Washington County Fair adds more land

The Washington County Fairgrounds has grown by 23 acres after a recent land purchase and soon could be considered for a major commuter park-and-ride lot.

Property acquired by fair managers from Mike and Donna Amundson on the east side of the fairgrounds cost $800,000 and includes a barn. The land is envisioned for a new meeting center, new access roads, and possibly, expanded fair activities, said Dan Dolan, president of the Washington County Agricultural Society.

"It expands our capability in the future," Dolan said, better positioning the fair for changing demographics as more farms disappear from Washington County.

"That's what the State Fair did. They hung onto their historical draw of the livestock but it's taken a smaller portion of the fairgrounds, and they expanded [the fair] into what the suburban and urban people want to see. We've got to do the same thing. As Washington County fills up with more housing … we have to change ourselves and have something that appeals to those people. We've tried to transition from just a livestock show into lots of motorized vehicles."

In recent years those events have included a demolition derby and a monster truck show.

The park-and-ride lot, unrelated to the land purchase, would be built on the opposite side of the fairgrounds at Baytown Township's border with Lake Elmo. The Washington County Board proposed the site, at Manning Avenue and County Road 14, to lessen traffic congestion along nearby Hwy. 36 once a new St. Croix River bridge opens in late 2016.

Revenue from a 300-vehicle park-and-ride lot would help pay for improvements at the fairgrounds, where managers supplement money raised from annual midsummer fairs by renting buildings for winter boat storage. Much of the 89-acre fairgrounds — the area before the new land was acquired — is rented year-round for various events such as soccer, flea markets and dog and horse shows.

The fairgrounds may also benefit from a desire by the county to eliminate traffic backups and bottlenecks on nearby roads. Doing so would make it easier for visitors to enter and leave the fairgrounds, which also could attract more fairgoers and increase attendance beyond the 55,000 seen in each of the past few years, he said.

The fair board had wanted to someday buy the land east of the fairgrounds before it was subdivided for housing. The land has a house, a duplex, and the barn.

"It's really well built," Dolan said of the hip-roof barn. "The atmosphere would be conducive to some of the things we do out there."

The Amundsons, who bought the land in July 1994, raised a few steers on it and also pastured horses.

"We loved the fair. We lived next to it for 20 years. They were a good neighbor," said Mike Amundson, who had served on the Baytown town board for eight years before recently resigning. After the sale closed in October, the Amundsons moved to Lake Elmo.

Amundson said the property never was in danger of high-density housing because Baytown doesn't have sewer lines, relying instead on septic disposal. Eventually, he said, the land might have supported eight to 10 additional houses if the fair board hadn't bought it.

He said the $800,000 sale price was close to the market value of the land.

"I think it's a good thing for the fairgrounds," he said. "I wish them the best. I hope they take their time and come up with a good long-range plan and survive there long-term."

Meanwhile, the fair board also would like to buy land south of the fairgrounds owned by the Lake Elmo airport commission. That land, now a cornfield, sits on the other side of busy County Road 14, and Dolan said the road doesn't present an obstacle to expansion.

Organizers of a county fair in Iowa secured a federal grant to build a storm shelter under a road, which provided a link to adjoining property for fairgoers and also a safe refuge if a tornado hit, he said.

"It's a good fair, a safe fair, a fun fair," Dolan said. "People come back year after year after year. We've got to keep changing with the times."