By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Facing the option of having to close the restrooms in the grandstands for the week of the fair, the Crawford County Senior Fair Board dodged a potentially messy situation by approving the plumbing work needed to be done.
The emergency legislation needed to be enacted upon after a cast pipe in the fairgrounds’ grandstands rusted out, flooding the restrooms. With the piping, flush valves, and toilets needing replaced the Fair Board was left with two options. They could have closed the bathrooms for the week of the fair and used port-a-pots, or they could go with the estimate from Sycamore Contracting.
The estimate for the replacement work was $10,055 without hot water and $1,430 more with hot water. The fair board approved fixing the issue without the use of hot water.
The 2016 Crawford County Fair will be needing extra help with on-site firefighters. Fair board member and Bucyrus Township Volunteer Firefighter Shawn Rowlinson reported that, due to low numbers of volunteer firefighters, the Bucyrus Township Volunteer Fire Department could only cover from gate open to gate close on the week of the fair. The fair board approved having 24-hour on-site firefighters in case of an emergency. Rowlinson said he would look into finding extra help from nearby volunteer stations.
In her 4-H/OSU Extension Office report to the fair board, Allison Cooper received permission for use of the fairgrounds for the first Family Fun Fest to be held on Aug. 4. Cooper noted that the goal was to get away from the auction fundraiser and hopes to attract people outside of the 4-H group.
Rain insurance for the 2016 Crawford County Fair was approved by the fair board. The board approved taking out a $10,000 rain insurance policy for each day of the fair. In order for the insurance to be used by the fair, a rainfall of .25 inches needs to fall between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. during the week of the fair.
The fair board approved using Jim Nye Painting for painting the Fine Arts and Horse Buildings.