Master Plan for the Fairgrounds
| Countdown to the Fair! |
| Western Montana Fair is a member of the International Association of Fairs & Expositions Comments or Suggestions? Send an email to the Fair Office on the Contact page Content Copyright ©2007 Western Montana Fair Website design by Marketplace Media |
Stakeholders' Section
Medicine Hat official explains success of town's facility to fair board
By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian - March 20, 2007
Ron Edwards makes a presentation at the Missoula fairgrounds on Monday about the indoor facility built in Medicine Hat,
Alberta, by their fair board. Among the plans for revamping the Missoula fairgrounds are finding ways to make new
facilities pay for themselves, as has the facility in Medicine Hat.
Photo by TOM BAUER/Missoulian
Just because the calendar has 365 days doesn't mean a
well-planned indoor facility is limited to that many events.
The Cypress Center in Medicine Hat, Alberta, counts 400
events under one roof each year, and has the capacity for
many more - in a region with less than half the population
of Missoula, Ron Edwards said Monday.
“We can rent four venues at the same time, so we can have
four events going on at the same time. That's more money for
the fair board, and it works very, very well,” said Edwards,
who's on the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede board.
Edwards made three presentations at the Missoula County fairgrounds on Monday - to members of the Western Montana
Fair Board, to a couple dozen users and stakeholders of the Missoula fairgrounds, and in the evening, to the general
public.
Plans are afoot to revamp the aging grounds, and one of the focal points is to make the new ones pay for themselves
when the August fair isn't on.
“We talked about getting something different on the grounds,” said board member Charlie Deschamps. “Now we have to
raise over a million dollars in six days to keep our fair going. We need to have a year-round facility.”
Edwards described and showed slides of the Cypress Center, which sits on five acres in the southeastern Alberta city.
The original facility, built 27 years ago, included a 14,000-square-foot auditorium, a 22,000-foot pavilion and two large
meeting rooms. Everything's heated, and the auditorium is air conditioned. In recent years, long drapes have been added
that can partition the auditorium into four areas and lend the acoustics needed for quality concerts.
The auditorium and pavilion are floored with “sport floor” and cement, respectively.
Eight years ago, the largest room yet was added. The Cypress Center fieldhouse measures 33,000 square feet. It's also
heated and has a concrete floor which can be covered with dirt for equestrian events.
Edwards listed dozens of uses that have been found for the center over the years. They entailed just about anything you
can imagine except an ice rink (“We have more of those in Medicine Hat than we have people, I think,” he quipped) and
what the auditorium was originally designed for - basketball.
“We've made some mistakes along the way,” Edwards admitted.
On a Friday night next month, there'll be a professional rodeo in the fieldhouse, the after-rodeo dance in the pavilion and
a Jehovah's Witnesses church rally in the auditorium, he said.
Right now, Missoula gets perhaps 250 event rentals a year on its entire grounds, fair manager Scot Meader said. That's
counting the busy Glacier Ice Rink, one of just two structures on the grounds that are sure to remain, according to a
strategic plan adopted by the county last year.
Included in the vision statement of that plan is a sought-after venue “with potential users having to plan up to three years
ahead in order to reserve space.” Such a facility will offer more than 800 event days a year, the vision added.
Edwards was in town this weekend for a meeting of the Rocky Mountain Fair Association. He was asked by the fair board
to show and tell Missoulians what he'd helped create in Medicine Hat. It served as a jumping-off point for discussions that
will lead to conceptual designs for the entire fairgrounds, to be on display at the Western Montana Fair in August.
The goal is to have a plan hammered out to take to voters in November 2008, Meader said.
Potential costs weren't part of Edwards' presentation, but he did entreat his audience not to saddle the fair board and
county with debt.
“The one thing he really emphasized was if you don't have the money, don't borrow it,” said board member Betty Jo
Johnson. “Raise it yourself so you're not in debt before you start.”
The Medicine Hat fair board has a partnership agreement with the city of Medicine Hat for 200 prime event dates a year.
In essence, said Edwards, the city pays $75,000 to rent the Cypress Center from the board.
Johnson said Edwards' description of the center's merits give western Montanans something to chew on as they forge a
new-look fairgrounds.
“Based on his presentation, I think this would be a real asset to Missoula. Missoula could use it for all kinds of things,” she
said. “The mistakes they made (in Medicine Hat) we can learn from.
“We don't have to reinvent the wheel when we can steal somebody else's good ideas and then add our good ideas to
theirs.”
Town meeting to offer voice of experience
By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian - March 19, 2007
Public discussion about the future look of the Western Montana Fairgrounds kicks off Monday night at a town meeting.
Ron Edwards of Medicine Hat, Alberta, will talk about the success of a multi-purpose facility at that city's Exhibition and Stampede
Grounds.
“They've got a facility up there that has grandstands and a building that they've been able to add on to over the years,” said Scot
Meader, manager of the Missoula fair. “Ron's just going to share what they've done over the last 25 years or so.”
The Cypress Center in Medicine Hat is a 70,000-square-foot building made up of an auditorium, a pavilion and a 33,000-square-foot
fieldhouse.
“It's an open-span building, not necessarily a lot of seating, but heated to where they can do the RV shows, the boat shows, the
banquets, car sales, motorcycles - anything,” Meader said. “They started with one building and just kind of built it to where they've
been able to add on. So now they can have two or three events going on in that same structure at the same time.”
Edwards is a board member of the Rocky Mountain Association of Fairs, and he's in Missoula for a planning meeting. He
volunteered to make the Monday presentation, Meader said.
“He has a real history about their fairgrounds and what has worked in their fairgrounds and what hasn't worked,” Meader said.
As part of a strategic plan approved by commissioners last June, the 2007 Western Montana Fair will showcase up to three
architectural renderings of what the 48-acre grounds could look like.
Monday is also the due date for architects to submit qualifications for those conceptual designs.
Commissioners and the fair board are seeking advice and opinions about the future of the grounds and will hold more town meetings
in the near future to gather input, Meader said.
Meader said the goal is to have a package put together to take to voters in November 2008.
A facility for year-round use is a priority. Events at the fairgrounds now are heavily weighted to the summer months.
“What we'd like to do is be able to provide event days and events all throughout the year and have a full four-quad calendar instead of
it being so lopsided,” Meader said.
A facility such as the Cypress Center in Medicine Hat could address that need, he added.
By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian - March 20, 2007
Ron Edwards makes a presentation at the Missoula fairgrounds on Monday about the indoor facility built in Medicine Hat,
Alberta, by their fair board. Among the plans for revamping the Missoula fairgrounds are finding ways to make new
facilities pay for themselves, as has the facility in Medicine Hat.
Photo by TOM BAUER/Missoulian
Just because the calendar has 365 days doesn't mean a
well-planned indoor facility is limited to that many events.
The Cypress Center in Medicine Hat, Alberta, counts 400
events under one roof each year, and has the capacity for
many more - in a region with less than half the population
of Missoula, Ron Edwards said Monday.
“We can rent four venues at the same time, so we can have
four events going on at the same time. That's more money for
the fair board, and it works very, very well,” said Edwards,
who's on the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede board.
Edwards made three presentations at the Missoula County fairgrounds on Monday - to members of the Western Montana
Fair Board, to a couple dozen users and stakeholders of the Missoula fairgrounds, and in the evening, to the general
public.
Plans are afoot to revamp the aging grounds, and one of the focal points is to make the new ones pay for themselves
when the August fair isn't on.
“We talked about getting something different on the grounds,” said board member Charlie Deschamps. “Now we have to
raise over a million dollars in six days to keep our fair going. We need to have a year-round facility.”
Edwards described and showed slides of the Cypress Center, which sits on five acres in the southeastern Alberta city.
The original facility, built 27 years ago, included a 14,000-square-foot auditorium, a 22,000-foot pavilion and two large
meeting rooms. Everything's heated, and the auditorium is air conditioned. In recent years, long drapes have been added
that can partition the auditorium into four areas and lend the acoustics needed for quality concerts.
The auditorium and pavilion are floored with “sport floor” and cement, respectively.
Eight years ago, the largest room yet was added. The Cypress Center fieldhouse measures 33,000 square feet. It's also
heated and has a concrete floor which can be covered with dirt for equestrian events.
Edwards listed dozens of uses that have been found for the center over the years. They entailed just about anything you
can imagine except an ice rink (“We have more of those in Medicine Hat than we have people, I think,” he quipped) and
what the auditorium was originally designed for - basketball.
“We've made some mistakes along the way,” Edwards admitted.
On a Friday night next month, there'll be a professional rodeo in the fieldhouse, the after-rodeo dance in the pavilion and
a Jehovah's Witnesses church rally in the auditorium, he said.
Right now, Missoula gets perhaps 250 event rentals a year on its entire grounds, fair manager Scot Meader said. That's
counting the busy Glacier Ice Rink, one of just two structures on the grounds that are sure to remain, according to a
strategic plan adopted by the county last year.
Included in the vision statement of that plan is a sought-after venue “with potential users having to plan up to three years
ahead in order to reserve space.” Such a facility will offer more than 800 event days a year, the vision added.
Edwards was in town this weekend for a meeting of the Rocky Mountain Fair Association. He was asked by the fair board
to show and tell Missoulians what he'd helped create in Medicine Hat. It served as a jumping-off point for discussions that
will lead to conceptual designs for the entire fairgrounds, to be on display at the Western Montana Fair in August.
The goal is to have a plan hammered out to take to voters in November 2008, Meader said.
Potential costs weren't part of Edwards' presentation, but he did entreat his audience not to saddle the fair board and
county with debt.
“The one thing he really emphasized was if you don't have the money, don't borrow it,” said board member Betty Jo
Johnson. “Raise it yourself so you're not in debt before you start.”
The Medicine Hat fair board has a partnership agreement with the city of Medicine Hat for 200 prime event dates a year.
In essence, said Edwards, the city pays $75,000 to rent the Cypress Center from the board.
Johnson said Edwards' description of the center's merits give western Montanans something to chew on as they forge a
new-look fairgrounds.
“Based on his presentation, I think this would be a real asset to Missoula. Missoula could use it for all kinds of things,” she
said. “The mistakes they made (in Medicine Hat) we can learn from.
“We don't have to reinvent the wheel when we can steal somebody else's good ideas and then add our good ideas to
theirs.”
Town meeting to offer voice of experience
By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian - March 19, 2007
Public discussion about the future look of the Western Montana Fairgrounds kicks off Monday night at a town meeting.
Ron Edwards of Medicine Hat, Alberta, will talk about the success of a multi-purpose facility at that city's Exhibition and Stampede
Grounds.
“They've got a facility up there that has grandstands and a building that they've been able to add on to over the years,” said Scot
Meader, manager of the Missoula fair. “Ron's just going to share what they've done over the last 25 years or so.”
The Cypress Center in Medicine Hat is a 70,000-square-foot building made up of an auditorium, a pavilion and a 33,000-square-foot
fieldhouse.
“It's an open-span building, not necessarily a lot of seating, but heated to where they can do the RV shows, the boat shows, the
banquets, car sales, motorcycles - anything,” Meader said. “They started with one building and just kind of built it to where they've
been able to add on. So now they can have two or three events going on in that same structure at the same time.”
Edwards is a board member of the Rocky Mountain Association of Fairs, and he's in Missoula for a planning meeting. He
volunteered to make the Monday presentation, Meader said.
“He has a real history about their fairgrounds and what has worked in their fairgrounds and what hasn't worked,” Meader said.
As part of a strategic plan approved by commissioners last June, the 2007 Western Montana Fair will showcase up to three
architectural renderings of what the 48-acre grounds could look like.
Monday is also the due date for architects to submit qualifications for those conceptual designs.
Commissioners and the fair board are seeking advice and opinions about the future of the grounds and will hold more town meetings
in the near future to gather input, Meader said.
Meader said the goal is to have a package put together to take to voters in November 2008.
A facility for year-round use is a priority. Events at the fairgrounds now are heavily weighted to the summer months.
“What we'd like to do is be able to provide event days and events all throughout the year and have a full four-quad calendar instead of
it being so lopsided,” Meader said.
A facility such as the Cypress Center in Medicine Hat could address that need, he added.
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
