Chips, a Christmas tree and the Liberty Bell: Here’s what’s inside Pennsylvania’s new showcase at the Great American State Fair

WASHINGTON — A replica Liberty Bell, a Knoebels amusement park bench, hundreds of bags of potato chips, and dozens of sweating tourists packed into Pennsylvania’s location at President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair on Tuesday — a stark turnaround from when the signature 250th anniversary event opened in Washington last week without a Keystone State presence.

Pennsylvania was one of the few Democratic-led states that — describing the two-week fair as too partisan — had either decided not to participate or failed to find another host to showcase local history and memorabilia.

The interest, Gov. Josh Shapiro said at the time, was just not there.

But after a weekend-long sprint initiated by U.S. Sens. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) and John Fetterman (D., Pa.) to dredge up that interest, Pennsylvania’s pavilion opened Tuesday with nearly every inch of the space filled.

The walls were covered by antique flags and signs loaned by York County’s Jeff R. Bridgman Antiques. Children stood in line for a U.S. Steel penny-press machine, grabbed bags of Middleswarth chips made in Snyder County and Crayola crayons from Easton. (Additional chip donations from Utz and Martin’s will be arriving soon.)

Tourists collected pamphlets about Gettysburg and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. They took pictures of anthracite coal and a drill bit used for fracking, both of which were on loan from U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Luzerne).

“I always look for an opportunity to highlight our industry,” Beth Ann Bossio, a Christmas tree farmer from Fayette County, said after driving three and a half hours to drop off a tree to display in the center of the space.

Pennsylvania is one of the largest producers of Christmas trees, and Bossio said it was important to her that both the state and its farmers were represented at the fair.

“That was my vision to come here, to make sure that Pa. is being reflected of what we are, and what we represent,” she said before tying an American flag-themed bow on the tree. “Farmers are very proud of that. We’re patriotic. We take pride in our land and how we steward it.”

The packed room on the National Mall came together in a rush in recent days, after Shapiro joined Democratic governors from other states in declining to use state resources to create and staff a pavilion, which his office said would have run a tab of “hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.”

He also said his administration’s search for another Pennsylvania host came up short. No companies or other kinds of groups were interested, he said, even as businesses and local governments stepped up to fill the spaces in other states.

While Shapiro last week blamed the lack of interest on the president’s polarizing impact on the 250th celebrations, he said in an interview Tuesday with The Inquirer that it “was never a political exercise. This was an exercise in practicality.”

Shapiro said Pennsylvania’s pavilion would have cost the state $700,000, all of which was money he saw better spent on the major events happening in Pennsylvania this year, including the NFL Draft, PGA Championship, MLB All-Star Game, the ongoing World Cup games, and a number of events across the state for the nation’s 250th birthday.

“My focus is on spending the taxpayer dollars here,” he said.

His administration spent two or three weeks reaching out to businesses and to the Pennsylvania Chamber asking them if they wanted to participate. None of them did.

“They obviously had a change of heart at the last minute. That’s fine,” Shapiro said about the revived Pennsylvania pavilion.

Organizing the booth in Shapiro’s place were the state’s two senators, a bipartisan duo who have often worked together.

McCormick and Fetterman withheld any direct criticisms of Shapiro while talking about their effort, though Fetterman has clashed with the governor in the past and has also repeatedly broken Democratic ranks to support Republican-led efforts.

McCormick said he understood Shapiro’s desire not to spend taxpayer money, but when he found out there would be nothing to represent the state that is “the center of America’s history,” he sprang into action.

The freshman Republican said he and Fetterman spoke Saturday morning and quickly made calls to the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, and individual businesses to donate time and resources.

“It’s just inconceivable that we wouldn’t have a booth that would represent all that Pennsylvania had to offer,” said McCormick, whose staff greeted guests at the pavilion all day Tuesday.

Fetterman, who has said Pennsylvania’s role as a purple state means he should consistently work across the aisle, said he was proud to work with McCormick on the effort.

“America’s turning 250 years old,” Fetterman said alongside McCormick during an appearance in Philadelphia on Monday. “Can’t we all just celebrate that and not just find new ways to fight about the politics and the dynamic right now?”

McCormick’s office listed 23 companies or groups that signed up to help, though only a few corporate sponsors were front and center in the space.

Two large signs showcase the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a natural gas advocacy group that has a significant lobbying presence in Harrisburg. And U.S. Steel, the Pittsburgh-based company that benefited from a Trump-approved takeover by a Japanese-owned company last year, offered the penny-press and colorful wristbands reading, “forging the future.” Hats and signage commemorating Yuengling and Mack Trucks were loaned from the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association.

Some organizations have acknowledged earlier conversations with Shapiro’s office to participate that didn’t go anywhere.

A report from The New Republic that Pennsylvania would not be participating in the affair “caught us off guard because that was not our experience at all, nor was it what we had communicated to the [the governor’s] office,” said Jon Anzur, the senior vice president of public affairs for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. “It’s unfortunate that it occurred that way.”

He said the governor’s office approached the chamber less than two weeks out from the start of the fair to help get companies involved.

“It just seems odd that we were approached at the eleventh hour and now it sounds like the governor’s office is trying to point fingers when there was ample times to get ducks in a row,” he said.

The Hershey Company is among the Pennsylvania-based companies that declined to participate.

“We were asked by Governor Shapiro’s office in mid June and then again over the weekend by Senator McCormick’s office,” said Todd Scott, a spokesperson for the chocolate business.

Both were told that the size of the ask and the limited amount of time to make it happen was not possible.

“We were asked so late in the game that logistically we couldn’t make that happen. We just cannot provide on a moment’s notice that amount of product that they would have been asking for,” he said.

But the summer weather was also a factor.

“There’s no refrigeration on the mall, and with extreme heat, chocolate doesn’t do well in 100-degree temperatures,” he said. “We always want to make sure that people have the best experience with our products that they can.”

But another candy company, Asher’s Chocolate Co. in Souderton, decided to join.

“Asher’s was asked to participate by the Chamber of Commerce [Monday] and agreed to donate prepackaged bite size pieces of fudge, which were on-hand,” said David Neff, who represents Asher’s. “Asher’s is deeply committed to America and celebrating America’s 250.”

Bob Asher, a longtime influential GOP leader in Southeastern Pennsylvania from Montgomery County, is the company’s co-chair. He donated thousands of dollars to Treasurer Stacy Garrity, Shapiro’s Republican opponent for governor, and serves as her campaign finance chair.

Other Philadelphia-area companies are also financially supporting Trump’s effort.

SAP, the German business-software giant whose U.S. headquarters and 2,000 staff are in Newtown Square, Delaware County, donated $5.6 million to Trump’s Freedom 250 initiative.

“SAP is committed to the communities where our customers, employees, and partners live and work. SAP’s support of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations reflects our long‑standing commitment to supporting innovation, economic strength, and workforce development,“ SAP spokesperson Bridget Carroll said in a statement.

SAP software is used by the U.S. military and its NATO allies to track troop deployments, military supply chains, and equipment maintenance.

The military aircraft producer Lockheed Martin, which has engineering centers in King of Prussia and in Moorestown, N.J., is the top donor to Trump’s initiative, giving nearly $20 million.

Staff writer Joseph N. DiStefano contributed to this article.