Friday, December 18th, 2015
Fair manager pitches plan for building
By Shelley Grieshop
CELINA - Mercer County Fair officials plan to use state funds and other dollars to pay for the construction of a proposed multipurpose building costing about $100,000.
The proposed 50-foot-by-100-foot structure would be built to the east of the Junior Fair building, fair manager Cara Muhlenkamp told county commissioners on Thursday.
The proposed structure was included in a five-year list of capital improvement projects presented by fair officials to commissioners during an appropriations discussion.
Muhlenkamp said construction of the building would be paid with $50,000 in state money (with a required $50,000 match) allotted to each fair in Ohio, and at least $25,000 donated earlier to the fair board for a now-defunct convention and education facility.
"I am still waiting for the actual estimates (to come) back," Muhlenkamp told the newspaper.
The new building would be used to house FFA and household department projects in an air-conditioned environment during the annual fair, she explained.
"This will save us from having to rent a tent each year," she said. "We also would be able to use this building during non-fair times for winter storage."
A timeline for construction has not yet been set.
Fair officials had planned to build a $4 million Progressive Agriculture Convention and Education Center that would have provided convention/display areas, as well as classroom and laboratory space for Wright State University-Lake Campus' agriculture program.
Several months ago the plans for the PACE Center were nixed and $1.5 million granted to the fair board from the state for the construction was diverted to a planned agriculture and water quality center at the lake campus in Celina.
