Area businesses help fund new fair building
The Pierce County Fair Board has received three grants from area businesses to fund a new agricultural center built on the county fairgrounds in June.
Two of the grants, totaling $1250, come from electric utility co-ops serving customers in different parts of the county. North Central Electric Cooperative serves customers in the Bottineau area and parts of Pierce County near Barton and north of Rugby. Northern Plains Electric Cooperative serves parts of eastern Pierce County. Both co-ops have programs called Operation Round-Up, which allow members to round up their electric bills to the next dollar to donate the difference to a community fund. The community funds give money to organizations and individuals within their service areas.
Both co-ops disburse their grants quarterly.
Northern Plains Electric Co-Op Spokesperson Britnee Wilson said in a written statement, “At their September meeting, the Northern Plains Electric Operation Round Up board of directors approved grants totaling $9,200 to help support worthy causes.”
“These charitable grants are made possible through the generosity of Northern Plains Electric Cooperative members who voluntarily elect to have their electric bills rounded up to the next dollar. The donated amount averages about 50 cents a month for each participating member, and raises approximately $37,000 each year,” Wilson added.
“Since the program’s beginning in October 1998, grants totaling $855,166 have been awarded to 1189 local charitable causes,” Wilson said.
Pierce County Fair Board President Don Jelsing said, “It’s always so very pleasing when we can see local organizations within the community step up to help a good project such as this community agricultural center. This is one step higher to get that agricultural center paid for. We want to take another step of getting electricity put into it and getting a couple of more phases done to the project.”
Jelsing added, “We’ve been able to get the bare bones of the building constructed. There’s no water or electricity in there.”
Jelsing credited Coleen Stutrud of North Dakota Farm Credit Services for helping the fair board access local grants. “It’s grants like this that Coleen is helping us find that get us one step closer to finishing all the work on (the center),” Jelsing said.
The building opened just in time for the 2021 Pierce County Fair and housed 4-H livestock exhibits and competitions. Jelsing said he heard plenty of positive feedback from 4-Hers, families and other visitors on the building’s open-air design and white roof, which provided lots of natural light.
“I don’t think I heard one bad comment about that facility,” Jelsing said. “It’s certainly limited a little bit at this point in time as to what new can go in there, but we still have people who are looking to use the facility in the next year.”
“It was so much different compared to what we were used to in those two old barns,” Jelsing said, referring to older sheds on the fairgrounds where exhibits were held in the past. “It’s the open area space and all the light that comes through that white tarp that are beautiful. It feels so much like being outdoors, yet having that protection was great.”
“We had some rain during the fair which didn’t bother the whole show at all inside that agricultural center building – the people who were displaying their animals and the people who came to see them. I heard so many good comments and had so many good feelings about the situation. It was just the right move to make. This is going to do nothing but increase the number of exhibits, not only locally, but coming in from out of town to exhibit.”
Jelsing said the building could possibly provide space for events such as wedding receptions in the future after more work is completed.
“I think we’ve got to continue searching for different avenues in how to finish all the phases in that building, whether it’s a small donation or a larger grant donation. Every little bit of it helps. If there’s anybody who’s got any ideas or suggestions for places we should ask for grant monies from any particular entity or organization, we’d be more than willing to talk to them about them and take that information and apply for it,” Jelsing added.
Jelsing noted the fair board appreciated help from Stutrud, who pointed them to the North Dakota Farm Credit Services’ Pat-NOW Community Fund. The grant program awarded the Pierce County Fair Board $10,000 for the ag center recently.
“That was a nice shot in the arm,” Jelsing said, adding he and the board were grateful for Farm Credit Services’ commitment to local agricultural events such as the fair.
“County fairs were based on agricultural involvement back in the early 1900s. That’s why county fairs were adopted was to have a showcase for local talents in agriculture in the community and in the area, whether it was making a pie or showing off an animal somebody raised,” Jelsing said.
‘Worthwhile project’
Stutrud said she was glad to help with the fundraising and happy Farm Credit Services’ Pat-NOW program could help with the building project.
“The grant applications were submitted by Don Jelsing. I just did the paperwork,” Stutrud said modestly.
“We’re really just getting our feet wet. I’ve been trying to help them as much as I can (with the process) Stutrud added.
Stutrud said she isn’t a member of the fair board. “My husband asked me initially when I was getting involved with this, he said, ‘Why do you want to do this?’ Part of the reason is I know that down the road, maybe there’s potential that the FFA could use the building as well. I know the 4-H does,” she said.
“My personal side is my son benefitted deeply because of the FFA experiences he had,” Stutrud said. “My emotional side was just this summer, I was in the building during the fair and talking to the parents of a girl who was showing her calf. And while the parents were talking to me – it was in the evening – she crawled under the fence to hug the calf goodnight.”
“It’s just things like that that make it worthwhile for me. That’s an emotional side. That’s pretty much the reason why. I just believe strongly in FFA and 4-H.”
Stutrud said she volunteered to help the board raise funds “a few years ago. It’s been a year or so that I’ve actually had to do anything so to speak, but I’m trying to help him secure more funds so we can get electricity in there and finish some of the drainage issues and hopefully complete (the building),” she said.
“I think it’s awesome,” Stutrud said of the agricultural center project. “I’ll be honest with you, partly because there’s such a need for this, not just at the fair time but otherwise, too. It can be used for a lot of different things. If it helps the 4-H or FFA in any way, I would really support it.”
“It’s for kids,” Stutrud added, describing what motivated her to help. “Who knows, maybe someday a grandchild of mine might be able to be using it and exhibiting in there, too. We never know.”
More information on the Pat-NOW Community Fund is available at https://www.farmcreditnd.com/pat-now-community-fund, or by calling Farm Credit Services at 776-5863.
For more information on Northern Plains Electric Co-Op’s Operation Round-Up program, visit www.ndplains.com or call (800) 882-2500. More information on the Operation Round-Up program for North Central Electric Co-Op is available by calling Member Services Manager Pete Erikson at (701) 228-2202 or emailing p.erickson@nceci.com.
To make a donation to the Pierce County Fair, contact Jelsing at (701) 208-2886 or email pcfrugby@gmail.com.