Published: January 30, 2008 10:13 am      

Fair barn gets helping hand

Pitching in for a good cause was what one Lindsay company had in mind when it made an unexpected donation during a county group’s weekly meeting Monday.

Offering up a $500 donation to go toward the eventual construction of a brand new county fair barn was the firm of Exco Resources, Inc., which has a branch office in Lindsay.

On the receiving end of the surprise gift was a group of officials led by all three Garvin County commissioners.

“It’s not a whole lot, but we wanted to donate to help out,” said Wyatt Yates, a production superintendent for Exco.

“We have a couple of guys who have kids who show animals. I’m just the presenter of the donation,” Yates said.

The size of the donation didn’t matter to the commissioners as much as the fact someone wanted to help out with a project that at some point in the future will result in a new livestock barn at the Garvin County Fairgrounds in Pauls Valley.

“We really appreciate it because we got a grant but it’s not enough to do the kind of building we want,” County Clerk Gina Mann said the Yates.

“We’ve been looking for any donation, but you’re the first to step to the plate and help out,” she said.

The grant referred to by Mann was awarded last summer.

The $124,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds, combined with additional grants, are not expected to fully fund the project because of high construction costs.

The situation has forced officials to either consider downsizing the project or find additional funding for what will some day be a new livestock barn on the west side of the fairgrounds.

Hopes are to move forward with the construction of as large a building as possible.

“We plan to go with a facility as large or larger than the fair barn out there now,” said District 3 Commissioner Johnny Mann.

Still, funding could potentially limit the facility to what is described as a “pole” barn, which is a building that doesn’t have any walls. A construction of this type could include the option of adding walls later on.

More specific information could come next week when bids for the project are expected to be received.

“We’re still moving forward,” Gina Mann said. “We’ll know more about the type of facility we can afford after the bids come in.”

The actual work for the project is expected to come after the next county livestock show set for the last week of February.

“We hope to be out there tearing down the fair barn after that show and have a contractor for the new building,” said District 2 Commissioner Shon Richardson.