Built in 1973, the main show barn on the Muscatine County Fairgrounds in West Liberty has a lot of memories for former fair queen and 4-H showman Trish Anderson, who made a major donation to help fund a two-year remodeling project on the building.
Together with her husband, Dan, the St. Louis area couple made a sizeable donation to help restore the building and were honored Friday noon at intermission of the fair’s beef show by fair buildings committee co-chair Tim Nichols, fair board members and more.
The daughter of Tom and Sue Lehman of rural West Liberty who also served this past weekend as show ring announcer for the beef show has been “very involved” in keeping the fair healthy and structurally sound. Her grandfather, Walt Lehman, is also a past fair board president.
Anderson said she was “thrilled” about getting involved in helping upgrade the show ring, noting she showed cattle herself in the building as a youngsters. She called the renovations on the building a “great improvement,” noting even though temperatures were in the 90’s on Friday, there was a lot more air getting into the building to cool things down.
The refurbishing included upgrading decaying posts, adding sidewalks to make things more handicap accessible, revitalizing the 4-H office that had been raccoon infested (and outside the building) and providing better ventilation including installing roll up doors and windows.
Nichols said workmen from Petersen Construction in Muscatine completed the tricky structural work on the project with supplies from Menards and Affordable Metal, noting it was important “no point to soil contact” would be part of the project.
“The building had to be held up in increments to make the concrete support work possible,” Nichols said. “We were lucky on timing from a materials standpoint, given the recent rise in lumber prices.”
He gave credit to Matt Daufeldt for spearheading the construction of the now air-conditioned 4-H Extension Office in the corner of the building, Jason Wertzburger and Richard Smith for grade work and Kessler Electric of West Liberty for office wiring and other electrical changes in the structure.
Nichols also complimented the 18-member fair board and fair manager Kelsey Morris as well as Fair Board President Andy Carter for their work in making the fairgrounds better every year. “They undertake tasks that are managed together to bring you these spectacular results,” he said.
Nichols said the recent construction on the fairgrounds started in 2015 with the Kent Swine Pavilion project and has been followed up with eight major projects.
The large show ring is used for multiple shows at the fair including many non-fair shows. It was even used to stall horses for the harness races in June and is used for an annual consignment sale and winter storage, Nichols pointing out the building has “many purposes.” He said the window to remodel the building was small, hoping to be completed by Oct. 1, 2020, and said the project was completed on time and within budget.
Nichols also pointed out the Muscatine County Cattlemen organization, which serves ribeye steak sandwiches at noon of the beef show as a fundraiser, have provided valuable input on the needs of the structure.
Nichols said compliments are bountiful on the fair building improvements and new construction ¬– all keeping with an early 1900’s look to the fairgrounds – and said anyone wishing to support the board’s efforts should contact the fair office or any member of the fair board. Although there are no definitely plans yet, Nichols said the board is looking at upgrading the Fairgrounds Amphitheatre (grandstand) area as well as the Activity Center where many fair and community social events take place.