The 4-H barn at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds is getting a facelift just in time for a summer full of events and the Southwest Washington Fair in August.
The barn was roped off during the Spring Youth Fair in the beginning of May due to safety concerns as roof and wall structures began to crumble and leak.
But the new project has revitalized the structure with a brand new asphalt floor, a rebuilt foundation and wall structures on the southern end, and a newly installed roof with added insulation, which will help keep animals, exhibitors and fair attendees cool for the fair season.
The 4-H barn is an integral part of the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds that houses cattle from both dairy and beef categories during the August fair.
Matt Patana, the project manager contracted by Lewis County, told The Chronicle the structure had begun to buckle mainly on the south side despite what looked like attempts to keep the structure standing where others had added posts or other structural elements.
Patana said the new updates should be more long-lasting.
“The barn in a lot of ways was in really rough shape and had some major rotten forms and posts that were no longer supporting it,” Patana said. “On the south side, the base was actually buckling where you could actually see it was folding into itself … It was losing its height. When the poles rotted, they would just add other ones next to it and start over. In this case, we’ve done some much more permanent, better fixes. ”
The new improvements were funded primarily by the state. The contract with Kifer Construction to do the work started at $218,000 and added on just a few thousand dollars at the end when the crew found more structural issues and the county opted to repair them.
The money from the project is part of a grant from the Washington state Department of Agriculture. It was allocated in the state's previous capital budget with help from state Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, who serves on the House Capital Budget Committee.
Lewis County Commissioner Scott Brummer said he hopes the improvements make the 4-H barn more useful for the community and also help the fair bring in more money so that the county can afford to keep making updates to the facilities. The county hopes the updated barn and other improvements to facilities at the fairgrounds can start to generate revenue to keep the facilities in good condition.
“The fair is a community. It's owned by the people, essentially,” Brummer said. “However, it does need to be self-sufficient. We don't want to be using tax dollars to supplement the fair. We want to be able to have this facility … where we can continue to rent, bring in groups and have people utilize the space and that revenue then comes and helps pay for the maintenance upkeep and staffing.”
The work gets the barn operational for the summer and adds some quality of life improvements, like keeping the interior cooler, but it's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to upcoming improvements at the fairgrounds.
Another round of funding specifically for 4-H facilities was included in the state's capital budget this year thanks to Abbarno’s efforts. A total of $767,000 was allocated for 4-H barn upgrades, but it remains to be seen exactly what those upgrades will be.
Patanta and Brummer said that the funding is slated for expanding the 4-H facilities and possibly some additional updates to the current barn, such as electrical improvements.
The expansion part could mean a new building at the fairgrounds dedicated for 4-H use. Right now, it's too early to tell what it might look like or where it would sit. Planning is underway and being done as part of a larger effort to plan out the future of the fairgrounds as the county puts together a long-term plan for the facilities, which includes work on a new equestrian center.
The county is contracting with Populous Consulting to help with the planning. The Texas-based company specializes in designing large venue spaces, which includes studying crowd flow and what kind of events different facilities could host.
“We’re engaged right now in a planning effort that goes along with the equestrian center … We’re trying to look at the holistic fair and how everything functions,” Brummer said. “How animals move, how people move, how vehicles move during change out. There’s a lot of moving parts to the Southwest Washington Fair, and so we are utilizing their expertise. They do this all over the country on a large scale, and so they’re helping us plan out how we can best not only for the equestrian center but how do we best improve the layout design and flow of the fairgrounds.”
The Southwest Washington Fair runs Aug. 12-17 at the fairgrounds. Learn more at https://southwestwashingtonfair.org.
