OKEECHOBEE, FL - There's a lot of history on the small patch of land near Okeechobee's biggest intersection.
The American Legion Fair has been operating here for 54 years, raising money for scholarships and grants and benefiting the V.A. Hospital in West Palm Beach.
The American Legion doesn't charge admission to its fair and one day is always reserved for special needs kids. More than 500 mentally and physically handicapped children get to ride all the rides and fill up on fair food for free.
That day is supposed to be Wednesday, but it may not happen.
There's a state statute that says no one can operate amusement rides within five miles and 30 days of the county's fair association, without that association's written consent.
The Okeechobee County Fair starts March 12th. The American Legion Fair runs through February 14th.
A state inspector told Legion members that their rides would be shut down Wednesday if they don't get written consent from the Okeechobee County Fair Association.
"The fair committee has to notify the state inspectors that they can't close us down tomorrow, that would be the first thing on the agenda," says Post Commander Paul Partridge. "The second thing would be that they go ahead and let us continue on for the rest of week and then we'll make sure that this never happens again."
No one had returned members' calls or ours by late Tuesday night.
Busloads of excited children will be rolling up to the fair in a few hours.
American Legion members don't know what they'll do.
The post could lost $25,000 if they can't run the rides through Sunday. All of that money goes to their service projects.
