Lions Club performs work on fairgrounds

SUPERIOR - While the warm weather is slowly creeping in, preparations are currently underway for one of Mineral County’s biggest events of the summer.

The Mineral County Fair will return July 31 - August 2, and as always the rodeo will tag along with it.

Steve Temple and Roger Kesting from the Superior Lions Club provided an update to the Mineral County Commissioners May 16, regarding some of the conditions at the fairgrounds. 

“We are actively working on the fairgrounds on a variety of things,” Temple said. 

Some of those things involve evaluating the bleachers, ensuring they are ready to handle the load when the crowd comes roaring.

“Every year for the rodeo we have to make that investment in time and energy so that nobody falls through the bleachers and that they are secure,” Temple said. “Every year that becomes a bigger project.” 

Temple said the Lions Club came to the commissioners seeking advice on how to proceed with future bleacher reconstruction. 

“What we want to do is start a dialogue with the county about the need to go out and try to attract some funding to replace our bleachers, and make some improvements around the fairgrounds so we can preserve it as an asset to the community,” Temple said. 

The commissioners concurred with Temple and Kesting that the first step in the process would be to implement a design before moving forward with a concrete plan.

“The bleachers have been there approximately 40 years now,” Kesting said. “We’re figuring something needs to be done in the next few years.” 

Although keeping the fairgrounds up-to-date requires many volunteers and man hours, people around the community continue to pitch-in. 

“Some of you may know that we made a huge effort two years ago to redo most of the cattle pins in the back,” Temple said. “That was a major volunteer undertaking with a team of 30 guys working very hard all summer long to make those improvements.”

The rodeo provides the Lions Club each year with enough funding to complete community service projects around the county.

Some of those projects and services include providing eye exams and glasses for the needy, purchasing special bathtubs for the disabled and seniors, sponsoring the 4H shooting competition, scholarship programs, a Mineral County Food Bank sponsorship and many more. 

The concern raised by the Lions Club at the commissioners meeting was the rodeo grounds require a lot of upkeep and future maintenance will be needed. 

The club felt now is the time to bring the issue up to commissioners if possible grants or other secondary funding is available to fund the project. 

Without the necessary renovations, the club fears the bleachers would become too dilapidated.