MASON — After years of fundraising, the folks who run the Ingham County Fairgrounds plan to build a new covered grandstand in 2027 capable of seating nearly 1,400 people, thanks in part to some significant donations.
“We’re just really excited to get the ground broken on this project,” Lindsey McKeever, the fairgrounds’ events director, said on May 19. “We can’t wait to get some company out here working.”
The fairgrounds hasn’t had a permanent grandstand since 2016, when the original 1939 structure was torn down because of structural deficiencies.
The fairgrounds on Tuesday announced a $250,000 gift from the Dart Foundation to help pay for the project. The Ingham County Farm Bureau, Reyes Adent Family Foundation and Ingham County Fair Foundation have pledged to donate $100,000 each for the new facility, McKeever said.
“The Dart Foundation has made the single biggest donation in the history of the Fair Foundation and we could not be prouder to partner with them to bring this project to life,” Steve Taylor, president of the Ingham County Fair Foundation Board, said in a news release.
The project also received $250,000 in federal funding in 2023 through an inititative shepherded by then-U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who won a U.S. Senate seat in that year’s election, the fairgrounds said.
Fundraising for a new grandstand has been ongoing for a decade. A 2025 estimate pegged the cost at about $3.3 million. But the project won’t go out for bids until July, and officials expect it will be higher than that, McKeever said.
The new facilty will be ready in time for the 2027 fair, which is held every year in August, fairgrounds officials said.
The 172nd Ingham County Fair is set for Aug. 3-8 this year.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Ingham County Fairgrounds to get new grandstand in 2027
Reporting by Ken Palmer, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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