The Guthrie County Fair begins Thursday and there continues to be plenty of upgrades to the fairgrounds.

The sheep barn, sheep show ring, and the horse barn have all been demolished. Fair Board President Grant Sheeder hopes the new buildings will be in place for the 2019 fair. The pen-of-three barn has also been extended by 100-feet. Sheeder estimates that will be nearly full even with the extension. Last year, the Board also added two new livestock buildings to the complex.

The Board also makes yearly updates to the campground facilities. Sheeder talks about what they were able to do this year. “We take a percentage of all the camping money every year form the fair and invest back into it. This year we’ve actually upgraded a bunch of electricity in the Row A line. That was the original one where they had 20-amp plugins. We’ve increased those to 50- and 30-amp plugins. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot but the amount of money and time and labor it takes to do that, it adds up pretty quickly.”

Raccoon Valley Radio’s Big Red Radio will be at the fair Thursday-Sunday from 10am-6pm and Monday from 10am-3pm. We’ll be broadcasting live, playing music, and making local announcements.