WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Responses number in the thousands as the city surveys for opinions on a name for the Dixie Classic Fair, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.
A public hearing is scheduled Tuesday evening at the fairgrounds.
Folks will have two hours to give their opinions and will have to limit their remarks to one minute each, said Kathleen Garber, who chairs the Fair Planning Committee.
The meeting takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Bolton Home and Garden Building at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds.
The Bolton building is accessed through Gate 9 on 27th Street.
“We will have a brief welcome, and everyone will have one minute to speak,” Garber said. Although the meeting will end promptly at 8 p.m., she said, there will be cards for people to fill out if they don’t get to everyone signed up to speak.
Those who go to the event will sign up to speak as they come in, and city staffers will be on hand to take notes, Garber said.
The city has had survey opportunities in place since late April, with people able to give their thoughts online or over the phone. The survey doesn’t ask people whether to change the name, but what the new name should be.
Garber said she understood some 8,000 people have taken part in the survey, with a majority saying to keep the existing name.
The call for a new fair name came during a meeting of the city’s general government committee on April 9, when a group of citizens said the name was a reminder of slavery and the Confederacy that needed changing.