Evergreen State Fair building to be demolished after 70 years

Published 1:30 am Thursday, February 23, 2023

MONROE — After nearly 70 years of housing booths at the state fair, Commercial Building No. 400 at Evergreen State Fair Park began demolition on Tuesday.

Situated in the center of the fairgrounds, the building offered a place for local businesses, PUD representatives and poltical campaigns to promote themselves during the state fair. Folks would meander through the business building during hot summer days, and kids would snatch hard candies from the table tops.

For the rest of the year, it housed about 180 annual events, including exhibits, craft fairs and auto shows. During the pandemic, it supported the community by storing thousands of PPE items.

But, as Fair Advisory Board member Elaine Johannsen explained on Tuesday, the building gets too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter and the floor was too uneven for booths to sit right.

And lately, the building has been obstructing traffic during fair season, Senior Park Planner Thomas Hartzell said.

Its placement in the center of the park bottlenecks the flow of people, and it makes it harder for people to see what food stands or rides are available at the other side of the fairgrounds. Hartzell said there have been conversations about demolishing the building for decades.

Tom Teigen, director of Conservation and Natural Resources, added that the building has no architectural significance. And when the Gary D. Weikel Event Center opened up a few feet away, the commercial building became obsolete.

Still, “this building holds a lot of memories for multiple generations. It was a major hub and it’s sad to see it come down,” Teigen said. “So you need to honor that and give people a chance to process that while at the same time getting excited for what’s to come.”

The demolition drew subtle fanfare. County officials including Executive Dave Somers came to speak. Golden sledgehammers, wielded by a crew of fair advisory board members, splintered through beige plywood. Officials cheered and passed around cupcakes.

For the 2023 fair season, the space will remain empty.

It will cost $102,000 to demolish the building, Hartzell said. Teigen and Hartzell said they plan to observe how people use the space during the fair and to adjust their future plans accordingly. The space could be left open to allow for bigger crowds and food trucks, or a new structure could be built.

Johannsen hopes it will become a large plaza with a centerpiece.

She envisions a wayfinding board, pedestal or statue for people to have a meetup point. The open plaza would improve visibility and create more space, Johnson said.

She said the fair advisory board, comprised of 11 people, meets monthly and they’ll continue to chat about it. The board plans the fair, expands youth programs and maintains the fair’s roots in agriculture.

“It’s the funnest county board to be on, I can say that for sure,” Johannsen said laughing.

The park’s marketing specialist Amy Craven chimed in, saying that it must be, due to the amount of volunteer hours the group dedicates to creating the fair each year.

This summer, the fair will be Aug. 24 to 29 and Aug. 31 to Sept. 4.

Kayla J. Dunn: 425-339-3449; kayla.dunn@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @KaylaJ_Dunn.