Fair board talks future events, projects and lack of members

The remaining members of the Great Northern Fair Board, Bob Kaul and Michelle Burchard, held their monthly meeting Tuesday night, their third in a row without a quorum, and discussed plans for potential events, upcoming projects on the grounds and the ongoing lack of board members.

Kaul said he's researching policy to potentially remedy the ongoing lack of board members and he said he may have found one.

Kaul said based on his understanding of policy, if the board goes for a certain amount of time without the four members necessary to have a quorum they can change the size of the board with the Hill County Commission's approval, potentially allowing them to have a quorum again.

The commission has been searching for new board members since the resignation of then-board chair Josh Heitzenroder and the removal of then-board member Bob Sivertsen earlier this year, but has not named anyone to the board despite receiving applications.

Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean, who attended the board's meeting, said her fellow commissioner Jake Strissel is trying to set up a meeting between the current board members, the commission and the current applicants before moving forward on any of them, but they've been having trouble finding a date and time that works for everyone.

Great Northern Fairgrounds Manager Frank English talked about recent events at the grounds, saying the Halloween events went well, though he doesn't have exact numbers for the board just yet.

English said the escape room was especially popular and will be coming back next month, this time with a Christmas theme.

He said he doesn't have details at this point, but should be getting them soon.

Halloween's events, including the escape room, a haunted house and a concert, were the subject of a controversy that nearly saw them canceled last month when their legality was called into question due to apparent fire code violations in the buildings the events were being held in.

The events were eventually approved by the commission, but the ongoing enforcement of fire codes has made many events regularly held in buildings on the fairgrounds potentially unviable.

The commission and other public officials came under fire when it seemed likely that many of the events could be canceled, and many of these people received threats of physical violence, along with a plethora of less-threatening but insulting messages.

Circumstances surrounding the conflict remain unclear as stories regarding the events that led up to it contradict each other, but what is clear is that the issue of fire codes will continue to be an issue for fairgrounds events going forward.

At Tuesday's meeting former fairgrounds manager and current fair board applicant David Brewer asked if there were any updates on this situation, and the remaining members of the board said it is an ongoing issue but there haven't been any noteworthy developments recently.

Kaul said they need more time to evaluate the potential upgrades that would be needed to bring the buildings up to code, which codes apply to which buildings, whether any can be grandfathered in under previous codes, etc.

Kaul, English and Burchard said it is an issue that is being worked on, but it will take time.

Burchard said this issue should not affect this weekend's rodeo at all however.

During the meeting English said he's looking into bringing more and more events to the fairgrounds in the future including a nitro-circus, clowns, hypnotists, more live music and other such shows and performances.

Many of these ideas stemmed from his recent attendance to the Rocky Mountain Association of Fairs Convention where he participated in a number of classes and workshops.

He said he also talked to other fairgrounds managers while he was there about their fire code issues, looking for similar situations and potential solutions.

Burchard thanked English for his ongoing efforts to get more events going at the fairgrounds and for making last month's Halloween events happen.

The board also discussed a project to update the fairgrounds' bathrooms.

Kaul said local architect Wade Bitz took a look at the old restrooms and said he'd be happy to work with them and on possible plans, including the possibility of another location.

Kaul said the project is likely going to be extremely expensive, with estimates between $250 and $350 per square foot, a number that will go up as time goes on.

He said the cost is going to be very high even before considering any water and sewer line replacements that may be necessary.

The next meeting of the board will be Tuesday, Dec. 21.