In a massive economic development undertaking the City of Fallon and Churchill County are making use of COVID funding to construct a $12 million Civic Center at the Churchill County Fairgrounds.
Designed to be used as an emergency shelter/service delivery/ command center in the case of public emergency situations such as the flood of 2017 or this past year of COVID, the facility will double as a tool to attract multi-million-dollar events to the community.
County Manager Jim Barbee spoke this week to the Fallon Rotary Club and shared information regarding the progress of the joint City/County project. “Last year during COVID we recognized the need for a facility like this in order to meet testing and vaccination needs. We also thought back to the flood and could have used a facility like this for sandbagging and the coordination efforts,” he said. “In addition, we looked back on the long-term conversations that have been happening over the years about the need for an arena to draw events.”
Barbee said the primary purpose of this facility is economic development. The 75,000 square foot building will provide 35,000 square feet of the concourse that can be used for trade shows along with the arena space that can also be used for car shows and can fit three basketball courts side-by-side. The front entryway has a pleasing design similar to what Stockman’s Casino recently created on the west side of their building, with a rock front, and a 100’ X 40’ covered pavilion.
There are plans to hire two full-time staff, one of which will be responsible for marketing the facility, targeting out-of-community events that will draw attendees to drive room-nights at local hotels, and “bring millions of dollars to the community that wouldn’t otherwise be here,” said Barbee. “We will lose money on this every year,” he said frankly, “but what we lose at the county level will be made up for in the community and the revenue we will see in sales tax.”
Barbee said that the Silver State International Rodeo alone, which Fallon lost to Winnemucca several years ago, accounts for $5 million in economic activity to the Winnemucca community. He recently toured the South Point Casino event facility in Las Vegas and said, “it is the most impressive facility I’ve seen anywhere.” There are 1,000 indoor horse stalls with heated water, so the horses don’t get cold when they are washed. And while the 3C facility won’t be quite that fancy, several design ideas and lessons learned came from that trip, including the dirt.
Apparently, when it comes to indoor, timed events, the quality of the dirt is of prime importance. Barbee said that is one of the first questions someone asks when they are being courted to bring their event to a community. “We are investing to get that right,” he said.
Nearly $2 million of the total costs are direct COVID Recovery funding that is going to pay for the HVAC system and backup generators. Additionally, County commissioners recently agreed to use $9 million in bond capacity toward this project.
Community leaders are hoping to see this investment pay off. “There are many livestock shows looking for homes,” said Barbee. “Our idea is to have a permanent event or more, like the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale,” for instance, “that return to a community year after year, becoming permanent attractions and investments.”
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