Director aims for 4-H building by fair time

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

If the director of the Larimer County fairgrounds can convince his bosses he has a good funding plan in place, the 4-H program will have its own building for the next fair.

Fairgrounds director Jay Hardy will be meeting with the county commissioners in December in hopes of ordering a metal building by Dec. 20. That's the cutoff date to meet a construction timetable to open by July 14.

A key part of the funding plan is a pending gift of nearly $1 million, which will buy naming rights to the building, Hardy said. Another key component is continued county funding for the fairgrounds of about $250,000 a year. Even with those and other donations in place, the county will still have to finance about $3 million in debt for the building, he added.

Hardy and a 4-H user group settled on a building design in late November. The $4.4 million project will have 26,670 square feet with a flexible exhibition space that can be divided into various room sizes. It will also have six breakout rooms, a kitchen, concession area and storage areas.

Many in the 4-H program have been hoping the new building would include a shooting range, but that will be delayed, Hardy said, because it would have added about $1.5 million to the cost. The building design, however, will allow for future construction of the range, he said. Shooting sports is one of the most popular projects among 4-H members in Larimer County. Hardy envisions that a future range could also be leased to other users and provide revenue for the fairgrounds.

A separate 4-H building has always been part of the master plan for the new fairgrounds that opened east of Interstate 25 two years ago, but its construction was postponed because of the costs of the larger buildings. The 4-H building will be located directly east of the First National Bank Exhibition Hall, Hardy said, making it the first building visitors see when they come through the main gate.

Hensel Phelps Construction Co., which has a district office in Greeley, is the general contractor. The company also built the Larimer County Justice Center in downtown Fort Collins.