Harrison County Community Foundation CEO and president Steve Gilliland was one of the last to arrive and was the first to speak during last Wednesday night's Harrison County Agricultural Society board meeting.

In what was a surprise to almost everyone in the packed room, Gilliland announced that the HCCF Board of Directors had agreed, in principle, to grant a $2 million grant request to the HCAS for a 20,000-square-foot facility that will be constructed where the current Merchants Building and old Farm Bureau building currently stand. Those two structures will be razed to make way for the new structure, which will be called the Talmage Windell Memorial Agricultural Building.

Windell was a fair board member for many years and was owner-operator of the old Corydon Bus Line that ran between Corydon and New Albany.

Gilliland noted that in addition to naming the building, the HCAS must meet certain conditions: submit Form 990 to the IRS indicating that the HCAS has converted from a stock/shareholder organization to a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership; placing a plaque in or on the building noting it was funded by a grant from the HCCF and a "generous" gift from the Rita K. Windell estate; building contractor or construction manager must provide HCAS a maintenance schedule and HCAS must adhere to the schedule; a usage rate schedule for the facility must be created and updated and shared with potential user groups and other agencies such as the Harrison County Convention & Visitors Bureau to assist in marketing of the facility; and the HCAS must create and maintain a centralized scheduling process for the facility.

As Gilliland read an announcement letter to the audience, Carla Clunie, secretary of the fair board, held her face in her hands and wiped away tears. Board president Jeff Byerly grinned and occasionally shook his head in disbelief.

"Rita (Windell) left a substantial portion of her estate to the community foundation," Gilliland said later. "In addition, she also left $200,000 of her estate to create the Talmage Windell Family Scholarship Fund.

"The HCCF board felt it was appropriate to combine our grant to support this project and Rita's very generous gift and to honor her father."

Byerly said he's excited about the new building, combined with a new show barn and other updates coming soon to the fairgrounds. He said he had an idea that the grant may be coming after a meeting at the fairgrounds with Gilliland and Duke Energy to discuss other matters.

"I just got the vibe that it might be happening," Byerly said.

Byerly said he's not sure when ground will be broken for the new show arena. He said an Amish crew will tear down the existing show barn and keep the material.

Work on the new building won't begin until after the 2015 fair, which this year is July 12 through 18.

Along with the new show arena and new building, the remaining white fence on the north and south end of the fairgrounds will be taken down, the Homecomers' Hall will be renovated and the entrance to the fairgrounds from Capitol Avenue will get a facelift to make it easier for vehicles to cross the crushed limestone harness track. Once the new buildings are put into place, cupolas will be added to give all the structures on the fairgrounds' property a unified look.

"There are a lot of really good things coming to the fairgrounds. For the last 40 years, it's been falling down, and we have a board now that really wants to change it and make a difference," Byerly said. "You look at what we've done since October from the grants to changing from being a shareholder group to membership, and we changed some of the bylaws. It's incredible."

Also during the meeting, the board gave unanimous approval to pursue a gaming license so bingo could be played in the new building at the fairgrounds.

Byerly also addressed the grandstand, which came from Parkway Field in Louisville. He said that at some point the grandstand will either need to be repaired or replaced. To rehab the grandstand would cost from $1.6 million to $1.7 million, with a substantial cost coming because the grandstand would need to be brought up to code. Or, a new grandstand with a similar seating capacity would cost somewhere around $1.1 million.

"People who haven't been to the fair in a while may not recognize the place in a few years," Byerly said.