News

Improvements slated for Missouri State Fair Grounds

The Missouri State Fairgrounds will be getting improvements. About $8 million will be invested in State Fair Grounds upgrades in the next fiscal year, according to Chris Chinn, director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture, which oversees the state fair.

“We’re going to see improvements to the electrical and the swine barn, we’re going to see a complete renovation of the sheep pavilion, the brick barns that are our horse buildings, they’re going to have some upgrades and renovations that are going to happen,” Chinn told Brownfield Ag News Farm Director Cyndi Young at a recent event to promote the state fair.

Other improvements include adding camping spots in time for next summer, and enhancing water and electrical service to existing spots.

This year’s flooding has left questions about whether people will be in a state of mine to attend the fair. Damage affected exhibitor families and supporters of the fair, said Mark Wolfe, director of the Missouri State Fair.

“When agriculture suffers,” said Wolfe, “our fair suffers.”

Without being specific, Wolfe said the State Fair Commission discussed how to ease flood-related burdens on exhibitors.

“We’re looking into some things that we’re talking about doing to see if it doesn’t help out a little bit,” said Wolfe. “Hopefully folks will find a way to get here and we show them a great fair and they go home at least with a smile on their face about how that turned out.”

Wolfe says some of what was discussed among State Fair Commission members includes belt-tightening around the fair grounds. The Missouri State Fair is August 8-18 is Sedalia, Missouri.