Chris Gumpp, VP of events and development for the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, has confirmed the cancellation of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival's "Queen & Royal Ambassador Pageant," but justification for the decision are at odds with the Chamber's action, and the Chamber's action is at odds with the desires and values of the community.

The justification for discontinuing the pageant, as reported by the Canton Repository: "Now more than ever, we need to ensure that events serving our youth are not only relevant but inclusive to all in our community."

This rationale is at odds with the Chamber's decision because, instead of INCLUDING everyone in the community, the Chamber has EXCLUDED everyone in the community.  Instead of taking the best of the pageant and changing it to include all genders, and to reflect today's values, the Chamber has cancelled the pageant. This was the wrong decision.

Instead of being leaders and innovators, the Chamber's members quit. Instead of taking a stand, they took a seat. This exemplifies a lack of courage, lack of creativity, lack of willingness to be different, and lack of true leadership.

This petition requests that Chris Gumpp, and all relevant members of the Enshrinement Festival Department, reconsider and change their decision.  Instead of cancelling the pageant, we ask that the Department puts the pageant on hiatus for one season while the community continues to grapple with the effects of COVID-19.

During this hiatus, we ask for an update to the pageant's rules, to include people of any gender, and to re-write the pageant's rubric so that it reflects contemporary values relevant to the 21st century.  We ask, in the words of Vice President Gumpp, that the pageant become, "relevant [and] inclusive to all in our community," rather than becoming a discarded relic of the 20th century.

In short, we ask that the Chamber of Commerce does not, as the saying goes, "throw the baby out with the bathwater."  The HOF Pageant has a meaningful, positive impact on Canton's community; we acknowledge the pageant currently embodies antiquated values, and we consider this time in our history to be an opportunity for true leadership, to show the world that Canton is a city of inclusion and innovation, not a city of quitters and backseat takers.

Please restore the pageant and update it to become relevant for the 21st century.