The Rockingham County Fairgrounds in Harrisonburg will add seven acres of new parking area this year. The goal is to increase overall parking capacity during the annual County Fair while building on the positive experience of Fair visitors.
“This is a significant increase in parking capacity,” said Jeff Ishee, gm at the Rockingham County Fair Association. The new lot is conveniently located immediately adjacent to the main entrance drive and will be capable of handling at least 750 additional vehicles. Attendance at the 2013 Fair set a new record at 88,885.
The Fair Association negotiated the deal with a neighboring farmer who agreed to rent the acreage on a multi-year term. “Rather than buying the land and paving it over as a parking lot we decided to rent the acreage from our neighbor and keep it in agriculture,” said Ishee. “Our mission statement requires us to promote agriculture and be a leader in the presentation and promotion of farm life and food production. This is a win-win situation for the Fair Association and agriculture. Visitors to the Fair get a new parking area close to the gates and our neighbor farmer gets to keep his land in farming and realize additional revenue.”
The ‘Keep it Green’ parking lot has already been seeded to orchard grass and will only be utilized for parking during the week of the annual County Fair (August 11-16, 2014). The remainder of the year it will be used to produce hay as feed for livestock.
Sponsorship of the “Keep It Green” lot is available by contacting the Fair Association office at 540-434-0005. The Rockingham County Fair Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
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