Group making improvements to DuPage fairgrounds

After spending roughly $268,000 this year to resolve code violations and make improvements at the DuPage fairgrounds, the nonprofit group that organizes the county fair says it's committed to pursuing more upgrades at the Wheaton site.

The DuPage County Fair Association, which leases the fairgrounds from the county, told members of the county board's public works committee Tuesday that it's "not done" improving buildings on the 42-acre property along Manchester Road. Improvements made so far include new windows, new doors, painting, landscaping and electrical work.

"We're going to continue to make the grounds better and nicer every single day," said Jim McGuire, manager of the fair association. "And they are looking better and nicer every day. We're doing a lot of work over there."

County board members have been getting regular updates from the fair association since it was revealed in January that Wheaton building inspectors discovered hundreds of violations at the county-owned site.

Many of the problems were fixed before the county fair in July. But the seating area of the grandstand wasn't used during the five-day event because of ongoing issues with the handrails and some damage to the concrete surface.

McGuire stressed that the grandstand building itself is structurally sound. Still, the fair association is developing a plan to repair the building.

"If we do that building," McGuire said, "we're going to do it right, which means pulling all the seats, doing a lot of concrete work and then resealing the entire structure."

Even without the grandstand seats, McGuire said the fair's demolition derby and rodeo were successful. Temporary bleachers with roughly 3,000 seats were arranged in a U-shape for those events.

"We weren't sure if that was going to hurt us," McGuire said. "It did not. We actually improved ticket sales (for both events)."

The fair association also is generating more revenue from other events held at the fairgrounds, including the Great Midwest Train Show, Civil War shows and dog shows.

"There is a misconception that the fair is the major thing," McGuire said. "What we do year-round - and all the activities that happen - is the most important thing at the fairgrounds."

The fair association ended its fiscal year on Sept. 30 with a cash reserve of $152,194, according to a recently completed audit. "Financially, we're in good shape," McGuire said.

Despite the possibility of not getting state funding this year for the fair, McGuire said the association will be fine.

"We have actually been planning on not receiving that money for about six years," McGuire said. "We have been taking steps to increase revenue in other areas to offset that. We have reduced our expenses in programing to offset that."

County board members are scheduled to get another update from the fair association by the end of the year. Eventually, the board is expected to decide whether DuPage should continue leasing the fairgrounds to the fair association beyond 2020, which is when the existing deal is set to expire.