Visible holes are present in the roof of the show barn at the Wallowa County Fairgrounds. The fair is set to receive $1 million in funding from the general fund following the passage of HB 5202 Friday, March 4, 2022. 

ENTERPRISE — Two Wallowa County entities are in line to receive a combined $1.5 million for infrastructure, which will provide funding needed to further improvements.

House Bill 5202, which passed a vote of the Oregon Legislature on Friday, March 4, will allocate $1 million to the Wallowa County Fairgrounds from its general fund for “fairgrounds infrastructure,” according to the text of the bill. It is one of 15 counties in Oregon set to receive at least that amount for their fairgrounds.

Additionally, the Wallowa History Center is slated to receive $500,000 to “support the restoration of the Bear-Sleds Ranger District Compound,” according to text from the bill.

The bill passed the House 41-16 on March 4, and the Senate later that day, 23-2.

The money for HB 5202 can come from state lottery funds, federal American Rescue Plan Act funds or the general fund, according to Ann Rava, staff member for Sen. Bill Hansell. General fund dollars are primarily from tax revenue.

Rava noted that given the bill contains an emergency clause, it “becomes effective upon passage, so as soon as it is signed by the governor they can start distributing the funds.” However, she said in an email to the Chieftain that how long it actually takes for the funds to arrive is uncertain.

Both Hansell and Rep. Bobby Levy voted in favor of the legislation, which now heads to Gov. Kate Brown’s desk.

Wallowa County Commissioner Todd Nash, who is also a member of the fair board, said he was excited about the funding.

“Our deferred maintenance on the fairground is substantial,” he said. “The newest building we have was built in the late ‘60s … the Cloverleaf Hall. To make some upgrades, to replace some things and do some long-needed maintenance (is) really important, and that million dollars is going to go a long way to helping do that.”

The county recently received $500,000 in funding from Levy’s portion of ARPA funding, which also was allocated for the fairgrounds.

Nash said the money from the general fund would be much less restrictive than ARPA funding — the only major restriction being that it is dedicated to infrastructure.

“The million has very few strings attached to it,” he said.

He added it will be “pretty easy” to find ways to use the added resources.

“We have some plans, and we are going to go through a process. This is all pretty new to us,” he said. “We’ll go before the fair board and we’ll start to identify those places we’ll spend the money.”

David Weaver, president of the board for the Wallowa History Center, said the money will primarily go into converting the warehouse at the four-building complex into an interpretive center.

“For the $500,000, all of (it) is basically is going to go toward getting that warehouse up and running, including us kicking off our capital campaign for more,” he said.

Weaver said more — as much as another $500,000, though he said that was a guess — will be needed between renovation and adding of exhibits to complete the interpretive center.

“By the time we get our exhibits in, it’s going to take all the $500,000 and then some,” he said. “We (do) have a line on a contractor who specializes in historic restoration.”