Monroe County Fair to upgrade roofs on Stock Arena, bingo barn
Resealing the metal roof on the Glenn F. Stock Arena and replacing the roof on the bingo barn are two key capital improvements planned at the Monroe County Fair this year.
The 36-member fair board of directors is seeking a state grant to pay for the roof work on the sprawling arena that hosts the classic car show, draft horse judging and other activities, Darryl Diamond, fair manager, said. The board has applied for the grant from the Michigan Department of Agricultural and Rural Development (MDARD) to finance the project. An announcement on whether the fair’s application was accepted is expected in early May, Diamond said.
“It’s a major improvement,” the manager said Thursday. “It’s time. That’s an older building and it’s starting to leak. We don’t want to wait until it gets worse to do something.”
The board will go ahead with the project, even if the grant is not approved, he said.
“It needs to be done,” he said.
The board wants to begin the work in May and rent a tractor with a lift for a contractor to use, Diamond said. It is estimated the improvement would take one to two weeks to finish, he said.
The 44,000-square-foot arena is used almost daily at the fair, which is scheduled July 30-Aug. 5.
The metal roof on the bingo barn is in poor condition and needs a total replacement. The roof leaked during a downpour and storm on Wednesday night of the 2022 fair when bingo was offered to fairgoers for the first time. The building is the site of the former Jim’s Classic Car Café and Pomona Grange exhibit. In 2022, volunteers for Relay for Life of Monroe County held the bingo games as a fundraiser to benefit the American Cancer Society. The relay volunteers are overseeing the booth again this year, Diamond said.
“We hope to put in drop ceilings and air conditioning down the road,” he said.
Bingo will be a daily attraction again, with games to start earlier on a couple of days.
Last fall, the board repaved a portion of the parking lot east of the First Merchants Expo Center. The fair would like to set money aside each year for asphalting, he said.
New drinking water pipelines also were installed last fall, but have not been hooked up to the city of Monroe water system as yet, the manager said. The new lines were needed to replace aging pipes. The fair hopes to connect the lines with the city by the end of 2023, he said.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe County Fair to upgrade roofs on Stock Arena, bingo barn
