The Beach Boys. Busta Rhymes. Don McLean.
None of them are performing at President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair, pitched by the administration as a free, World’s Fair-inspired celebration drawing “star-studded entertainment” and “legendary” artists to Washington, D.C. this summer.
But you can find them at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis. More than 100 other bands are playing at the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul. Melissa Etheridge, Sean Paul, Violent Femmes and ZZ Top are also free with the price of admission to the Great New York State Fair in Syracuse.
Trump’s homage to the American tradition of a state fair — regional foods on sticks, carnival rides, farm animals and farming paraphernalia — is coming to his doorstep this summer, dovetailing with the president’s dramatic transformation of the nation’s capital with a taxpayer-funded, multi-billion dollar package of gilded renovations and new construction catering to his tastes.
The high-profile, publicly funded Freedom 250 concert series on the National Mall collapsed within days of the lineup’s announcement. There are, as of the end of the week, just three acts standing, and one of them is waging a public relations battle and threatening a lawsuit to get their name back.
It’s also not even clear if any concerts are still happening at all.
On his Truth Social, Trump lashed out at “overpriced” and “boring” artists and urged organizers to “cancel” the entire thing, then announced plans for a one-day event with 83-year-old Lee Greenwood, whose “God Bless the USA” has been Trump’s entrance music for roughly a decade.
Trump’s event also will include opera singer Christopher Macchio, military bands, and, of course, himself.
But for $8 to $20, there’s a whole buffet of B- and C-tier artists headlining state fairs across the country.
The Commodores dropped out of the Freedom 250 lineup. But the band performs at the Great New York State Fair the same night as the All-American Rejects and Quiet Riot on August 28. Admission is $8 each night.
Other nightly headliners include Brandy Clark, Sean Paul, Melissa Etheridge, Ashanti, ZZ Top, Violent Femmes, Trace Adkins, Jesse McCartney and something called “Shrek Rave,” among others, from August 26 through September 7.
The Prince-linked, Purple Rain-starring Morris Day and The Time was the first band to drop out of Freedom 250, but there’s a Minneapolis Sound revue at the Minnesota State Fair.
Tickets to that fair are $17 and include admission to other nightly headliners including Vertical Horizon, Margo Price, and The Sugarhill Gang with Melle Mel and Scorpio of the Furious Five, along with 100 other bands, performing August 27 through September 7.
There are also separate tickets to Bonnie Raitt, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Rod Stewart, Tommy James & The Shondells with Herman's Hermits, Brad Paisley, CeCe Winans and “Weird Al” Yankovic.
Admission to the Indiana State Fair on August 7-23 is $14. That gets you The Beach Boys, Busta Rhymes, Gene Simmons from KISS, Don McLean and gospel singer Tasha Cobbs Leonard.
An 11-day pass for the Oregon State Fair is $25, but for $60 you can also see Weird Al or BigXThaPlug.
There’s a demolition derby for less than $30 at the Delaware State Fair, which runs July 23 to August 1. You can also see Weird Al there, or Men At Work with Toad the Wet Sprocket and Shonen Knife. Tickets to the fair itself are $10.
The $9 ticket to the Ohio State Fair gets you access to roughly 30 bands from July 29 to August 9. There are separate tickets to Nelly, Alison Krauss, Sammy Kershaw, The S.O.S. Band with Dazz Band and another kind of ‘90s revival show with Gin Blossoms, Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors.
And Weird Al will also be there.
Freedom 250 organizers did not return The Independent’s request for comment. The project has not responded to Trump’s comments or updated its schedule.
That schedule includes “Milli Vanilli,” which is one surviving member of the lip-syncing duo, and “C+C Music Factory,” which is the rapper from the band’s hits.
Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan is the latest artist to publicly drop out, along with Martina McBride, Young MC, The Commodores, Morris Day and The Time, and Bret Michaels.
C+C Music Factory co-founder Robert Clivillés is threatening to sue rapper Freedom Williams over his use of the group's name as a solo act.
Clivillés has accused Williams of “defamation of character” and “misuse” of the C+C Music Factory brand.
That just leaves Flo Rida, who hasn’t said anything about his appearance, and Vanilla Ice, who said he is “super honored” to be there.
So if the concerts are still happening, you can see a rapper from C+C Music Factory, Flo Rida and Vanilla Ice for free on the National Mall.
The White House-backed Freedom 250 is drawing funding from the tax-exempt National Park Foundation — while concealing the names of donors — and using public funds from a competing project created by Congress to celebrate the Fourth of July.
Asked if there were plans for a new slate of performers to replace those who dropped out, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told The Independent that the president “is excited to participate in various events across the country that properly honors the momentous 250th anniversary of America’s great founding.”
Watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a lawsuit last month demanding key documents behind Freedom 250’s funding scheme.
The organization is asking whether Freedom 250 siphoned $100 million in taxpayer dollars from the competing America 250 while co-mingling private and federal funding without congressional oversight.
“America’s 250th anniversary celebration is supposed to be an occasion for strengthening public trust in our democratic institutions, not eroding it,” the organization’s executive director Tim Whitehouse said in a statement.
“In contrast, Freedom 250 is a privately managed slush fund designed to operate with no transparency, no accountability, and no guardrails,” he said. “It epitomizes what is wrong with politics today.”
