Suwannee River Fair may get a new home

By Carrie A. Mizell
Imagine sitting at the 2013 Suwannee River Fair and watching youth from throughout the tri-county area show their animals from the comfort of a chair backed seat in a brand-new air-conditioned facility.
Sounds like a dream, right?
Maybe not.

The current Suwannee River Fair barn was reportedly built in Fanning Springs around 1952.

Suwannee River Fair President Loran Brookins approached the Fanning Springs City Council last week to ask that building permit fees for a new facility be waived. The city council granted Brookins’ request and waived their portion of the permit fees, which is roughly 20 percent of the total cost, but because the municipality is so small the city subcontracts their building department services with Florida Municipal Services, a Homosassa-based company. Brookins was told by the Fanning Springs City Council that he would need to petition Walt Brown of Florida Municipal Services to see if the company would also waive their portion of the building permit fees for the local youth fair, which were estimated at $8,800.
According to Brookins, the Anderson family of Dixie County approached the Suwannee River Fair about building a new metal pavilion for the Suwannee River Fair.
Construction of a new 1,500 seat facility would mean that the current facility, which was reportedly built sometime around 1952 would need to be torn down to make room for the new facility.
“I am in the process of seeing if we can get this done,” Brookins said. “I have until the 15th of July to let the Andersons know if it’s possible.”
If Brookins can secure all the permits and get the cooperation of the county commissioners in Gilchrist, Levy and Dixie counties then it would mean a state of the art metal building would be constructed before the 2013 Suwannee River Fair.