Work begins on multi-use Killdeer center

• Work

Thorris Sandvick, the Dunn County Fair Board president, dumps soil into a truck Saturday in Killdeer. The soil will be used as foundation for the High Plains Cultural Center on Zabolonty Drive, set to be completed in the spring.

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Volunteers and Dunn County Fair Board members worked Friday and Saturday to prepare the foundation for a multi-purpose center in Killdeer.

“It’s been a godsend,” said board President Thorris Sandvick. “We decided that the money we had taken in … we had to do something.”

Approximately 10 volunteers helped haul and pack down dirt for the High Plains Cultural Center, which will be located on Zabolotny Drive next to the Dunn County Veterans Memorial Wall. The center is expected to be finished in the spring.

Keith Nilson, a volunteer from Lehi, Utah, said he was excited to work on the project.

“We are working with some of the best people of the county,” Nilson said. “It is a privilege to be a part of it.”

Soil was also donated to put in the foundation, Thorris said, and his son, Randy, lent his equipment to haul and pack it.

Terrald Bang, a Dunn County Fair Board member, said it has taken more than five years to start the project, adding the High Plains Cultural Center Committee broke ground for the building two weeks ago.

“We knew we needed to get something going because it has been going on for too long,” Bang said. “We are going to build with the money we got and just keep adding on as we get the money.”

The center is slated to cost $3 million. Bang said the board has between $800,000 and $900,000 in donations and grants. He added that getting donations for the building has been difficult.

“People just weren’t too excited about giving money to something they couldn’t see,” Bang said. “Now that they know we have broken ground, and they know it is going to happen, people are a lot more willing to donate money to it.”

The project has three bids, Thorris said, adding it was time to start building.

“Everybody said if you start the building, we will send you some money,” Thorris said.

Thorris said the center will be a “great” asset to the community, giving residents and visitors something to do in Killdeer.

“Those truckers have no place to go except the bar,” he said. “It will be used 24 hours a day.”

Tags: dunn county fair board, high plains cultural center, news, killdeer