New bleachers installed at Baker County Fairgrounds
Published 6:30 am Wednesday, June 19, 2024
- The grandstand at the Baker County Fairgrounds rodeo arena seats about 800 people. The total capacity, including two new sets of bleachers, is about 3,000.
BAKER CITY — The Baker County Fair Board has made a shiny new addition to the fairgrounds in Baker City.
Assisted by inmates from the Powder River Correctional Facility, the fair board finished installing sets of new aluminum bleachers at the north and south ends of the rodeo arena on June 14.
The board bought the bleachers with money from the $2 million it received from the state in 2022 to make improvements to the 17.7-acre fairgrounds north of Campbell Street between Grove and East streets. The bleachers cost $400,000.
“We had the money to do this, and this was one of our priorities,” said Cliff Schoeningh, a fair board member.
Adding the bleachers ensures that the annual bull and bronc riding event will happen during Miners Jubilee, Schoeningh said.
Part of the Challenge of Champions tour put on by Jason Mattox, this year’s bronc riding event is set for Friday, July 19, with bull riding on Saturday, July 20.
Schoeningh said that in the past, Mattox had to rent bleachers for the events.
“He did it for a number of years with the promise that we would be able to do this eventually,” Schoeningh said.
Portable bleachers were also becoming harder to find and more expensive to rent, he said.
There also were safety concerns about the rented bleachers, Schoeningh said.
The new bleachers will have a 4-foot fence that prevents children from playing underneath the seats.
The bleachers can be taken apart in sections for flexibility, allowing different seating configurations for events that need more arena space, such as roping.
Each set of bleachers has space for about 1,100 spectators. Added to the wooden grandstand on the west side, which has about 800 seats, the arena can now accommodate about 3,000 people.
Schoeningh said community volunteers helped work on the bleachers on June 8.
He said the Powder River inmates were a major help, allowing the project to be finished in nine days.
He also thanked Mark Johnson for his efforts.
“Thanks to Mark Johnson who has been very instrumental in putting this all together,” Schoeningh said.
