Entrances to the Flathead County Fairgrounds could be improved if fair officials succeed in finding money for their multi-year project that carries a very preliminary price tag of nearly $1 million.

Fairgrounds Manager Mark Campbell said he and the Fair Board decided to spend $5,000 to hire Bruce Boody Architects of Whitefish to come up with a design concept for the entrances and perimeter of the grounds.

“This is a great facility,” Campbell said of the fairgrounds. “It needs some exterior improvements and better public access.”

Campbell began working for the county last October and said he brings a fresh perspective to viewing the fairgrounds.

“It’s important to enhance the fairgrounds and soften our utilitarian appearance,” Campbell said. “It would make the fairgrounds a better place to be and make operations smoother.”

Campbell acknowledges it’s a big project but says it can be achieved.

The costs and sources to pay for any work “are just now starting to come to light,” he said. One piece of the project is to generate more business throughout the year at the fairgrounds to help pay for improvements, Campbell said.

Generally, Campbell asked the architects to prepare a design plan which includes improvements to the exterior of the fairgrounds, to enhance the entrance gates, to create separate auto and pedestrian entrances and to develop a recreational loop trail around the fairgrounds.

As they tackled the project, Boody said they asked themselves what image the fairgrounds presents to the public.

“The idea is to give it some curb appeal,” Boody said. The plan includes adding the varieties of trees that are found throughout residential Kalispell neighborhoods. The trees “invite the community in and give the grounds and entries a look that’s compatible with this area,” Boody said.

Jena Ponti of Bruce Boody Architects said the initial plan calls for creating a roof structure at the entrance at the corner of Meridian and Idaho streets. Two ticket booths would be located under the structure and a third ticket booth would be outside the roof structure.

That entrance would feature evergreen trees and a lawn. Extending east on Idaho Street to the end of the fairgrounds at Seventh Avenue West North, she suggested a boulevard and sidewalk for better pedestrian access. 

The back entrance to the grounds, off of Seventh, would be designed to provide better access for big rigs, including horse trailers and semi tractor-trailers, Ponti said. One ticket booth also would be located at that entrance. The pedestrian trail also would stretch along Seventh.

Along Meridian Road, Ponti recommends another boulevard, continuation of the walking path and more trees.

The fairgrounds entrance at the intersection of Meridian and Two Mile Drive would feature a gateway timber arch with one ticket booth. That entrance would accommodate both pedestrians and vehicles.

The pedestrian path also would run on the north side of the fairgrounds, on Wyoming Street, between Meridian and Seventh.

If the Fair Board approves a design plan, the next step would be to evaluate cost estimates and determine if parts of the project could logically be grouped together, Campbell said. That would be followed by having construction drawings and engineering work prepared.

The fairgrounds budget includes $50,000 for capital improvement projects in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Campbell proposes that money be used to pay for construction drawings and engineering work.

He would like to do the first phase of the project in the 2013-14 fiscal year.

Funding would come from multiple sources, he said, including money placed into the fair’s capital improvement fund, other county revenue sources, grants and perhaps some private funds.

For example, he said perhaps people would donate trees or benches.

“We like the direction this has started,” Campbell said.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.