A better spot for DuPage fairgrounds

If anyone hasn't noticed, the DuPage County Fairgrounds are in need for major changes in both location and updated facilities if it is going to survive in the future. Accessibility is difficult, the layout is poor, the buildings are dated, and it is right in the middle of residential properties.

A new location is a needed, but this requires the help of the DuPage Forest Preserve District. The District needs to loosen its grip on “public” land, and a suggestion would be to sell/lease the land at the old Danada Farm at the southwest corner of Naperville and Butterfield to accommodate an ideal site for the new fairgrounds. This underused land is much more accessible with two major roads and I-88 near it compared to the current fairgrounds.

The greater visibility of the grounds could potentially lead to increased attendance and usage for more events, (like Kane County does). New infrastructure could be more efficiently laid out and designed for multiuse functions.

These grounds would incorporate the actual old barns and some of the existing crop land, which could be used as a working museum by showing an agricultural history of DuPage. All of this could still leave a minimal footprint on the land with grass parking and modern green buildings. Few other places in DuPage have all of those benefits. But the forest preserve district would need to work with the people of DuPage to further a project like that so that it would benefit us all.

Craig Williams

Glen Ellyn