DuPage County Fair may open without grandstand

The grandstand at the DuPage County Fairgrounds may need to be shuttered as part of a plan to resolve hundreds of building code violations so the annual county fair can proceed as planned this July in Wheaton.

Fair organizers have been working to fix problems at the fairgrounds ever since Wheaton building inspectors discovered more than 600 violations involving multiple structures on the 42-acre site along Manchester Road.

On Tuesday, members of the DuPage County Fair Association, the nonprofit group that plans and runs the five-day fair, assured DuPage County Board members all the issues will be resolved by June 1 and the fair will go on as planned.

“I'm completely confident we're going to be able to address this,” fair association Treasurer Jim McGuire said.

The association has set aside $132,000 for repairs. That isn't enough to fix every problem with all the buildings, though, so some structures may need to be removed or demolished.

In the case of the grandstand, McGuire said the association is considering the possibility of shuttering the structure.

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.

An engineering firm hired by the association is doing an analysis of the grandstand to determine whether it has any structural problems, McGuire said. That study also will determine if there's a way to resolve the issue with the handrails.

If possible, the association would like to fix the grandstand and have it available for the fair. But officials acknowledge that won't happen if there are structural problems.

“If it's not structurally sound, we're not going to address the other issues that are there,” McGuire said. “We'll shutter that building until we're able to come up with dollars to remediate that.”

When asked if closing the grandstand would be a loss for the county fair, McGuire said it's used for only two events — the rodeo and demolition derby. He said both events could go on without the grandstand.

“We can reprogram anything that we do,” said McGuire, adding that the events could be moved to another spot on the fairgrounds and temporary bleachers could be used.

In addition to the fair, the only time the grandstand is used during the year is for Wheaton's Fourth of July celebration.

“So we would like to get the building up and back in use,” McGuire said.

The fair association made its presentation to the DuPage County Board's public works committee because the county 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.

James Healy, chairman of the public works committee, said after Tuesday's presentation that the association is “moving forward” and fixing the problems with the fairgrounds.

“I have felt from the beginning that this is something that we could get past and get them open,” Healy said. “I think they'll be able to open.”

In the meantime, Healy said he would like to see the county help promote the fair. “We'll see if we can help them generate some additional interest in the fair this year,” he said.

Last year, the fair was attended by about 111,000 people, officials said. That's roughly 9,000 more visitors than in 2013.