Ag Society revisits contracts and demolition derby during May meeting

BROKEN BOW – The Custer County Ag Society held its May meeting at its usual time and place: Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Shooting Sports Building on the Custer County Fairgrounds. Only board members Stallbaumer and Ryan were absent.

The center of discussion was the horse cutting contracts. One issue in particular has chewed its way through the Ag Society’s stacks of paper since the start of 2023: how best to handle stall cleaning.

The board generally agrees that producers holding events at the fairgrounds should bear some sort of responsibility for leaving the stalls as nice as they found them, but the recent difficulty, at least in the case of the horse cutting organizers, is getting them to agree.

In general, most contracts are in a redrafting phase to include a requirement holding event producers culpable for stall cleaning; board member Casey Cooksley said that despite any potential pushback, the measures are necessary to keep the fairgrounds open and accessible to all.

“We want to have events here, we want it to be open, but people have to understand it is a business, and we have to have money to operate. If we’re turning around and spending everything we’re making on wages just to clean up after one event, it takes a lot of money away for things like fairground upgrades.”

Cleanup for the fair’s most recent event, for example, between setup and tear down, required 132 labor hours, which depleted over half of the event’s total generated income.

The tentative solution to be worked into the revised contracts is to apply a $2000 sticker to events’ price tags, and a $50 fee for each stall left uncleaned upon each event’s conclusion, to be billed to the producer. The contracts will now be sent to pass legal muster, with the board expected to approve any changes before the next meeting.

The Ag Society then revived the long latent discussion of bringing a demolition derby to the Custer County Fairgrounds; the tentative date, should everything go smoothly, would be August 18, shortly after schools return to session. The board reasoned that the date could be ideal because it fits a pocket between two major area seasons: it comes just after the fair season, and just before the start of football season.

Fairgrounds Administrator Michelle Nelson, in her administrative report, said that the upcoming pedal tractor pull will be moved from its home near the grandstands to the town square, before the parade. Nelson also said that this year, the event will be in memory of Broken Bow’s Chris Ogle.

Nelson’s report also highlighted the new roof on the hog barn, with gutters to be installed in the coming week; due to the recent rains, the project could not be completed in a single phase.

The board also approved the purchase of a 2009 service pickup for the fairgrounds; the vehicle’s $4850 price will come out of the fairground’s storm damage fund, as the pickup is to replace the vehicle that was totaled due to recent storms.

The Ag Society inspects their new service pickup. The board approved the $4850 purchase, with the money coming out of the storm damage fund.

Additionally, the board approved the removal of the manure pile by Myers Construction for a price not to exceed $10,000, and approved the consolidation of its financial accounts, which should streamline its budgeting and auditing processes.

The Ag Society also heard the Extension Office report; Extension Educator Troy Walz said that premium books would be delivered in the very near future.

The meeting adjourned at 8:16 p.m., with the next expected to occur on June 8.

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