President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair abruptly booted out attendees on the eve of the July Fourth celebrations.
Freedom250, the Trump-allied organization behind the president’s disastrous state fair, announced Friday afternoon that the festival would be postponed until 5 p.m. due to safety concerns.
“Due to the heat, and in coordination with public safety officials, the Great American State Fair will be temporarily closed until 5:00 p.m. today,” the organization said in a statement shared to social media just before 1:30 p.m.
“The safety and well-being of our guests, volunteers, performers, vendors, and staff is our highest priority,” the statement continued. “Conditions are expected to improve later this afternoon, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back at 5:00 p.m. as preparations continue for this evening’s festivities.”
As a sweltering heatwave continues to rock the East Coast, weather forecasts indicate that temperatures in D.C. will remain around 100 degrees Fahrenheit even after 5 p.m. on Friday.
Reached for comment on whether the fair would still resume if heat continued to pose a safety concern after 5 p.m., a Freedom250 spokesperson shared the above statement.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Some of the president’s children, including his son Donald Jr. and his daughter Tiffany, were spotted at the fair on Friday morning before guests were asked to leave, according to Newsmax correspondent Alana Austin.
Fox News correspondent Mark Meredith reported live that organizers “pushed everybody to the exits” after the heat postponement and noted that on the National Mall, “there is nowhere to hide from the sun.”
The weather has proven a major obstacle to Trump’s 16-day festival, with several delays, cancellations, and other mishaps due to climate-related concerns.
Last week, the event was shut down twice due to inclement weather, with one rainy evening even canceling the rest of the day’s activities, including a performance by “Ice Ice Baby” singer Vanilla Ice, last Friday.
Excessive heat coupled with a power outage also caused food vendors’ ice cream to melt on June 25.
Trump, 80, has repeatedly hyped up his upcoming Independence Day speech and festivities, which include military flyovers and what organizers have called the “world’s largest fireworks display.”
Though the festival was initially supposed to open to the public at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Freedom250 announced that it would be pushed back to 5 p.m. due to the heat advisory.
Despite the record-high heat, the 80-year-old president has insisted that he will be just fine.
“On July 4th, it’s going to be approximately 107 degrees out,” he told supporters in North Dakota on Wednesday, “and I’m going to make a really long speech just to show that I can do anything. It’s gonna be 107!”
