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No parking kiss of death for fair, McEachern says By ALLAN BOGER Staff Writer Coumy Manager Frank Clifton and Cab·ecu· County Fair Manager Harold McEacbern have both done a Iai of thinking about the county fair lately. Beyond that. they don't agree on many poinls about thc future, thc scope, the location, or the nature of a county fair. It's one of the biggest in the state. McEachern says proudly. It has operated on the same site on W. Cab·rrna Avenue for 4.:5 years, and. according to thc falr's board of directors, it should remain on W. Cabarrus Avenue. Enter Clifton and thc Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners. Commissioners view the fair- grounds as an opportunity, apicce of real estate worth millions of dollars on the market, and a resource that should be used for its highest and best purpose. Clearly. commissioners argue. such valuable real estate should be sold, put back on the tax books and sell its land at II.S. 601129 and sub- rent lease with the fair board for use of county owned land for fair park- ing within the one-year notice requirement." Clifton wrote McEacbem on May 5. 'qf they take this lease land away from us. it will be the kiss of death to us." said McEachcrn this week. The [`air is welcome to keep their ty's 20. but it's going to be tough operating the fair on a site that small. McEachero said proposals to "It had come up as long ago as 1984 to move the fair. sell. the he said. 'q'his has always been in the back of my mind where we would move the fair." where the fair could go. how much moving would cost and whether the See Fair / page IA Fair continued from page 1 fair association can affor~ to move. A suggestion to move the fair to N.C. 49 to state-owned land adjacent to Stonewall Jackson School has apparently fallen through. "That's canceled out," Clifton said. "The fair says they don't w~nt to be there, and the state said they don't believe that's a go<xl place for the fair." Another option is to move the fair to part of the '~00 acres al the county landfill. Clifton said. where there's room for the fait to be · true agricultural fair again. But Mc£achern says it would cost $2.7 million to move. and the fair just doesn't have the money. "1 understand Harold has talked with Humpy Wheeler (at the Charlotte Motor Sl?~.dway:' Clifton said. "That would mdicate to me that the fair is not aimed st Cab·rrna County but as much aa the population in Mecklenburg:' McEachern disagrees. Clifton said a good way for the fair association to m~ximize a return on their 12 acres would be to combine it with the county's 20. and the Cab·ri'us schools' school bus garage site and sell it in one lump. lie shamed up the situation and a little frustration in a July 7 letter to McEaehero: "As I now understand it. the fair board has determined that it doe~ not want to be included in any plans to work with the state regarding the Stonewall Jackson School property on Hwy. 49. The fair board ha.~ al~o determined that it does not intend to or cannot afford to move to another site other than it~ current 12-acre site on Hwy. 601t'29. You feel slzongly that the fair's future location options should be ai..m_ed toward Ibe I-RS/Speedway area. and you will pursue that course." The fair association shows little enthusiasm for ~:ellin8 anything or moving anywhere. "We tried to cooperate ail the way." McEachem said. "We met with Sue Casper (chairman of the Clarification A headline in Tuesday's independent Tribune attributed a statement to fair manager Ha.old Mc. Eachem that was not included in the story. Today's article about the fair and its futura contains the fair manager's comments. county board of comlnissionet~) and .she suggested we appoinl a committee to study the ixsue. Our study is not done yet, but the preliminary report shows Ihat moving the fair and putting it beck together with 22 buildings. 56.000 square feet undel' roof and bringing the whole thin8 up to code would cost $2.7 million. "We don't have the money to move. We have no choice. We can tun ,.he fair right here on our land. but it's hal that we don't want a bigger and better fair. If wc do not have the land from the connty, it will make us a very sumll fair. and l do not believe we would ~urvive for long on 12 acres." "Everything has to adapt to some change." Clifton ~taid. "When the fair went out there 40 years ago. there was mqhing else out there. It was a suit·hie site then. The landfill property would be great. We could develop a county fair out there and have plenty of rooro ... We have attempted to assist the fair in their consideration of Irying to sell their property and take the proceeds and build a new fair not generated a lot of serious consideration ... My intent was to notify them and put thc property up for sale. They have a couple different options. The ['air i~; the only one who could make those decisions." McEachcro ~ays Ibc fair is good. clean ['un: and il has beCt~ltle a County rc~idcnts. TI~c fair is <till an "old timey, country, fair" and retains its agricultural emphasis. "The fair is controlled by the sberiff's department, and we come under a lot of things like laws and regulations from [he heahh department which ha~ lo inspect all our food booths." he said. "The fire marshal inspects all Ibc boildings. and we have about 100.tX)0 people out there in eight days. I did some investigating '.eith other fair managers and the Departmenl of Agriculture who sanctions our fair and we have to have carl·in poin~ to be an agricultural fair. The sheriff has to be involved to con,al the games and make sure the carnival puts on what they say they will put on." McEachero insi~t~ that the fair is still an agricoltural fair with "hundreds and hundreds of poultry. cattle, the farm and home building full of 4-H. baked gtx~ds, antiques. and a grit mill. The commercial building was full last year. and we still have an old timey fair. We don't compete with anyl'~y." He said the county was paid S26.000 in taxe'~ last year. "and the more money we make. the more we have to give away." The fair pays $15.000 in premiums annually and gives money to 4-H for their help in staging the agricultural exhibits.