This year a new grandstand has replaced the old grandstand at the Chaffee County Fair grounds and county backsides are likely to be most grateful. The Ribbon Cutting and Grandstand Dedication to John Fuqua is coming up Friday, August 2 at 3:45 p.m., just prior to a grandstand performance by the Westernaires, an acrobatic horse riding team.
After years of substandard experience, Chaffee County now has a modern grandstand meant to attract quality entertainment and improve the viewing experience.
The county has moved from an uncovered grandstand with splintery wood for seating and inadequate lighting, to a covered grandstand that can seat 1,975.
The grandstand is being dedicated to Salidan John Fuqua. Fuqua was a decades-long member of the Chaffee County Fair Board before his death in 2004. A graduate of Colorado State University, he first worked as an extension agent for the state of Colorado for 10 years before a nearly 30 year career with the Upjohn Co.
The main construction took four months (Aug. to Nov. 2018) to complete. The sound system, lighting and drainage work was completed in 2019.
The final cost of the grandstand construction came to $680,000; $150,000 in funding coming from the Chaffee County Fair Committee, and $530,000 supplied by the county. The fair board has already begun efforts to recoup some of the construction costs with sponsored events, including the successful monster truck rally in June, during FibARK.
The majority of the new grandstand seating is covered, meaning event-goers will no longer have to sit is soggy misery during seasonal storms to hear the end of a concert or see the conclusion of an arena event. Not only is the seating improved, eight new lights have been installed on the grandstand itself, with four more lights to be installed on the north side of the arena.
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