Members of the DeKalb County Fair Association want to give the Grandstand a makeover and to preserve and keep it safe for future patrons to the Grandpa Fair of the South.
During the October meeting of the Alexandria Mayor and Board of Aldermen, the Fair Board received authorization to apply for a grant through the Tennessee Historical Commission to rehabilitate the old grandstand which is listed on the National Register of Historic places. The city owns the fairgrounds and leases the property to the DeKalb County Fair Association.
“We want to preserve it and make sure it continues to be safe to put people on. We’ve had two or three thousand people on it at one time during fair events in the past.
We’re going to be applying for a grant in the 2016 grant year to rehabilitate the structure. We received a grant from the Historical Society several years ago to do some work on part of the grandstand,” said Matt Boss, an Alexandria Alderman and a member of the Fair Board.
The grant application will be made in the name of the city but the fair board will fund the grant match if approved.
“Being city owned property, we’re going to apply through the city to do this but the fair board is going to take care of the expense of fixing the grandstand back,” said Boss.
But as a designated National Historic landmark, the grandstand rehabilitation project will have to meet certain guidelines.
“Because it is on the Historical Registry there are certain criteria. We can’t just go over there and put new screws or nails in it. We can’t put pressure treated lumber in it. We’re required to use rough cut lumber in the renovation. It has to be made up of the same or similar material as it was years ago in keeping with the history of it. While it will cost several thousand dollars, we are hoping to get this grant money and we’ve also set aside some money toward this project. Hopefully we can do at least a portion of the work that we want to do,” said Jeff McMillen, a member of the Fair Board.
“We’ve had an engineer come out and look and once we have a lot of these fixes done it’ll probably put 20 more years to the lifespan of it,” Boss added.
McMillen said once the project is completed the fair association hopes to add more fair events at the grandstand in the future
“The grandstand is still a usable structure. Its just not what it once was. Its just like your house. It has to be maintained and its time to do some maintenance. The main objective is to keep the grandstand structurally sound where I don’t care to put my family or your family on it. As of now, we feel good about it but we know there is some work that needs to be done that is very important for the safety of everybody,” said McMillen
The DeKalb County Fairgrounds were established on approximately seven acres along Hickman Creek in Alexandria on April 15, 1856. Today twenty four acres make up the fairgrounds. The individual grandstand and supporting buildings have also changed at different times, sometimes in responses to fires,tornado, and floods, other times in response to changing trends in agriculture and outdoor recreation and entertainment. Located in the center of the fairgrounds is the large V-shaped grandstand (C), which dates to 1920. It is the oldest surviving county fair grandstand yet identified in Tennessee and received a state highway historical marker from the Tennessee Historical Commission in 1989. Covered by an original hip tincovered roof, the frame-constructed grandstand has nine rows of benches for seating. The rear of the grandstand originally was used to house animals and other agricultural exhibits.
Articles from the Smith County publications indicate that the grandstand was purchased from the Rome Fair (Smith County) after an accident involving a bull that gored a woman to death who was standing in the crowd. Because of the accident, the Rome fair was closed. The grandstand was dismantled and moved to Alexandria where it was rebuilt the same year.
Aside from the grandstand renovation project, McMillen said plans are to have new restroom facilities constructed on the grounds in time for the 2016 edition of the fair.
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