Evergreen State Fairgrounds need improvements, county says
Published 10:28 pm Monday, August 16, 2010
MONROE — Every year, crowds pack the Evergreen State Fairgrounds to capacity for 12 days during the annual fair.
Then, the throngs mostly go away.
During the other 353 days, smaller crowds might take in a horse show, car races or 4-H classes.
Many in Snohomish County government and the surrounding community feel the aging facilities are long overdue for repolishing, or more. When spruced up, the 186-acre county-owned facility could shine as a year-round destination.
“They’ve got a gem. It’s a diamond in the rough,” said Bill O’Loughlin, the owner of Portland, Ore.-based O’Louglin Trade Shows, who puts on events throughout the western U.S.
“Snohomish County has a gold mine if they would just look to the future and say, ‘what if.’ ”
The fairgrounds have hosted the Evergreen State Fair for 61 years. This year’s fair kicks off Aug. 27 and runs through Sept. 7.
These days, the fairgrounds draw around 1.2 million visitors a year. In 2008, the fair accounted for 761,000 of those visits.
Similarly, county parks officials estimate that 72 percent of the operating revenue — about $4.4 million total in 2008 — comes during the fair. An equestrian center attracts an estimated 12 percent of the money, a racetrack draws 5 percent, and 6 percent comes from a combination of rentals and concessions.
In a recent report, county parks officials said they’d like the split between the fair and all other events to be closer to 50-50. County parks director Tom Teigen said that redeveloping the fairgrounds was part of his job description when County Executive Aaron Reardon hired him 2 1/2 years ago.
During the past dozen years, the county has spent about $4.1 million on paving, lighting, fixing leaky roofs and upgrades to equestrian facilities, among other work.
The parks department has identified $61 million of possible improvements in the coming years, including a 100,000-square-foot exposition center, new grandstands and expanded on-site camping. The proposed exposition center could cost $20 million alone and take up to four years to build.
Coming up with that money could be difficult. A 5 percent admissions tax that took effect July 1 is expected to generate just a few hundred thousand dollars per year.
County Councilman Dave Somers, whose district includes the fairgrounds, said he was looking at ways to use some money collected from a tax on local hotels and motels to pay for some of the work.
O’Loughlin used to hold RV and sportsman shows at the fairgrounds. He stopped because of limited space and inadequate infrastructure. Setting up tents, lighting and heat ate up too much of his profit, he said. On the other hand, he liked the abundance of parking.
The president of a nonprofit quilting group fears being priced out if the surroundings become too fancy.
“For some people it’s nice the way it is,” said Elaine Colvin of Quilters Anonymous, which holds an annual show there in March. “I suppose it would be better if it were bigger and cleaner and warmer and they could do something about the leaking roofs. That would be really nice, but we would worry about the price then.”
Reshaping the fairgrounds shouldn’t come at the expense of the people who use it now, said Christopher Schwarzen, the county executive’s spokesman.
The fairgrounds have played a central role in honoring Snohomish County’s farmers, loggers and miners. People don’t want it to lose that feel.
“It really has strong agricultural ties,” said Teigen, the parks director. “It does and it always will.”
For Monroe Mayor Donnetta Walser, the grounds’ appearance isn’t so important.
“I think most people want to keep the country flavor,” she said. “It’s not a matter of aesthetics as much as making them usable, making them safe and comfortable.”
Somers, the county councilman, doesn’t see a grand makeover, either. He’s been getting a lot of complaints about the bathrooms. Basic things like working toilets and porous roofs give the county plenty of work to do for now.
“We don’t want a Taj Mahal,” he said. “But when you have roofs leaking on people’s quilts, that’s not acceptable, either.”
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
Talk today
Snohomish County parks officials are scheduled to give a presentation on the future of the Evergreen State Fairgrounds at 1:30 p.m. today on the eighth floor of the county administration building, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett.
