Union County Fairgrounds Utility Project Costs Soar to $4.35 Million

The Union County Fairgrounds is mid-construction on a $4.353 million utility overhaul that will replace a septic system that has been failing for more than two decades, with a July 2026 completion target that puts this year's county fair directly on the clock.

Heavy equipment arrived at the fairgrounds on March 9, the same day the campground closed to the public. Crews from Mike Becker Construction, the project's general contractor, and subcontractors including Action Plumbing have been performing plumbing and utility work across the property since. RV spaces are being managed day by day, with the fairgrounds hoping to maintain dry camping throughout the construction window. Facility rentals are intermittently disrupted, and every building on the property is affected by the sewer project except the Mt. Fanny Building and the Exhibit Hall.

When construction wraps, the fairgrounds at 3604 N 2nd St will have two new restroom buildings, each with eight stalls, with one building including showers. Portable restrooms have served events on the grounds for roughly a decade since the original bathrooms became completely non-operable, and the well supplying the site has been failing simultaneously, leaving the fairgrounds managing dual infrastructure crises with no permanent fix in place.

Commissioner Matt Scarfo, the county's liaison to the fair board on this project for approximately six years, has described it as "three decades in the making." What began as a $700,000 estimate in 2019 grew to $4.353 million driven by inflation and rising construction costs. Geography made every dollar harder to spend: the fairgrounds sit on the north side of the Grande Ronde Valley, cut off from La Grande's municipal water and sewer system by both Interstate 84 and the Grande Ronde River. Utility lines must either bridge over I-84 or tunnel under the river, engineering challenges that substantially complicated years of prior funding efforts.

The county pursued state funding three times before breaking through. House Bill 2635 in 2023 and House Bill 5202 in 2024 both failed. The Oregon Fairs Association placed the project second on its priority list during the 2024 short session, but the appropriation still didn't materialize. A 2025 standalone bill, House Bill 2527, stalled in Ways and Means. By mid-2024, fundraisers and City of La Grande contributions had assembled roughly $1.6 million, still about $2.7 million short. Fair Board member Deb Cornford acknowledged the gap publicly but said the board was committed to pressing forward.

Senate Bill 5531 and House Bill 5006 finally cleared the Legislature in June 2025, directing $2,539,405 in Oregon Lottery bond proceeds to the Union County Fair Association for water and wastewater improvement. Governor Tina Kotek, who had publicly backed the project, signed both bills on August 7, 2025. Scarfo was unambiguous: "Can you believe it? I'm relieved! This is something that's important not just to the fair but to Union County! I've been doing this for a long time. Persistence paid off." The formal groundbreaking followed on November 14, 2025.

The urgency goes beyond fair season. The fairgrounds serve as Union County's designated resiliency hub, the official evacuation and emergency shelter for wildfires and other large-scale emergencies. Without functional plumbing, the site's capacity to house displaced residents was severely constrained. Lottery bond proceeds won't be fully distributed until 2027; the county is working with Regional Solutions and Business Oregon to bridge that gap and keep construction moving toward the July finish line.