BROKEN BOW – The Custer County Ag Society held its monthly meeting on Monday, April 17 at 7 p.m. at the Shooting Sports Building on the Custer County Fairgrounds. The meeting had been rescheduled from its original Thursday date due to last week’s Cooksley Complex Fire near Anselmo.
The board approved the purchase of fans for the fairgrounds’ indoor arena, though only after significant deliberation. Board member Casey Cooksley raised the question of the cost-effectiveness of such an undertaking when the arena could be improved in other ways.
“That’s a lot of money to move a little air. You start looking at that kind of money, what could we be spending to put heat in the arena? We could probably get something fairly reasonable for the amount of money we’re talking about.”
Installation of a heating system would create the potential for lucrative winter events at the fairgrounds, which have been on the community’s wish list, not to mention few and far between in recent years, Cooksley explained.
“We’ve heard that gripe from people before, that we don’t have heat. We’re trying to make money, and at some point, if you put heat in there, it might draw more events.”
Amid the discussion, Board President Kent Nelson reminded the Ag Society that while consideration of all possibilities is important, the integrity of the board is at stake, and a decision has almost already been made.
“We did say that the funds from the Winter Ball would be going to fans.”
Board Secretary Blair Hartman concurred. “This would be the second year in a row that the money wouldn’t go where we said it would go.”
Ultimately, the board opted to move forward with its initial plan for fans for the indoor arena with the roughly $29,000 from the Winter Ball; funding for additional ventilation is possibly on the horizon via grant money and private donations. The next step for the board will be comparing a recent bid from Greenland Construction with other options.
The board heard reports from the Extension Office from Troy Walz, who reported that livestock judges for the coming fair have been selected, including new faces for the horse and goat shows.
In the administrator’s report, Fairgrounds Administrator Michelle Nelson touched on the possibility of moving some of the Custer School’s remaining playground equipment to the fairgrounds by May 10, and the Rotary’s development of a pollinator garden on the grounds.
Seven buildings have been rented for this year’s Junk Jaunt, Nelson said, and there is a possibility that Barn Seven or Eight could be moved off the fairgrounds by a private party instead of demolished. The Fairgrounds website is also undergoing renovation, with the hope that maps of the grounds will be added by the time the project wraps up.
The board approved the hiring of 2 employees for the fair season, the compensation of fair judges’ mileage at the state rate, and new gutters and roof on the Hog Barn to be handled by Sandhills Custom Carpentry in the coming weeks. The meeting adjourned at 8:19 p.m.
