Tri-State Fairgrounds Master Plan team holds its first public meeting

Michael Cuviello, Amarillo Globe-News
·3 min read

Holding its first public meeting to address the creation of the Tri-State Fairgrounds' master plan, organizers gave an overview of how they are assessing the best ways to improve the venue for the benefit of the community. Wednesday's meeting was the first of three planned meetings to form the master plan.

All about the meeting room were charts and graphs that included case studies from 11 other cities to get a snapshot of how each city uses its facilities similar to the Tri-State Fairgrounds. Some of the cities included in the comparison charts were San Angelo, Waco and Abilene.

The display's purpose was to show how other cities used their fairground spaces and how effective their setups are for multipurpose events. After the presentation, the master plan commission took input from citizens on what direction the fairgrounds should try to improve.

Will Gleason of the master plan consultant team goes over the process of how improvements will be looked at for the Tri-State Fairgrounds complex Wednesday.
Will Gleason of the master plan consultant team goes over the process of how improvements will be looked at for the Tri-State Fairgrounds complex Wednesday.

Pre-pandemic numbers showed that, on average, the Tri-State Fairgrounds held about 59 livestock events, with roughly an average of 34 non-livestock events per year. Last year, the number of livestock events had almost returned to the prior numbers while other events had dropped substantially to only 16 events.

According to members of the master plan team, the city of Amarillo, Potter County, Amarillo Independent School District, Amarillo-Potter Events Venue District and Tri-State Expo are assessing the current condition of the Tri-State Fairgrounds to create a consensus-driven vision.

Before the public meeting, Will Gleason, member of the consultant team; Brady Ragland, CEO of the Amarillo Tri State Exposition; Dale Williams of the venue district; and Thomas Hazinski, managing director of Convention-Sports Entertainment; met with the media.

The Tri-State Fair Master Plan Commission is currently asking the community for suggestions through a survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2CCYPWY. Through this survey, the commission is trying to seek out ideas from the public. To date, there have been about 200 survey responses so far from the community. The survey closes Feb. 16.

A participant at the Tri-State Fairgrounds community meeting addresses the consulting team about the vision for the venue Wednesday.
A participant at the Tri-State Fairgrounds community meeting addresses the consulting team about the vision for the venue Wednesday.

‘We are trying to figure out how to make the Tri-State Fairgrounds a more competitive venue and attract more visitors to make it more of a community asset,” Gleason said. "We are looking to get as much community input and involvement as possible. We want to know what people expect of the fairgrounds, what improvements they want. Because ultimately, we need to weigh the cost and benefits and improvements. We will not understand the benefits unless we know the community's thoughts.”

When asked about what may have been underutilized historically at the venue, Hazinksi spoke to diversifying the types of usage it can accommodate.

“Most events have here have been dominated by horse shows and livestock events,” Hazinksi said. "We believe there is potential to get a more diverse set of events at the fairgrounds while strengthening the current horse and livestock shows we currently have going on. We want to look at what physical improvements will allow that to happen.”

“Whatever we do here, we want to have the broadest impact for the majority of our citizens,” Williams added.

Potter County Commissioner John Coffee spoke about the county's responsibility in the partnership plan.

“We just want to be a good participant in this venture," Coffee said. “We know there are some needs in this area for development, and we think it will bring in economic value to this area. This area has been neglected for a while. We just want to partner and make sure good decisions are made that are a positive financial outcome, as well as an excellent place to bring their families that is beneficial to the community."

The master plan team hopes to get enough input and assessment from the public and its surveys so that at the next meeting, there will be a better idea of the scope of improvements that are put into planning.

For more information or to watch the public meeting, go to https://www.amarillofairgroundsmp.com/

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Tri-State Fairgrounds Master Plan team holds its first public meeting