Fair board discusses funding

Talk about it

The Stark County Fair Association discussed options for future funding of the county fairgrounds at their monthly meeting Monday.

Gary Satern, project consultant for the fairgrounds, asked the board to look into alternative ways of selling county-owned land as one way of securing extra funding. Stark County owns land on the west edge of Dickinson and the sale of that land provides funds to the Fair Board.

Satern would like to see what the Fair Board can do to sell the lots quicker. The board discussed the possibility of auctioning some of the property off.

“For one, it would bring in needed financial support for the fairgrounds and it would also bring in tax dollars,” Satern said. “The city and the county would win and the Fair Board would win. Everybody would win.”

Satern said because of a good economy in Dickinson, now is the time to begin selling the land. Fair Board members said they would discuss their options with the Stark County Park Board and the Stark County Commission.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the fairgrounds is at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 1. The project consists of developing 56 acres of land west of Dickinson into a multi-use facility.

The Fair Board will be breaking ground on Phase 1 of the fairgrounds project, which includes an outdoor riding arena. Several other features and structures are planned for the fairgrounds.

The groundbreaking is open to the public and is to begin at the Stark County Shop on 30th Avenue West in Dickinson.

At the meeting, Satern showed the board a letter from Sen. Byron Dorgan Sen. D-N.D., which expressed his support of the fairgrounds project.

The Fair Board has been looking for an architect to help plan the construction of buildings on the fairgrounds. However, the board has not received any inquiries from interested architects.

Fair Board Member Russ Hoff said it may be because the deadline for applications is July 31.

“I think anytime you put a window on the length of time, they probably aren’t going to start submitting the bids for the last week or last two weeks,” Hoff said.

Fair Board member Terri Thiel is also working on a financial feasibility report and economic impact study.

“It shows the economic impact that’s already happened in the community from the Fair Board and the Park Board and the impact is very substantial,” Satern said.

Thiel said the study will help them in many ways, including securing partners in the fairgrounds project.

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