Officials kickoff county fair by unveiling new exhibit hall
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DOWNEY – Bannock County has commemorated a brand new building, just before people fill its halls for the first time in this week’s county fair.
Commissioner Ernie Moser, Bannock County’s Director of Facilities Dan Kendall and Bannock County Fair Board Chairwoman D’Lyn Moser-Evans joined together to cut the ribbon on a new event center, called the Exhibit Hall, on Monday evening. Unveiling this building, which will serve as the new hub for the Bannock County Fairgrounds, kicked off the 2025 Bannock County Fair.
“When is the best time to plant a tree? Well, it was 30 years ago. If you didn’t do it 30 years ago, then today is the best day to plant a tree. Ladies and gentlemen, we just planted the tree,” Moser said.
The land where the Exhibit Hall now stands used to be occupied by a collection of buildings that had grown old, and were experiencing maintenance and structural issues.
“(There) was no air conditioning. There wasn’t a whole lot of ventilation, so it was so hot in there… The wiring was old. Everything was so old,” Moser-Evans said in an interview with EastIdahoNews.com.
Bannock County’s Director of Facilities Dan Kendall spoke with EastIdahoNews.com at the Exhibit Hall’s groundbreaking in December, where he explained that bringing the old buildings up to current standards would’ve required a major investment.
Rather, the buildings were condemned before last year’s fair, and then finally torn down following the fair.
The new building was funded through a combination of around $700,000 from Bannock County, and $1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds given to the county.
The Exhibit Hall, which is around 8,500 square feet in total, has a 50-foot by 90-foot open space at its center. This is the room where people will showcase their fair exhibits, which are displays where people put their talents, hobbies and crafts on display for everyone to see.
Not only that, but the building has a meeting room, a kitchen, offices, storage rooms and restrooms.
“The kitchen is all stainless and state of the art,” Moser-Evans said. “Everything is done so well… It is just beautiful.”
“Being able to have a building that’s got all the updated electrical (equipment), it’s temperature controlled… that’s a huge contrast to (the old buildings). We were happy to have those because at least we had something, but this is amazing. This building is absolutely beautiful,” Moser-Evans said.
The fair’s events will go throughout the week, including a Parade and Street Dance Party on Wednesday, a concert on Thursday by Royal Bliss, a band out of Salt Lake City and Rodeo Nights on both Thursday and Friday. People can find more information in the 2025 Fairbook or on the Bannock County Fair/Rodeo Facebook page.
When the Exhibit Hall isn’t being used for the fair, people will have the opportunity to rent it out for community or family events.
“Any events that might come up, It’s built for it, it’s rated for it, it’s up to code for it, and we’re just excited that there’s no restrictions, no limitations, to what we can do (with the building),” Kendall said.
Moser-Evans expressed how important it is for people to know that a person doesn’t have to be from Downey to rent out the building for an event.
“We want the whole entire county to know that this is their building. It’s not just in Downey, for Downey people, it is for the entire county, north to south,” Moser-Evans said.