Office workers at this week’s Fairbury Fair are enjoying a change of scenery after many years.
The east end of the new Fairbury Speedway building complex houses the fair office with air conditioning and modern features in an inviting atmosphere.
“It’s a lot of fun to see all of the people come up that have been here before and realize this is a different building,” said office secretary Denise Brown.
Brown and data entry specialist Rhonda Stoller are doing the same job as always but in a much nicer facility. Both are impressed with the new state-of-the-art building near the Third Street fair gate.
“After working for a number of years in the old building, there’s no comparison,” admits Stoller.
The two enjoy finally being able to work in the same room together as they were divided in the former building with a hallway between. Brown will still take phone calls in the office and help anyone attending the fair find out more information about the various events.
“The whole community is enjoying it,” added Brown.
The former race and fair office was torn down just after last year’s fair concluded to make way for the new structure, which includes offices, a media center, living quarters and multi-purpose area. Several meetings have already been held at the building which opened in May at the start of the racing season.
An old block building just across the road still stands to keep the nostalgia-type feeling on the fairgrounds.
Several onlookers gathered at the grounds in late August 2021 to witness history in the making as the old building went down. A few even grabbed a white cement block as a keepsake. The green addition to the former structure was believed to have been built in the early 1990s but many are unsure exactly when the original white building was constructed. Letters carved on the ground nearby said, “built by J. Ray Fairbury, ILL.”
Businesses involved with the new building project were local, keeping the money in Fairbury and surrounding communities.
