The Clay County Fairgrounds will receive several new improvements to boost tourism and resident experiment.
Clay County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Doug Young said the improvements consist of new handrails and fencing for the arena, stage curtains, a new electronic bulletin board, and a new roof on the front end of the auditorium to turn it into an outdoor porch. Young said the improvements will allow the fairgrounds to host more events every summer.
“That would allow us to get tourists to come down here every year at that time,” Young said. “And when they get tired of water skiing and fishing and doing all of those things on the lake, they will have something else to do.”
Young said the new roof and porch will make it a more attractive venue for events. Young said grant funding will pay for the project and that the improvements will cost an estimated $40,000.
“We just had one bid,” Young said. “We were afraid we weren’t going to get any because of so much construction going on all over the Upper Cumberland, for that matter. We got one bid from a local contractor, and we awarded it to him.”
Young said the contractor has the go-ahead to begin the project. However, Young said the project may take awhile to complete.
“It’s not gonna be done in a hurry because he’s got a lot of other projects going on,” Young said. “We’ll have to give him some time because we didn’t have any other bidders.”
Young said having more tourists will boost the county’s economy. Young said with improvements coming, a rodeo is scheduled this October at the fairgrounds. Young said rodeos are something the fairgrounds have not been able to host before.
