Saline County Wants To Host State Fairgrounds

The Arkansas State Fair has just grown over capacity at the Little Rock location. Saline County is putting in its bid to host the Arkansas State Fair.

The cute, cuddly, furry animals at the Saline County Fair may win over the kids, but the county will have to do more to win the Sate Fair.

"You would have to build more facilities," says Sen. Shane Broadway.

Broadway who is a member of the Saline County Economic Development Corporation, says Saline County would make an excellent location for the State Fair because it would generate revenue year round.

"This arena is used 47, 48 weekends a year for horse shows, equestrian contests, and dog shows," says Broadway.

State Fair Manager Ralph Shoptaw says Little Rock's location is just too small.

"We have 100 acres we can operate on here and the average state fair is 366 acres nation wide," says Shoptaw.

Shoptaw says parking and horrible traffic is one of the biggest complaints. Broadway is proposing three locations, one off I-530 and the Hensley exit, the second off I-30 and 10 miles west of the county fair, and the third is the current county fair location off I-30 and the Sevier exit.

Broadway says Saline County has an edge in this competition. All three sites proposed are off the interstate, there is plenty of room to grow, and they're between Little Rock and Hot Springs--two big tourist cities.

Shoptaw says to renovate Little Rock's site would cost $57 million dollars. So he doesn't know if moving it will save the fair money.

"We might have to stay where we are and make the best use of what we have," says Shoptaw.

Broadway says if the fair wants to grow in visitors, it should look closely at his proposals.

"Make it bigger, add more rides and attractions," says Broadway.

The deadline to apply is September 15. The state fair starts October 9.