There was considerable tension at last night’s public hearing on changing the name of Winston-Salem’s Dixie Classic Fair. That’s right–some in the W-S community say the name “Dixie” evokes the evils of slavery and the Confederacy:

A local minister was loudly booed as he talked about the reasons he wants to change the name of the Dixie Classic Fair during a public forum Tuesday night.

One man stood up, pointed and jeered as Bishop Sir Walter Mack, the senior pastor at Union Baptist Church, talked about why the city should change the name of the Winston-Salem fair to remove the word Dixie. Others who support renaming the fair, though, cheered and stood up for Mack as he spoke, his voice rising to be over the din.

“It’s a symbol of hate and segregation,” Mack said. “Remove the name, ‘Dixie” from our fair.”

Of course there many in audience countering Bishop Mack’s opinion, including Sam Dixon–the gentleman pictured above–who said “if you change the name of the Dixie Classic Fair, I will no longer attend the fair.”

The City Council will vote on the matter in August, with any name change not taking effect until 2020.