New registration system also in the works

MOSES LAKE — A new online system that will allow travelers to make reservations for campgrounds at the Grant County Fairgrounds is expected to be in operation by mid-March. Fairgrounds operators also are working on a long-term plan to remodel all campgrounds at the fairgrounds.

Fairgrounds manager Jim McKiernan said times have changed in camping. “The way people camp nowadays is they make a decision about where they want to go online, and they need to feel comfortable they’re going to get a spot when they arrive. So we want to get into the current mode of camping, and be able to show a person, ‘Here’s the spot, your reservation is complete.’”

Prospective campers will be able to access the reservation system through the fairgrounds website, www.gcfairgrounds.com.

Fair officials are working with Erlandsen Engineering, Wenatchee, on a master plan for all camping areas. “They’re starting with the East Campground, and the master plan will kind of be the template by which we do all of the campgrounds,” McKiernan said.

Currently, the fairgrounds have 465 campsites, which makes it the largest campground in Grant County. “The problem is, most of them (campsites) are really small and today’s RVs just don’t fit,” McKiernan said.

“The new site standard is 65 feet by 15 feet,” he said, and most of the campsites in the North and Pavilion campgrounds are much smaller than that. Trailers and RVs are bigger than they used to be, which has prompted some rethinking of camping areas. “We had a 40-foot, three-axle, fifth-wheel at (the 2019) fair in North (campground), and it absolutely blocked one of the driveways. And so that caused us some concern with regards to fire truck ingress and egress.”

The new plan would mean losing some campsites in some areas of the fairgrounds and adding them in others.

“Our initial plan would be to push the campground east to the property boundary, and then put in new campsites and then remodel,” McKiernan said.

The project is starting with the East Campground because “that one allows the largest units in it right now,” he said. The Pavilion Campground would be next in line, followed by the North Campground, the Rodeo Campground, with the South Field Campground coming last.

“We don’t have a time frame. It would be great if we could do this over five years, but it might take 10, just because of funding. We know that. It is taxpayer money, so we have to be frugal and plan,” McKiernan said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].