One overlooked tidbit in the recent state budget process is that over the next couple of years the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture will have around $5 million to make available through a competitive grant process for “acquisition, construction, reconstruction, expansion, improvement, planning and equipping of facilities” used for county fairs and other agricultural exhibitions.

A department spokesman told the Hannah News Service that the agency is working on drafting the rules for what will be a grant program. When the rules are ready sometime this fall, we expect there to be a way for local fair boards or others to compete for some of that $5 million and improve their local ag exhibition facilities.