Fair time approaches!

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/CHRIS MCLEAN Jim Berta of Team 3 Construction walks through the ongoing remodeling project in the boys 4-H dorm shower room at the Colorado State Fairgrounds on Thursday.. Dorm renovation is one of the projects underway in preparation for the State Fair next month.

As they say, The show must go on.

Despite the National Little Britches Final Rodeo taking over the Colorado State Fairgrounds throughout the week with thousands of competitors, spectators and horses, crews are still working tirelessly to prepare the Fairground facilities for next months Colorado State Fair.

Little Britches kind of puts us on hold for a bit. Our facilities are pretty filled up during this week. At any given time, well have about 500 horses at the Fair and they have almost 1,400 for Little Britches, said Chris Wiseman, Colorado State Fair general manager. It puts us in sort of a time crunch, but in all of the 10 years theyve been coming, its never held us back much.

Wiseman said even during the rodeo, work is ongoing to renovate the newly renamed Growing Mind Dormitories, which will house 4-H and Future Farmers of America participants this year for the first time.

Were finishing up installing new carpets and restroom facilities in the boys dorms right now, and we should have an HVAC system set up in the girls dorms before the Fair starts, Wiseman said. Well also be putting about 80 new lockers and 40 new beds in there. I think it will help improve the environment and hopefully it will draw more kids.

The lockers and beds are coming from Dubworks SC, a local company based in Erie that expanded to Pueblo in January of this year, Wiseman said.

It will be the first time weve ever had lockers in the dorms, Wiseman said. Eventually, we will get an HVAC in the boys dorms, too. But at some point, we have to decide if were running out of time before the Fair starts.

Wiseman said some of the other noticeable and many of the not-so-noticeable renovations to the Fairgrounds this year will include new roofing on several of the buildings, installation of new 20-foot fans in the livestock pavilion and Palace of Agriculture, and renovations to the electrical systems for the vendors at the Fairgrounds.

Preparation each year probably costs us around $250,000 easily, and you can probably add about $150,000 to that this year, Wiseman said. In the 17 years that Ive been here, weve done about $16 million in improvements to the grounds, most of which comes from the states general fund, the historical fund and donations to the State Fair Foundation.

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Fair time approaches!