COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho —
The Coeur d’Alene City Council on Tuesday threw its support for the North Idaho State Fair to keep its longtime home at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.
The council unanimously approved a resolution “encouraging Kootenai County to maintain the current Kootenai County Fairgrounds as the site of the Fair into the future."
Councilwoman Christie Wood said she has been hearing there are real concerns “that you could actually lose your location at the fairgrounds."
“I think you guys have always done well,” said Councilman Woody McEvers.
The move pleased fair board chair Jerry Johnson and General Manager and CEO Alexcia Jordan.
“The support is huge,” Johnson said afterward. “That's what we’re trying to do right now is generate support, countywide, communitywide.”
Jordan called passage of the resolution “an exciting moment.”
“It’s one more step to where we need to be. Hopefully in the next couple months we can get there,” she said.
The fair does not have a lease for the site but acts as caretaker of the 83-acre fairgrounds property owned by the county off Government Way.
Johnson said with the rising value of land and the area’s growth, rumors keep going around that the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office and the county would like the land for expansion, and the fair should relocate to 100 acres or so somewhere on the Rathdrum Prairie.
He said such a move won't work.
“We have nowhere to go because there's no money to do it,” he said. “There’s no room anymore for a $300 million move to the prairie.”
To read the full story, visit our news partners, The Coeur d'Alene Press.
