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County fairgrounds updates progressing well

Janell Baute (left) and Pat Karst are members of a committee charged with guiding upkeep and improvements to the Huntington County Fairgrounds. Some of those improvements have included upgrades to Heritage Hall, including the addition of air conditioning, with a goal of drawing more rental business.
Janell Baute (left) and Pat Karst are members of a committee charged with guiding upkeep and improvements to the Huntington County Fairgrounds. Some of those improvements have included upgrades to Heritage Hall, including the addition of air conditioning, with a goal of drawing more rental business. Photo provided.

Heritage Hall is pretty cool these days.

Cool, as in air conditioned.

It’s one of the improvements made in the year since the Huntington County 4-H Fair Association took over ownership of the Huntington County Fairgrounds, which previously made up a large portion of Hier’s Park.

And the newly-installed air conditioning in Heritage Hall, a large building in the center of the fairgrounds, is among the updates the association hopes will bring in the rental income that will fund future maintenance and improvements to the fairgrounds.

While the 4-H Fair itself is supported through a tax rate, the upkeep of the fairgrounds is dependent on donations and building rentals, explains Pat Karst, a member of the 4-H Fair Association’s operations committee responsible for the care of the property.

“The grounds were in good shape when we got it, but we’ve made some improvements,” he says.

In addition to the air conditioning, Heritage Hall has all new windows, a commercial refrigerator, freshly painted walls and new round tables.

“The focus is to get it rented,” adds Janell Baute, also a member of the operations committee. Heritage Hall can hold up to 299 people, she says, with a kitchen available for use.

Elsewhere on the fairgrounds, the electrical system has been upgraded and the Family Living Building has been cleaned and painted. New trees have been planted, and picnic tables and benches have been donated. A long-range planning committee is working on a master plan for the fairgrounds, which could include construction of another open pavilion, an upgrade for the Family Living Building and additional paved parking.

Naming rights for the buildings at the fairgrounds were auctioned off last year, and signs bearing the new names should be on the buildings before the 4-H Fair in July, Baute says.

While the fair has been held at Hier’s Park since 1935, the land never belonged to the 4-H Fair Association. Instead, the association had a long-term lease with the City of Huntington and was responsible for the construction and upkeep of the buildings there. That all changed in March of 2015, when city officials proposed transferring ownership to the 4-H Fair Association, Karst says.

“We had put hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past 20 years on ground we didn’t own,” he says. “We jumped at the opportunity.”

“The most important thing is, this was a public park owned by the city,” Karst says. “Now it’s private property but it is still used as a park.”

Picnics and other activities continue to take place at the fairgrounds, he notes, and the open pavilions are available for use without a reservation — although a reservation guarantees their availability.

Prices and contracts for building rentals are available online at www.hunt ingtoncountyfairgrounds.com. Information is also available by calling the Huntington County office of Purdue Extension at 358-4826.

“We’re operating as a not-for-profit, and we’d appreciate it if people would give us a look when they’re planning an event,” Karst says.