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The Montana ExpoPark (formerly known as the North Montana State Fairgrounds) is a
The original fairgrounds were designed by Gordon G. Cottier and George M. Shanley. The original buildings, constructed in the Art Deco style, were the Atrium, Family Living Center, Fine Arts Building, Livestock Pavilion (now known as the Heritage Building), Mercantile Building, and Trades and Industries Building. Shanley designed the first building to be erected, the Livestock Pavilion, and it was constructed in 1919.Aarstad, et al., p. 194. Most of the buildings, however, were built between 1928 and 1938. Many of the structures completed between 1934 and 1938 were paid for by grants from the
Accessed 2011-05-14. The annual Montana State Fair, which celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2011 (no fairs in 1942-45 nor 2020), draws more than 150,000 people to the fairgrounds each year.
Cascade County owns the fairgrounds. By 1987, the fairgrounds were more than $600,000 in debt and Cascade County's management of the Fairgrounds and Four Seasons Arena was heavily criticized. In 1988, Cascade County signed an agreement under which the city of Great Falls took over management of the fairgrounds and Four Seasons Arena."City Says It Should Run Fairgrounds." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' March 19, 2002. This agreement expired after 15 years, and on November 12, 2002, Cascade County signed a formal agreement to allow SMG World to take over management of the fairgrounds and arena.
The cooling system under the practice ice at Four Seasons Arena failed in April 2003,"County Hires Specialist to Examine Arena Ice." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' April 12, 2003. and a consultant estimated the cost of repairs at $450,000.Lee, Sonja. "Fairgrounds Remodeling Job." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' January 8, 2004. This was money the county did not have, and the practice ice closed permanently. Due to problems with the ice cooling system and the extensive turnaround time need to transform the arena from an ice rink to other uses, SMG proposed closing the main ice rink permanently in 2005."Skating's Future on Thin Ice." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' February 22, 2005. The rink stayed open for a short period each year thereafter,Skornogoski, Kim. "Ice Returning to Four Seasons." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' September 21, 2005. but the ice rink finally closed in 2006.
Cascade County renewed its contract with SMG in 2007. The new two-year contract paid SMG $84,413 a year (about $4,000 less than the 2002 contract), and included a payment of 15 percent of operating revenues of all income over $2.5 million.Puckett, Karl. "Divided Commissioners Extend Contract With SMG." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' August 15, 2007. SMG also received 7.5 percent of all concessions sales (down from 10 percent in the old contract). Cascade County also agreed to subsidize the fairgrounds and Four Seasons Arena by $750,000 a year, and pay the wages of all SMG employees operating the facilities.
In 2009, Cascade County declined to renew SMG's contract, concluding it had learned enough to manage the fairgrounds and arena on its own.Puckett, Karl. "County, SMG Part Ways." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' January 7, 2009.
A major study by Cascade County and Montana ExpoPark in 2010 proposed making significant changes to the fairgrounds. The study, conducted by Markin Consulting, disclosed that the race track grandstand's concrete foundation was crumbling, the livestock pavilion's sheet metal walls were rusting, the horse barns were poorly ventilated and lit, and Four Seasons Arena suffered from poor acoustics and limited seating.Puckett, Karl. "Research Highlights ExpoPark's Untapped Potential." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' February 3, 2011. The report outlined a number of options, including spending $7 million to $9 million to replace the grandstand, spending another $35 million to build a larger arena, and paying $12.6 million to demolish all existing horse barns and service facilities and build a 2,000-to-3,000 seat track just for horse racing.
Less radical solutions also existed. Four Seasons Arena could be converted into an exhibition hall, and the current Exhibition Hall transformed into a banquet hall, at a cost of $2 million. The report said an alternative to the demolition of all existing equestrian facilities would be to construct a new 300-stall horse barn.
The study did not advocate construction of a large facility like
fair
A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks.
Types
Variations of fairs incl ...
ground located in the city of Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of and is the principal city of the Great Falls, M ...
, United States. The grounds contain 35 buildings, a horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...
track, grandstand
A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...
s, and the Four Seasons Arena
The Four Seasons Arena is a multi-purpose indoor sports and exhibition arena located in the city of Great Falls, Montana, in the United States. Constructed in 1979, it served primarily as an ice rink until 2005. The failure of the practice rink's ...
—multi-purpose sports and exhibition arena.Oyan, Katie. "SMG Fee to Exceed $75,000." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' October 18, 2002. The site is the host of the Montana State Fair as well as agricultural shows, rodeo
Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...
s, basketball tournaments, and funfairs. The six original structures of the fairgrounds were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
Construction and buildings
The original fairgrounds were designed by Gordon G. Cottier and George M. Shanley. The original buildings, constructed in the Art Deco style, were the Atrium, Family Living Center, Fine Arts Building, Livestock Pavilion (now known as the Heritage Building), Mercantile Building, and Trades and Industries Building. Shanley designed the first building to be erected, the Livestock Pavilion, and it was constructed in 1919.Aarstad, et al., p. 194. Most of the buildings, however, were built between 1928 and 1938. Many of the structures completed between 1934 and 1938 were paid for by grants from the Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recove ...
. In 1939, the Montana State Fair, which had previously been held in Helena
Helena may refer to:
People
*Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer
*Helena, mother of Constantine I
Places
Greece
* Helena (island)
Guyana
* ...
, permanently moved to Great Falls.
The fairgrounds also include three large parks: Central Park, the Family Living Park, and South Park. Other large structures include the FFA
FFA may refer to:
Aviation and military
* First Flight Airport, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States
* Free-fire area in U.S. military parlance
* Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein, a Swiss aircraft and railway vehicle manufacturer
* ...
Building, the new Livestock Pavilion, the Paddock Club, and the Poultry/Rabbit Barn.
The 5,000-seat Four Seasons Arena was built in 1979.Ecke, Richard. "Couple's Gift Helps Keep Local Ice Rink Dream Alive." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' July 29, 2007. The Exhibition Hall (capable of seating up to 1,500 people) was constructed adjacent to the arena in 1995."Building Details." Exhibition Hall. Montana ExpoPark. 2009.Accessed 2011-05-14. The annual Montana State Fair, which celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2011 (no fairs in 1942-45 nor 2020), draws more than 150,000 people to the fairgrounds each year.
Management
Cascade County owns the fairgrounds. By 1987, the fairgrounds were more than $600,000 in debt and Cascade County's management of the Fairgrounds and Four Seasons Arena was heavily criticized. In 1988, Cascade County signed an agreement under which the city of Great Falls took over management of the fairgrounds and Four Seasons Arena."City Says It Should Run Fairgrounds." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' March 19, 2002. This agreement expired after 15 years, and on November 12, 2002, Cascade County signed a formal agreement to allow SMG World to take over management of the fairgrounds and arena.
The cooling system under the practice ice at Four Seasons Arena failed in April 2003,"County Hires Specialist to Examine Arena Ice." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' April 12, 2003. and a consultant estimated the cost of repairs at $450,000.Lee, Sonja. "Fairgrounds Remodeling Job." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' January 8, 2004. This was money the county did not have, and the practice ice closed permanently. Due to problems with the ice cooling system and the extensive turnaround time need to transform the arena from an ice rink to other uses, SMG proposed closing the main ice rink permanently in 2005."Skating's Future on Thin Ice." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' February 22, 2005. The rink stayed open for a short period each year thereafter,Skornogoski, Kim. "Ice Returning to Four Seasons." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' September 21, 2005. but the ice rink finally closed in 2006.
Cascade County renewed its contract with SMG in 2007. The new two-year contract paid SMG $84,413 a year (about $4,000 less than the 2002 contract), and included a payment of 15 percent of operating revenues of all income over $2.5 million.Puckett, Karl. "Divided Commissioners Extend Contract With SMG." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' August 15, 2007. SMG also received 7.5 percent of all concessions sales (down from 10 percent in the old contract). Cascade County also agreed to subsidize the fairgrounds and Four Seasons Arena by $750,000 a year, and pay the wages of all SMG employees operating the facilities.
In 2009, Cascade County declined to renew SMG's contract, concluding it had learned enough to manage the fairgrounds and arena on its own.Puckett, Karl. "County, SMG Part Ways." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' January 7, 2009.
Renovation
A major study by Cascade County and Montana ExpoPark in 2010 proposed making significant changes to the fairgrounds. The study, conducted by Markin Consulting, disclosed that the race track grandstand's concrete foundation was crumbling, the livestock pavilion's sheet metal walls were rusting, the horse barns were poorly ventilated and lit, and Four Seasons Arena suffered from poor acoustics and limited seating.Puckett, Karl. "Research Highlights ExpoPark's Untapped Potential." ''Great Falls Tribune.'' February 3, 2011. The report outlined a number of options, including spending $7 million to $9 million to replace the grandstand, spending another $35 million to build a larger arena, and paying $12.6 million to demolish all existing horse barns and service facilities and build a 2,000-to-3,000 seat track just for horse racing.
Less radical solutions also existed. Four Seasons Arena could be converted into an exhibition hall, and the current Exhibition Hall transformed into a banquet hall, at a cost of $2 million. The report said an alternative to the demolition of all existing equestrian facilities would be to construct a new 300-stall horse barn.
The study did not advocate construction of a large facility like MetraPark Arena
First Interstate Arena (colloquially known as The Metra) is a multi-purpose arena located at MetraPark, the fairgrounds of Billings, Montana. The arena has a capacity of 8,700 for ice hockey and Indoor American football, indoor football games, 10, ...
, the 10,000-seat arena and 6,500-seat grandstand in Billings
Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...
.
In 2018, when concrete began falling from the underside of the grandstands, the situation reached a crisis point. At that time, the county commissioners voted to replace the grandstands. The underside was closed for the 2018 State Fair, though the grandstands themselves continued to be used that year, and demolition began immediately thereafter. By the 2019 fair, a new structure was complete. The next year saw the COVID-19 pandemic force
the fair to go on hiatus.
Footnotes
Bibliography
*Aarstad, Rich; Arguimbau, Ellen; Baumler, Ellen; Porsild, Charlene L.; and Shovers, Brian. ''Montana Place Names From Alzada to Zortman.'' Helena, Mont.: Montana Historical Society Press, 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Montana ExpoPark Fairgrounds in the United States Buildings and structures in Great Falls, Montana Tourist attractions in Great Falls, Montana Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana Horse racing in Montana 1919 establishments in Montana National Register of Historic Places in Cascade County, Montana State fairs Festivals established in 1919