CANFIELD — Former President Donald Trump’s team wanted to book the Canfield Fairgrounds from April 22 to 24 for a rally, but a conflict with two other events at the location killed those plans.

The Trump team called fair board officials in the middle of March and came to the location at the end of that month “to look it over and see if it would work,” said George Roman, the fair board’s spokesman and its director of concessions and entertainment.

But Angels for Animals has its annual garage sale throughout the fairgrounds during those three days, and a toy show is scheduled for April 23 at the fair’s event center, Roman said.

“There were scheduling conflicts, and we could not work around them,” Roman said. “We would have gladly let him in, but it was logistically impossible.”

Trump wanted to rent the fairgrounds for the entire weekend, but it isn’t known what specific day the rally would have taken place, Roman said.

The team for the former Republican president wasn’t flexible about moving the potential rally weekend, Roman said.

Even if it was, the fairgrounds is booked practically every weekend in the spring and summer, Roman said.

“We usually book a year ahead,” he said. “We would have welcomed (Trump) in. They wanted to rent the fairgrounds, and that’s what we do. But they wanted that weekend, and it was pretty much impossible.”

The April 22-24 dates are the second-to-the-last weekend before the May 3 primary in which statewide and congressional candidates, among others, are running for their political party nominations.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump, along with Mike Pence, his vice presidential running mate, made a Sept. 5 visit to the Canfield Fair. Trump visited the Mahoning County Republican Party booth, and he and Pence went inside a building for an interview with an ABC news anchor. The two briefly waved to a large crowd that came to see them.

Mahoning Republican Chairman Thomas McCabe said he had heard that Trump’s team was looking to come to Canfield.

“I’m disappointed it didn’t work out,” he said. “It would have been neat to have a former president, Trump, in Canfield before the primary. It would have been great to have a former president here.”

McCabe said he understands why the fair board “couldn’t make it happen. We’re still hoping he’ll come back to this area at some point. He has a lot of support in this area. We’re on his radar. While this didn’t work out, down the road hopefully something will work out.”

Trump was only the third Republican presidential candidate since 1936 to win Mahoning County. In 2020, he defeated Democrat Joe Biden in the county by 1.9 percent. Trump lost Mahoning by 3.28 percent in 2016 to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

OTHER LOCATIONS

The Trump campaign hasn’t contacted the Trumbull County Fair Board about availability for a rally, Barry Brown, board president, said.

Asked if the fairgrounds would be willing to host Trump, Brown said: “That would be a board decision and the 15 of us would have to decide. We’ve got a lot of activity during the spring and summer. We’ve never come across something like this, so it would have to be a brainstorm between the 15 of us.”

The Trump campaign hasn’t reached out to JAC Management Group, which runs the Covelli Centre, the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre and Wean Park in downtown Youngstown about space for an event, Eric Ryan, its president, said.

During his presidency, Trump held a rally July 25, 2017, at the center.

The Columbiana County Fair board hasn’t been asked by the Trump campaign about a rally there, John C. Wolf, board president, said.

If approached, the “decision would be made by the board in a board meeting” whether to permit a Trump event at the fairgrounds, Wolf said.

The Trump campaign also didn’t ask the Ashtabula County Fair board about a rally there, Herb Waters, a board director in charge of rentals, said.

The Record-Courier newspaper reported Friday that the board that runs the Portage County Fairgrounds in Randolph rejected a request from Trump’s team for an April 24 rally because it has a policy of not allowing political events at the location.