Overton County preparing to rebid the project to construct a new pavilion and restrooms at the county fairgrounds later this month.
Overton County Executive Steven Barlow said the County Commission rejected previous bids after they came in significantly higher than expected. Barlow said he is hopeful a bid will be awarded this time around.
“We had to pull the project and get back with the architect and redesign, revamp it,” Barlow said. “We are getting close to being done with the new plans and hopefully be more affordable.”
Barlow said the new design is still similar to the initial design with a few minor changes to the canopy of the pavilion and the type of fixtures in the restrooms. Barlow said the county will send out bids on December 23 and will close the bid window on January 13.
“Hopefully, we can get it up and going around springtime,” Barlow said. “That way it’s usable for the fairgrounds this next year.”
Barlow said a new pavilion and restrooms are definitely needed as the fairgrounds continue to age.
“The restrooms are a big need, they have already torn them down, so it’s a have-to situation now on that end,” Barlow said. “The pavilion, we were running out of room during the fair in one aspect of things, and we were having to do this pavilion. We would hope to use this pavilion for other things, but it would open up an area to where we could seat more people because it would be an inside-outside thing. It would have no walls on part of it.”
Barlow said many people love the Overton County Fair and would not want poor condition facilities to diminish the experience.