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The outside of one of the buildings that was renovated at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.
The outside of one of the buildings that was renovated at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.
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WATERVILLE — The Douglas County Fairgrounds is getting a new look just in time for the North Central Washington Fair Aug. 25-28.
Fair manager Carolyn Morley said they have many projects underway, including new structures, renovations to current structures and demolition of old ones.
“We have replaced all of our barns along the midway with bright, beautiful red material,” Morley said. “That project was started a couple of years ago and is now complete, so our midway looks very beautiful, and it was made possible by Douglas County.”
Morley said this portion of the project cost $58,500.
The fairgrounds will also be getting a new entrance and ticket booth along Monroe Street further down toward the grandstands, she said.
“It should be a very big, beautiful steel structure with a swinging gate and a big Douglas County Fairgrounds sign on top,” Morley said.
Two exhibit buildings are getting complete remodels. One is the floral and sewing, quilting and needlework exhibit, the other is the horticulture, canning and photography exhibit.
“These buildings are super old, and so we were able to get funding from the (United States Department of Agriculture) safety grants,” Morley said.
Some buildings are too old to renovate, according to Morley. The Lion's Den, a historical site on the grounds, was demolished.
“It was very old and probably wasn’t up to code,” Morley said. “They were able to salvage wood from the front face of The Den to repurpose into the new entrance.”
Morley said the fairgrounds have only received patchwork remodels since its start as home to the Potato Festival nearly 140 years ago and is long overdue for a full renovation.
“The fairground is so old, it was really dilapidated in many areas,” she said. “And so luckily, we have an incredibly supportive group of (county) commissioners who’ve really been dedicated.”
The renovations will likely be finished by the NCW Fair, which features food, music and the Big Bend Round-Up rodeo.
“It’s a two day pro PRCA rodeo with horse racing, which is very rare, and it’s one of the only rodeos of its kind that includes 10 gate races, as well as Indian Relay,” Morley said.
Morley explained the Indian Relay consists of riders jumping on their horse, riding, jumping off and onto another horse and continuing around one more time.
Morley said she hopes the renovations will make the fair more functional, as well as attract younger audience members. As part of this effort, the fair is working on things like improving their Wi-Fi connection for all their computers. Fair staff have also updated the website to make it more aesthetically pleasing.
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