Area kids and the future of the Guthrie County Fair were the focus Monday night as the Fair Board held an open house to introduce the community to one of their new facilities and the man who helped make it possible.

An ice cream social was held to celebrate the construction of the new Art-Ag Hall on the Guthrie County Fairgrounds, for which an anonymous donor promised $50,000 if matching community donations were given. The donor was revealed last night to be Ron Eike, a Lake Panorama resident and owner of Wood Duck Landscapes in Yale. Fair Board Vice President and Guthrie County Fair Foundation President Kendall Kipp shares how this donation came to be, “It just fell in my lap, we were talking about a donation to our auction that we have in March, he’s donated for several years and he said ‘What are we raising money for?’ and I proceeded to tell him about our projects, we’re building these two new buildings and he wanted more information and next thing I know he’s telling me he thinks he’s going to make a sizable donation the Art and Ag Hall.”

Though Eike is not a Guthrie County native, he has frequently attended the annual fair, and understands the importance of 4-H and other youth programs, “When I looked at the numbers the large majority of exhibitors are kids and as Kendall mentioned and I mentioned kids are our future, not us old people, kids are. And my wife and I have always been very generous to kids things over the years, so I thought this was a way to help the kids here.”

The Art-Ag Hall is one of two new buildings constructed on the fairgrounds this year. A new American Legion and Lions Club building brings a total of over $200,000 the Foundation has raised for these capital projects.