The Ulster County Fair gets underway Tuesday, July 30th, and one of the bands slated to perform has been canceled amid controversy about the confederate flag. The band had also been recently cancelled at an Illinois state fair.
The board of directors of the Ulster County Agricultural Society decided on July 24 to cancel Southern country-rock group Confederate Railroad’s performance scheduled for August 1 at the fairgrounds in New Paltz. The decision came following requests from Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan; the county’s human rights commission director and a county legislator as well as concerned citizens regarding the appropriateness of the name of the band and its logo, which features a steam locomotive flying Confederate flags. The flag has come under increasing criticism as a racist emblem of slavery and segregation. Confederate Railroad frontman Danny Shirley on Thursday echoed supporters who say it represents history and Southern heritage.
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