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Fair Board seeks new electrical hookups
Installation would be west of Expo III
fair board electrical hookups
Barton County Fair Board President Charles Atkinson visits with the Great Bend City Council Monday night about the installation of new electrical hookups at the Great Bend Expo Complex. - photo by DALE HOGG Great Bend Tribune

The Great Bend City Council Monday night heard a request from Barton County Fair Association Board President Charles Atkinson about installing new 20 electrical hookups west of Expo III at the city's Expo Complex west of town to replace an aging system that no longer meets code requirements. 

No action was taken, since this was not an agenda item. But, Atkinson said the hope is it could approved in time for the hookups to be in place in time for the Barton County Fair July 5-9.

The board said it is willing to pay for the work.

“For over 30 years, the Fair Association has been hosting the county fair and several other events that require us to provide electrical hookups to those who wish to camp at our events,” he said. This includes 4-H families, vendors, flat track and go-cart racers, and livestock and farm show participants. 

“We have done this with temporary equipment connected to power that’s been available west of Expo III,” he said.  But, “the current equipment that we are using has aged and no longer meets our safety codes.”

So, instead of replacing that temporary equipment, and spending time and money setting up and tearing down after every event, they want to install the new hookups. The cost estimate of this project is around $15,500 for a turnkey operation.

“If given approval, we would have liked to have this installed prior to this year’s county fair,” he said. The new services would be available for all entities that need them at scheduled Expo Complex events. 

Atkinson realized the council couldn’t act Monday night. “But in order for us to have it ready for the fair, I do need to order supplies by the end of this month because we’re six weeks out on some of the orders to get here.”

And, since they started looking at this project about six months ago to prepare a presentation, the cost increased up to 20% with the possibility of going even higher in the next four weeks. 

“We would like the opportunity to work with you and your staff on this project and we feel that this would be a great improvement to the Expo Complex,” he said.