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Clay County Fairgoers Will Once Again Notice Some Improvements On The Grounds

August 29, 2023 Steve Schwaller

(Spencer)– Those attending this year’s Clay County Fair powered by SMU will notice some improvements. Fair General Manager Jerome Hertel says crews upkeep of the grounds is constant…

“We have a capital improvement budget and we try to fix some things on the fairgrounds. We’ve got, you know, I think over 70 buildings on the grounds and they all need to be maintained. And some things you notice and some things you don’t. We are putting a new roof on the grandstand, we’re adding drain lines for vendors, we’re adding some water lines for vendors. We’ve done a lot of painting and those type of improvements, but one of the big improvements versus last year that we didn’t have was air conditioning in the Tower Gate Pavilion, so another opportunity for people to get out of the heat if they need to. It’s a very large building with all those vendors in there and so it gives you an opportunity to go in there and browse and shop a little bit and look at things and get out of the heat a little bit.”

Hertel says they’ve also added what’s known as a “sensory room” to further accommodate families attending the fair…

“We have some customers, some people with some special needs and stuff, so we developed a sensory room in the Family Place location and it’s just a place for somebody to unwind. It’s kind of a calming room for people that need that during the fair, so. Yeah, a new addition this year. Just one of the different customer service options that we try to enhance at the fairgrounds.”

The Sensory Room is located in what years ago was the fair’s administrative office building.

The Clay County Fair runs September 9th-17th.

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