the torch for the Bay State when others would not.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4077\">Cory Durden exudes confidence in bid to line up as Patriots\u2019 starting nose tackle<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Ryan said some volunteers collected state brochures from local chambers of commerce and are in the process of driving them down to D.C. with other giveaways. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Onetime South Boston City Council candidate Brian Foley is livestreaming the process as he spends 48 hours 3D-printing keychains that he intends to deliver personally in time to be there by the Fourth of July. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Wednesday afternoon, Festinger\u2019s spirits were buoyed and she was happily offering flags, maple syrup-themed coloring books, and other items to children and visitors to the booth. She said she\u2019s been taken aback by her viral fame, saying someone asked for her autograph on Tuesday and visitors have taken pictures with her. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>She also had company. Festinger was joined Wednesday morning by Judith Kalaora, founder of History at Play and a Boston-based actress and reenactor. Kalaora came dressed in period wear as Deborah Sampson, a revolutionary who disguised herself as a man to fight with the Continental Army. She felt it was important to highlight Sampson\u2019s unique role in the Revolution at the event celebrating America\u2019s 250th birthday and Massachusetts. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Kalaora said, like Festinger,she also was motivated after seeing a social media post about the empty booths at the fair and arrived to D.C. at 1 a.m. on Wednesday. After a bit of sleep, she came straight to the fair, but there was a delay getting to Festinger\u2019s booth to join in.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt took me about three hours to get from the main entrance to the booth, because I kept getting stopped for interviews and posing for pictures,\u201d Kalaora said in between talking to more fairgoers. \u201cAnd that\u2019s exactly why I\u2019m here, is to tell [Sampson\u2019s] story. So, the more people who stop to talk to me, the happier I am.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Kalaora will only stay through the Fourth of July, but Festinger hopes to make it through the whole fair. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cHere\u2019s the best part, I\u2019m meeting so many people from all over the world and learning so much,\u201d Festinger said. \u201cI\u2019m very glad I came.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4075\">Team USA overcomes Folarin Balogun red card to beat Bosnia-Herzegovina, advance to World Cup Round of 16<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Festinger, a retired teacher, has spent the better part of a week spending 12 hours a day at the fair, rationing the few donated samples of maple syrup she scraped together as souvenirs for visitors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Great American State Fair airlift? 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