Here at the LEX, we have spent the winter looking at the layout of the LEX and the feedback that we received last fall through the customer satisfaction survey and direct from patrons. Two items rose to the top of the list that we want to address in 2017. It’s a long way to walk to see everything at the LEX and we don’t have enough seating capacity to serve everyone for our more popular events.
Having a large site to work with is a blessing and a curse – we aren’t crammed into a small footprint in the same way we were for the final years at the old fairgrounds but it is farther to walk to see everything (although, depending on where you used to park near the old fairgrounds, the walk may not be that much longer).

For #LEX2017, all the events that were at the far east end of the grounds are being moved up the hill to the west end of where the midway was and the weekend events that were in the Sheep and Goat barn will be found in the building formerly known as “The Show Ring.” (Stay tuned for the decision on what the new name will be)

  • You will find the WoofJocks, the pony rides and the antique power display up at the west end.
  • The bunny petting, animal interaction and ag education displays will be in the old Show Ring building.
  • The Family Stage is moving down to where the beer tent was (yes the beer tent is moving – watch this space to find out where.)

Thus, families will be able to make a circuit from the Commonwell Mutual Building to The WoofJocks Canine All-stars, the pony rides, past the antique equipment, pet the bunnies, and end up listening to one of the many acts on the family stage in one condensed seamless circuit. And, once rested, they will then be able to move right into the Midway from there.

At the same time, we are adding seating and improving the views for the main events.

  • We’re bringing back the bleachers on the east of the track so people will be able to safely view the demo derbies and pulls from both sides.
  • We’re expanding the running area for the demo derbies so that people at either end of the seating will be closer to some of the action (and there might be a little more action with a little more space 😉 ).
  • We’re going to put a better angle on the portable bleachers on either end of the grandstand so that people sitting in them will have a better view of the action.
  • The WoofJocks Canine All-stars are getting their own set of large portable bleachers since last year they had people sitting on the ground despite allocating every spare bleacher we could to them.

The final place we are expanding is the parking which will shorten the walks of people who had to park off-site.

  • With the antique power coming back inside the ring fence, we gain parking around their building.
  • We’re regaining the parking lot taken up by the helicopter rides.
  • We are re-configuring the fencing along the livestock trailer parking at the east end to increase the trailer spaces beside the sheep and goat barn.
  • We’re re-configuring how and where the horse trailers park on the weekend to prevent them from spilling into visitor parking.
  • We’re working with our parking management people to ensure that we maximize the use the of the parking spaces that we do have – by making sure that cars are parked in the most efficient layout and spaces get re-used efficiently throughout the day.

Stay tuned to find out more about what will be new and improved for #LEX2017.

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