Preparations plans for upcoming county fair

SUPERIOR – With the fair right around the corner, the Mineral County Fair Board has begun addressing maintenance preparations and concerns about the grounds for this year’s event.

Over the last month, Ken Quitt has been working to keep the fairgrounds clear of snow. He said there was recently a big snowmelt, which left pools of water on the grounds and flooded the back of the 4-H building. He got sandbags to pen the water in and after a couple days everything had cleared away.

Some maintenance will need to be done on the buildings. According to Quitt, some of the ceiling tiles were damaged by the water.

“It took a while for everything to dry out, but it looks pretty good now,” Quitt said. “It’s down to probably picking up pine cones and keeping an eye on things.”

Carole Johnson, president of the board, added there had been reports of leaking in one of the buildings. A group went to check on any damage and found a few drips and damaged, sagging panels.

“There was some concern about kids being in there,” Johnson said. “Was it safe or was the whole ceiling going to collapse?”

She said this was not a new issue and the board had been dealing with it for at least a decade. A contractor was called to look over the building and report any serious risks. According to Johnson, he discovered the cause of the leak was water seeping through old skylights on the building’s roof.

Johnson said the contractor reported the drop ceiling was suspended by wire hangers attached to thin plywood boards in the main ceiling. She said water leaking through the skylight caused the wires to rust. It was also possible the boards had become so damaged they could no longer hold the wires. The contractor did not see any other major problems.

It was estimated the total cost to completely repair and replace the ceiling would be approximately $65,000. According to Johnson, unless grants could be found, the work would likely mean there could not be a fair for a given year. The board has begun to look into whether the project would qualify to receive money from the new Federal Farm Bill as a way to pay for the repairs.

The board will look into having new screws put in to support the ceiling and using a spray-on rubber to insulate the area. This has been done before, approximately 20 years ago, and was successful at keeping water out. This project would cost approximately $8,000. Johnson felt this was a reasonable price.

Quitt also talked about rolls of sod, which had been kept in the area. It was unknown whether these were still any good after the heavy snows and flooding. The board decided the sod should still be usable, since it was grass and had just been exposed to different forms of water. Johnson suggested the new grass be put out on the east end of the grounds in an area without much landscaping.

At another part of the meeting, Tressie Fike, the talent show coordinator, addressed the board with questions about getting utility services to the food booths this year.

She asked the board if they could get hot water to the booths. Fike recalled last year there was a cupcake booth, but it was difficult to man because the only hot water available to clean up was in the 4-H restrooms. She asked the board how difficult it would be to put a water heater and water line to the booths this year.

Fike said it was difficult to use the 4-H restrooms because they were always very busy with everyone at the fair. There was also the challenge of having to run back and forth whenever water was needed.

Johnson said they could think of solutions to the issue and discuss it more at the next meeting.

“Maybe it wouldn’t need to be in every booth,” Johnson said. “Let’s just see what we can come up with.”

Fike also asked about having a small, temporary, building set up near the food booths for some of the machinery. She noted the cotton candy machine was especially messy and the current space got crowded with everyone working on different machines.

Arrangements have already been started to provide the building. Fike said she would just need a place to put it and a connection to power.

The next meeting of the Mineral County Fair Board will be on Wednesday, April 16, at 6 p.m. The meeting will be held at the fairgrounds and the board will look over the facilities in detail.