PRINCETON — Fairgoers in Gibson County can expect to see some changes to the county fairgrounds over the next four years.
“Four years from now, I would like to see a new 4-H (building) completed, a storage building completed, and a whole new midway,” Gibson County Fair Board President Charles Woodruff said Tuesday. “The infrastructure would be replaced, the sewer, water, electric and new asphalt.”
In addition to the new building being built, Woodruff said a new event center will be added to the fairgrounds that will seat 600 people and be used as a year-round income producer for the organization. The entire project list is expected to cost $8.6 million.
The 2014 Gibson County Fair is underway through Saturday. Featured evening events are: Wednesday, mud volleyball and motocross racing; Thursday, motocross racing quads; Friday, Toyota Concert featuring the Swon Brothers; and Saturday, garden tractor pull and hog wrestling.
Admission is $5 per person, with children age 9 and younger admitted free. Senior citizen admission is $2 on Wednesday, and Thursday is family night with admission $5 per carload.
The first of the fairground improvement projects to be started will be the new 4-H building, Woodruff said. The current building is occupied only during the fair season and used for storage during the rest of the year. The new building will have air conditioning and heating to enable 4-H participants to use the building year round. To make up for lost storage space, a new storage building will be built on the back lot of the fairgrounds.
Woodruff said visitors will notice a slow progression of the fair ground renovations over the next four years.
“The way the money has been given from the (Gibson County) Redevelopment Commission,” he said. “They will be giving us a $1 million every year for the next four years. So we will have to slowly do our progress. We can’t just do it all at once.”
Originally, fairground officials asked for $5.3 million from the commission. However, the funds given to the organization will prevent the fairgrounds from borrowing money to fund the project. Although, the funds given to the Gibson County Fairgrounds only makes up for half of the funding, Woodruff said private donations are being accepted to help pay the full $8.6 million project.