The Stars and Bars will not fly over the Platte County Fair this weekend.

The Platte County Fair Board’s president says the flag was put away Wednesday until after the fair’s annual stockholder’s meeting, when a final decision on its future will be made.

The Confederate flag has been displayed in the Dirty Shame Saloon on the fairgrounds since 1963.

Judy Davis, vice president of the fair board, says she and most board members didn’t remember the flag was hanging on the fairgrounds until questions were raised this week by The Kansas City Star. Controversy over Confederate flags intensified in the wake of the massacre last month at a black church in Charleston, S.C. Photographs emerged of the alleged gunman posing with the Confederate flag.

The self-proclaimed “oldest continuously operating fair west of the Mississippi River” opened Wednesday. Click the graphic to visit their Web site.

The flag was a prominent part of the stage background as final preparations were underway, but was removed shortly after The Kansas City Star asked fair officials about it.