Hendricks County 4-H Fairgrounds Looks to Expand Facilities

‍Architect Andy Hine of Arc Design explains plans to expand the rental facilities at the Hendricks County 4-H Fairgrounds.

The Hendricks County 4-H Fairgrounds and Conference Center played host to over 150,000 people and over 1,000 events between 2021-2023. While those numbers are impressive, they would have been more impressive if the Fairground had more space. During those years and still today, Executive Director Steve Patterson has had to turn away numerous events due to lack of space. Turning down events means turning down revenue.

Last Monday, December 8, Executive Director Steve Patterson and the Fairboard hosted a public open house to reveal a concept plan and to get public input on a new 24,000 sq. ft. multipurpose space. There was a good turnout with about 90 people in attendance.

“A year ago or so, we started working on a strategic plan for the fairgrounds, and so tonight we’re going to talk about the strategic plan and what we received from that information,” Patterson shared.

Patterson and the 4-H Fairboard commissioned the 2024 Feasibility Study and Market Analysis. The analysis was done by CSL Conventions, Sports, & Leisure International. The new multipurpose building was shown directly east of the existing Hendricks Power Expo Hall. The Expo Hall is approximately 17,000 sq. ft.

Steve Brehob of Banning Engineering answered questionsabout additional parking, “We wanted to come up with a total of about 700 parking spaces. You’ve got about 220 in this existing parking lot, and then the new building will encroach into portions of the existing parking lot. So we looked at developing another 400 and some spaces north of the building to get to 700 total.”

To help with traffic flow, the existing entrance near the roundabout on 200 East would be moved further north where the new parking lot will be located.

The project currently has three longtime Hendricks County associated businesses involved. Arc Design founder and Hendricks County resident Andy Hine presented as the architects of the project. Steve Brehob with Banning Engineering represented the civil engineering aspect and Nate Rigdon of Rigdon Construction represented the building construction portion of the project.

4-H Fairboard member Tim Whicker spoke to the audience about cost and timing of a new building and parking lot.

“You’ll see some budget numbers, and these budgets were based on about building it now, which is around $15 million just for the building. But understand that building will be rented every weekend before it’s done being built. We have that much demand and that many things coming in.” said Whicker.

He further explained the timing of construction.

“The plan would be to start after a fair, to have enough time that material can be ready to go, and literally, the day the fair is over, we start digging and we have a brand new building before the next fair gets here would be the plan.”

The feasibility study and market analysis by CSL can be found on the 4-H website: www.4hcomplex.org