Medina County Fair Board thanks community leaders for their support

MEDINA — The Medina County Fair board expressed gratitude toward a group of community leaders for supporting the fairgrounds on Wednesday. The fair board presented Medina City Council President John Coyne, Feeding Medina County Executive Director Janet Newcomer, state Rep. Sharon Ray, R-Wadsworth, Commissioner Colleen Swedyk and Medina County Health Commissioner Krista Wasowski with certificates on Wednesday. Fair board Director Chuck Stiver said the board has been working with the county commissioners on a future fair planning process, a strategic plan and a facilities plan. "(Swedyk) has been our liaison and our driving force since she has put a lot of time and effort to try to help us with our planning process," he said. "She has helped spearhead that way forward with planning on facilities, so she has been a tremendous benefit to the fair for her willingness to work with us and support us into the future." The fair board applied for a grant through Ray, and she secured $200,000 for facilities at the fairgrounds, Stiver said. Ray also wrote a letter of support for other grants the fair board applied for. "Both Sharon (Ray) and Colleen (Swedyk) will not be in office much longer, so we didn't want to wait to thank them," he said. "We wanted to make sure they knew how we feel about them and how much we care about them before they leave office." The facility project involves constructing a multiuse building, which will have a new restroom facility, a junior fair board work room, a junior leadership storage area and a ticketing facility, Stiver said. "We've worked really hard on future facilities planning and future fair planning, which plans for five to 10 years from now on what our fair looks like," he said. "This was just a way to pause and thank those people and know we appreciate it." Additional funding was applied for through the U.S. Department of Transportation to redo the parking lot at the fairgrounds, and Wasowski wrote a letter of support for that project, Stiver said. This is because the community center is designated as a point of distribution during a disease outbreak for vaccine distribution. "In order to do that, we have to justify that investment that we applied for," he said. "We haven't heard back yet. She wrote a very detailed and very thorough explanation of why that would be a good investment of federal funds to redo that parking lot. Coyne also sent in a letter of support for a grant application, Stiver said. He has worked with the fair for a long time as a city councilman, including during the West Smith Road construction project. "We as a board met with John (Coyne) multiple times, and he's had family members involved in the Medina County Fair," he said. "We couldn't do the fair without the support of the city of Medina." Similarly, Newcomer wrote a letter of support for a grant, Stiver said. Feeding Medina County also runs a monthly food distribution at the fairgrounds, and the organization often receives donations from the livestock sale. "A lot of our buyers are very gracious, and they'll buy an animal and then turn around and donate that animal to Feeding Medina County for distribution," he said. "(Newcomer) is a tremendous supporter, and that was our way of thanking her." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at 330-721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.