No grandstand at DuPage County Fair this year, but events will go on as scheduled
DuPage County Fair organizers confirmed Tuesday that the July event will happen without use of its grandstand because of unresolved building code violations.
However, fair officials insist the centerpiece building at the county fairgrounds in Wheaton is “structurally sound.” They say they're hopeful that repairs to the grandstand could be completed in time for the 2016 fair. And, they say all scheduled events for this year will go on in temporary bleachers.
“For this year, we are definitely going to shutter the upper area of the grandstand,” said Jim McGuire, manager of the DuPage County Fair Association, the nonprofit group that plans and runs the fair.
McGuire said the restrooms are only part of the grandstand the public might be able to use during the fair, scheduled for July 22-26.
The grandstand is among a list of structures that needed to be repaired after Wheaton building inspectors discovered more than 600 violations on the 42-acre fairgrounds site along Manchester Road.
Joe Kreidl, Wheaton's director of building and code enforcement, told DuPage County Board members Tuesday that half of the 66 most serious code violations have been addressed. The fair association is planning to have all the issues resolved by June 1.
“Our grounds will be safe,” McGuire said. “They will be good for our guests, and we will continue to work with the city to address all the concerns.”
The grandstand building, which has been closed since the inspection, has 100 code violations, officials said. Major problems include deteriorated handrails, unsecured guard rails and a section of the bleachers in disrepair.
But McGuire said three different engineering firms have inspected the grandstand. “The building itself is structurally sound,” he said.
He said the only reason why people won't be allowed on the grandstand is because of issues with the handrails and some damage to the concrete surface.
“We are working with two different companies right now,” McGuire said, “getting proposals in to do the remediation work to clean that whole deck up.”
McGuire said the hope is to complete the work by next year. In the meantime, the fair will use temporary bleachers for its rodeo and demolition derby, which normally use the grandstand.
“It's going to be the same location,” he said. “It's just going to have a different layout.”
However, county board member James Healy suggested that the fair association not spend a lot of its remaining cash repairing the grandstand. That's because it's believed the state won't provide about grant money to county fairs next year.
“I would rather hold that money in case the state doesn't give us anymore money for the next fair,” Healy said. “I think it (fair funding) is an easy thing to cut for the state.”
The fair association has been updating the county board's public works committee about the ongoing work because DuPage owns the fairgrounds and leases the site to the association.
Wheaton found the violations in September during an inspection requested by DuPage. The county requested the inspection because a task force of business officials and industry experts was exploring whether DuPage should continue leasing the fairgrounds to the fair association beyond 2020, which is when the existing deal is set to expire.