Resident urges Limestone County to keep full-time fairgrounds staff to support events

A resident told the Limestone County Commission during public comment that the county should retain at least one full-time employee at the county fairgrounds and consider two full-time staff to handle heavy event setup and to support the new manager.

“I would respectfully request that you consider leaving a fulltime person out there to help,” the resident said, noting that some setups require two full-time people and that “one person out there can’t put [the gates] on” because each gate “weighs at least 150 pounds.” The resident described a recent multi-day sorting event that required two full days of setup and said events such as dog and flower shows and rodeo-style cow sorting bring revenue to the area.

The commenter said inmate labor has been used at times but is not a reliable substitute because not every jail population can safely work under outside supervision. They urged the board to give the county’s new fairgrounds manager “a year to see what he can do” and to support any effort to bring in shows that require less setup as well as larger events that require more staffing.

The resident cited specific operational challenges—heavy gates, use of a forklift-equipped tractor to move panels, and detailed pen layouts for sorting events—to underline why single-person staffing is insufficient. They said one event drew about 15 people to the grounds on a Saturday night and that the event operator intends to return multiple times next year.

The chair thanked the speaker and said the board would “keep this in mind.”