Steer Planet - Show Steers and Club Calves Forum

If I were you I would look around and see who else needs a barn. When we built our new facility for the county show, the school needed a new bus barn. So, they split the cost in return for having use of the barn most of the year. I know that really doesn't answer your question but hope it helps. But then again, our fair board got in such a huge fight over where to build the barn that they ended up building two identical facilities in both of the towns in our county..the fair is held in one town one year and the other the next.

Is 4-H the only ones who use it?  Does FFA use it, if so they should be asked to help also.  It should be a joint effort when we need new things here like scales... and are approached we will use vote on paying for a third of the cost so it is split between the fair, 4-H and FFA

In our county the fairgrounds are owned by the city. And the animal barn is just a simple pole barn with wash racks and bathrooms. They tie cattle panels to the poles to tie cattle to and have pens that they set up for hogs and lambs. Because the building is so much of an empty shell they rent it out for things ranging from purebred cattle sales to community yard sales. In that situation I could see the 4-H and FFA paying for part of the panels but not the building. Our fair makes money through multiple events that go on that week including people coming to watch the livestock shows.. That money should be used to fund improvements to the facilities...

IN your situation I would think that if the City owns the land and is selling the current facilities that they would have the money to replace them or could come up with a significant portion of the cost of the permanent structures involved in the building. Then 4-H, FFA & the fair board would be responsible for coming up with the money for non permanent things such as panels, scales, seating ect. and those groups would OWN those things not the city.

We have a very nice county fairgrounds.  Ours, like rackranch described theirs, is a multi-use facility that brings lots of revenue into the city/county by being rented out for many different kinds of events, year round.  Our fair board and supporters worked hard to convince the public of the value of such a facility, and managed to get a small (I can't remember for sure if it's a quarter or a half of a percent) county wide sales tax passed to fund it.  It was a collection of old red rock buildings built by the WPA in the late 1930's and originally used to house POW's.  The restoration kept much of the original rock facade, and it makes for a very attractive facility now (mentioned that because of the op's reference to old brick buildings).
The sales tax expires this year, and we're now voting to renew it - if it passes, another nicer indoor arena and massive improvements to the outdoor one are in the very near future.  Less than 15 years ago we were in an old, run down, leaky facility, that was failing fast, but we now have a really premiere kind of facility... 

http://gradycountyfairgrounds.com/