MANSFIELD — Capital improvements will soon take place at the Richland County Fairgrounds thanks to a $50,000 matching funds grant from the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
Jason Snyder, president of the Richland County Agricultural Society, was excited to announce the news on Monday.
“It’s matching funds, so we had to have our $50,000 to get $50,000,” he said. “We kind of knew this was coming down pike. They had talked about it for a couple years, so we saved our pennies up and the money (the fairgrounds’ share) came from our Fair Haven Ladies’ Auxiliary and the Richland County Livestock Sale Committee.”
Snyder expressed his appreciation for the two groups’ efforts and said about $113,000 worth of improvements will take place at the fairgrounds. That includes roof replacements to seven of the buildings and about 55,000 square feet of asphalt work to the parking lots and the midway.
Snyder expects the work to begin soon.
“We actually contacted the contractor on Friday once we received word that the grant was approved,” he said. “It’ll definitely be done before this year’s fair.”
