Indiana is celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday with a round of mini-golf on the National Mall.
Gov. Mike Braun and Indiana State Fair Commission Executive Director Ray Allison unveiled Indiana’s contribution to the Great American State Fair at a June 15 news conference, less than two weeks before the exhibit will be installed in the Washington, D.C., exposition.
The Indiana exhibit consists of five holes of mini-golf touting Indiana’s landmarks, athletic achievements and agricultural endeavors. Allison said the exhibit was inspired by the FFA mini-golf course at the Indiana State Fair.
The golf course will be stationed in a pavilion on the National Mall from June 25 to July 10 alongside contributions from other states and territories — at least one of which, from South Carolina, will also include a putting green.
Great American State Fair officials have billed the event as a celebration of national unity to mark the semiquincentennial.
But the planning process has been divisive.
President Donald Trump has channeled anniversary planning through Freedom 250, a public-private partnership founded by his administration. The Great American State Fair is one of this group’s key events. After a string of musicians pulled out of a planned concert series at the Fair, saying the event was too politicized, Trump replaced the concerts with a rally, headlined by himself.
Meanwhile, America250, a nonpartisan group Congress established a decade earlier, has events of its own planned, including a July 4 block party in Los Angeles.
At least nine states – Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington – will not use public funds to send exhibits to the fair. Many cited the cost of building, shipping and staffing their exhibits.
An Indiana State Fair spokesperson did not respond Monday to questions about the cost of building and shipping the exhibit, nor what fraction of those costs the state paid. The exhibit’s corporate sponsors include the Pacers Foundation and Indiana Sports Corp.
Braun – who was born in Jasper, Indiana, and rose to political prominence there – shared his own piece of Hoosier history. His house in Dubois County sits on a tract of land purchased by Toussaint Dubois from the federal government in 1807, he said, the first such transfer of public land in the county.
The governor encouraged everyone to delve into their personal connection to Indiana’s past.
“I encourage all Hoosiers to get out there,” Braun said. “I encourage all Hoosiers to find out what roots in your own town, your own county, your own city reach back to those days.”
Tilly Robinson is a Pulliam fellow for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at tilly.robinson@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana mini-golf exhibit heads to DC for Great American State Fair
Reporting by Tilly Robinson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tilly Robinson, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
