Important decisions still left to be made for Floyd County Fairground rebuild

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

Work is likely to begin early next year on construction to replace buildings at the Floyd County Fairgrounds that were damaged or destroyed by a tornado last Memorial Day.

Amy Staudt, Floyd County Fair Board president, said ground could be broken as soon as late winter or early spring to construct two new buildings on the property just west of Charles City.

She said the fair board has decided to build a livestock building that would be added on to the north side of the current beef and swine barn.

“We’ve actually voted as a board to put into place a livestock building to replace the ones that went down for our dairy, our poultry and our rabbits,” said Staudt. “We’ll have all of our livestock in one common area. Then all our livestock will have permanent housing again.”

Staudt also said that construction of a building, similar to the one that housed the “Little Hands on the Farm” exhibit, will be built before the 2020 Floyd County Fair gets under way in mid-July. Staudt said that building will also have restrooms in it.

An outdoor patio area has also been considered by the board and could be used during the fair next summer once the construction plans are finalized next month.

Four buildings were either destroyed by the EF-1 tornado or damaged so much that they had to be torn down.

The brick building, which housed much of the fair’s entertainment shows, was turned to rubble. The white building or what was called the “Little Hands on the Farm” building was heavily damaged. The 4-H building that served food and housed the fair’s main office was torn down.

Other buildings damaged by the tornado and no longer on site are the hoop building and the dairy barn.

The horticulture building, which has been used as a mechanical shed, will be moved to the grandstand area sometime this fall.

Staudt said the board is still waiting to get back estimates from contractors on work planned in 2020 that needs to be submitted to insurance companies.

The board is holding a meeting today at 7 p.m. at the Iowa State Extension Office in Charles City. The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 13, when a final vote should take place to get the ball rolling on construction for 2020.

“We’ll have everything in hand before then. So then we’ll vote on getting those going in the spring or if we’re doing any changes at that time from what we’re originally talking right now,” said Staudt.

Details are still being worked out concerning how to replace the brick building and the 4-H building. Staudt said construction of those buildings will more than likely take place in 2021 if the board chooses to do so.

“The most beneficial meeting will be once we have all of the estimates in hand. We’ll go through and vote on that in November. Then we will literally schedule with those contractors to be lined up for the first available time we can in early spring, late winter,” said Staudt.