Legislature’s Ag Committee favors State Fair move to Grand Island

Lawmakers began nudging the Nebraska State Fair off it’s 106-year-old site in Lincoln and toward Grand Island on Monday. The Agriculture Committee advanced a bill (LB1116) to the full Legislature that would move the fair to Grand Island by 2010 at a cost of $42 million, with about half coming from the University of Nebraska and $5 million from the state’s cash reserve fund. But with the advancement of the bill Monday, Grand Island went from the one-time underdog to the front-runner, racing ahead of Lincoln in the competition for the fair.

Grand Island Chamber of Commerce President Cindy Johnson attributed it to the support Grand Island officials got from the fair board. “What we found is that Grand Island really had an understanding of what the state fair wanted and needed,” Johnson said.

In addition to $21.5 million from the university and $5 million from the state, Grand Island would pitch in private donations and public dollars totaling $8.5 million. The fair board would give another $7 million.

The university wants to use the land at State Fair Park in Lincoln to build a research campus where they envision university researchers and private businesses co-mingling to boost the state’s economy with high-paying jobs.

That project could include $300 million worth of new, public facilities and $600 million to $700 million worth of private facilities. One key player seemed satisfied with the cost breakdown. Gov. Dave Heineman quickly endorsed the Grand Island plan, calling it an “opportunity of a lifetime.”