Western Indiana Community Foundation Awards $30,000 for Fountain County Fairgrounds Project
The Western Indiana Community Foundation is pleased to announce its awarding of a $30,000 grant to the Fountain County Fairgrounds Capital Improvement Project.
Cheri Krug of the Friends of the Fountain County Fairgrounds says, “We are excited about this generous donation by the community Foundation. We have now raised $140,000 towards our $155,000 goal. Our plans include a new concession stand/kitchen, restrooms and multipurpose room with Wi-Fi access and air conditioning. This new ADA compliant addition will be a great improvement to the current facilities and is key for creating a welcoming and inviting area for our community."
The fairgrounds hosts a variety of events such as weddings, dances, Cub Scout events, auctions, open livestock show, community events for local groups and the yearly 4-H fair and 4-H meetings. On a typical year, it averages between 1-3 events/meetings per month from March through November (closed during the winter months). Attendance ranges from small group meetings (10-20 people) to larger events when attendance is upwards of 500 people or more. Meeting room space at the fairgrounds is currently limited to the large building at the south end of the fairgrounds. This building is expensive to heat and cool for smaller meetings. The planned multipurpose room will be more economical for small meetings and will have Wi-Fi access. We hope that this county-centralized meeting space provides opportunities for growth, especially in youth and adult educational programs and hosting local small businesses' meetings and events. The current concession stand is outdated and does not provide a safe food prep area. It is used extensively by the 4-H Junior Leaders during the fair, providing valuable life experiences in management and finances as they operate a food stand during the fair. There are 364 youth currently enrolled in 4-H who extensively use the fairgrounds during the fair and throughout the year for 4-H club meetings.
According to Dale White, CEO of the Western Indiana Community Project, “It’s been a pleasure to partner with the Friends of the Fountain County Fairgrounds organization. The Attica, Covington, and Southeast Fountain Community Foundations are each awarding $10,000 to this worthwhile project.
The community foundations liked the idea of an organization providing a centralized space to accommodate high quality programs, both for youth and adults, in Fountain County. Improving the fairground facilities will benefit all residents of the county as well as future generations. The multipurpose room included in this project, will bring flexibility and options for groups seeking a meeting place and the concession stand/kitchen is a well-thought out component of the project."
White closes by stating, “We have enjoyed working with the Friends of the Fountain County Fairgrounds the past few years in their fundraising efforts. We are confident they will reach their goal of $155,000 and hopefully most of that will be done by generous Fountain County citizens by year-end 2020. The community foundation also likes the groups vision of exceeding their goal to have enough money to add some extra touches to the project and to be able to put some money away for the long-term upkeep and maintenance of the new facility. It would be remarkable if our citizens and businesses could help them raise $175,000 to $200,000.”
Donations to the project may be made to: Western Indiana Community Foundation, ATTN: Fountain County Fairgrounds Capital Improvement Project, PO Box 175, Covington, IN 47932 or online at www.wicf-inc.org.