Five structures, including the grandstand, at the Grand Forks County Fairgrounds have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a news release Wednesday by the North Dakota State Historical Society.
The National Register is the federal government's list of properties it considers worthy of preservation and recognition.
The structures include the arched brick entrance, a small round, stone ticket booth, a two-story stone office building, and a stone property-border monument, as well as the grandstand, said Terry Stromsodt, treasurer of the county fair board.
The structures date to the Great Depression, when out-of-work men were put to work by the federal Works Progress Administration to build several things in Grand Forks between 1936 and 1939, including the ones at the fairgrounds.
Designed by Grand Forks architect Theodore Wells, the grandstand drew President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who made a whistle-stop railroad trip to dedicate it in 1937.
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After holding the Greater Grand Forks Fair and Exhibition for several years at the Alerus Center, the fair board moved it back to the historic fairgrounds three years ago, Stromsodt said. People wanted to have the old animal barns and grass and dirt and grandstand, instead of a parking lot, he said.
The fact the fairgrounds still are being used for a fair helped get the place on the National Register, Stromsodt said.
"They appreciate very much that we are trying to preserve what we do have," he said. "They knew the board wanted to get it preserved and restore it if possible."
Being on the National Register will be a boon in obtaining grants to rehabilitate some of the structures.
The brick on the grandstand needs "tuck-pointing," a sandblasting, cleaning and re-grouting of the bricks. The office building is in disrepair and needs fixing up, the ticket booth needs new cedar shingles and the archway needs to be checked to make sure it will last, he said.
The fair and exhibition at the now-even-more-historic site will run June 24-28, with a carnival, horse show, local bands, a talent show and lots of "wheel" events: motorized races on the track in front of the grandstand, which holds about 3,000 people.
Following the successful practice of the past two years, there will be no admission price.
Reach Lee at (701) 780-1237; (800) 477-6572, ext. 237; or send e-mail to slee@gfherald.com .
