FUTURE OF THE FAIR: Please attend town hall

There is nothing more important to me right now than making sure our fairgrounds remain in their current location and we, as a community, can plan for its future. Our fairgrounds are a North Idaho Gem for sure, and the events held each week throughout the year are extremely important to our economy and community.   

4-H and FFA, rodeos, livestock shows, animals, and farm and ranch families are the backbone of Kootenai County and North Idaho. Our fair and rodeo are as good as any west of the Mississippi. Our fairgrounds pay for themselves and get little and often nothing from the county. It is a prime location for sure … but some things are more important than money.  

A recent economic impact study was done which shows just how important this is to our community and our county. Moving it in this economic environment really is not an option. In all honesty, this decision should have been made long ago. Instead, the fairgrounds continue to be eaten up little by little   

It is so difficult right now to make improvements and plan without knowing what the direction is for the fairgrounds. We shouldn’t underestimate how hard it would be to move the fairgrounds out of Coeur d’Alene, not to mention how much it would cost. How do we expect we would raise the millions and millions of dollars to move and then build a new fairgrounds?  

Since we moved here 29 years ago, we have lost most of the “prairie.” Let’s not lose the fairgrounds, too. Please plan to attend the town hall on July 10 at 6 p.m. at the Kootenai County Administration Building. 

DAVE PAUL 

Post Falls