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The Umpqua Model Railroaders failed Tuesday in efforts to have the club’s train display remain at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.
Club members appealed to the Douglas County Fair Board to rescind its order to remove the display from the fairgrounds’ Exhibit Building.
The club was told in March the fairgrounds needed the space for storage of display partitions and glass-encased cabinets when not in use for events.
Club members told the Fair Board it was unfair to displace an exhibit that has been part of the fair for more than 43 years.
“We take up a very small percentage of the floor space in that building. Most of the back of that building is still available for storage,” said Bob Benson, club vice president. “We’ve put a lot of time and effort, a lot of money, into this primarily for the benefit of the fairgoers.”
Fairgrounds Director Harold Phillips said the railroaders group, which currently has 16 members, has been allowed to use the fairgrounds without cost for as long as it has had the train display in the Exhibit Building. The fairgrounds even helped pay for the initial setup, although club members have funded additions and improvements over the years.
The need for increased storage space has been discussed for several years, Phillips said. With large increases in photography exhibits at the fair the past several years, new partitions had to be built and stored.
“It’s a tough call,” Phillips said. “This didn’t just come up this year. This has been a three-year conversation that we’ve had with our staff.”
The club was told it could return to the fair each year with the display. Club members said that wasn’t possible.
“You guys seem to think that this display can be taken apart, removed from the building and then brought back. That is not true,” club president Keith Van Atta said. “To get it out of there, it has to be cut up and destroyed. If it disappears, we will not have a display.”
Van Atta, who presented the board with a petition signed by 2,400 people asking that the railroaders be allowed to stay, and other club members rejected a suggestion for creation of a modular display pieced together from separate rail blocks that could be taken apart and set up again. They said modular displays were not as visually appealing because each of the blocks had to be made so they are interchangeable with other blocks.
Fair Board member John Dunn told the half-dozen railroad club members who attended the morning meeting the issue boiled down to a matter of logistics.
Dunn said he became upset after the railroaders group went public and said they were being kicked out of the fair. Dunn said the group was welcome at the fair but could not keep the display in the Exhibit Building year-round.
“Instead of coming to the Fair Board and discussing it with us, you chose to go to the media, you chose to go to the service groups in Roseburg and say ‘The Fair Board is kicking us out.’ We never had a conversation. We never had a discussion. You went out and threw up this big cloud and I don’t think that was fair,” Dunn said.
Fair Board member David Briggs said other groups were not allowed to store things at the fairgrounds and not pay any rent. For him, he said it was a matter of fairness.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
Club members appealed to the Douglas County Fair Board to rescind its order to remove the display from the fairgrounds’ Exhibit Building.
The club was told in March the fairgrounds needed the space for storage of display partitions and glass-encased cabinets when not in use for events.
Club members told the Fair Board it was unfair to displace an exhibit that has been part of the fair for more than 43 years.
“We take up a very small percentage of the floor space in that building. Most of the back of that building is still available for storage,” said Bob Benson, club vice president. “We’ve put a lot of time and effort, a lot of money, into this primarily for the benefit of the fairgoers.”
Fairgrounds Director Harold Phillips said the railroaders group, which currently has 16 members, has been allowed to use the fairgrounds without cost for as long as it has had the train display in the Exhibit Building. The fairgrounds even helped pay for the initial setup, although club members have funded additions and improvements over the years.
The need for increased storage space has been discussed for several years, Phillips said. With large increases in photography exhibits at the fair the past several years, new partitions had to be built and stored.
“It’s a tough call,” Phillips said. “This didn’t just come up this year. This has been a three-year conversation that we’ve had with our staff.”
The club was told it could return to the fair each year with the display. Club members said that wasn’t possible.
“You guys seem to think that this display can be taken apart, removed from the building and then brought back. That is not true,” club president Keith Van Atta said. “To get it out of there, it has to be cut up and destroyed. If it disappears, we will not have a display.”
Van Atta, who presented the board with a petition signed by 2,400 people asking that the railroaders be allowed to stay, and other club members rejected a suggestion for creation of a modular display pieced together from separate rail blocks that could be taken apart and set up again. They said modular displays were not as visually appealing because each of the blocks had to be made so they are interchangeable with other blocks.
Fair Board member John Dunn told the half-dozen railroad club members who attended the morning meeting the issue boiled down to a matter of logistics.
Dunn said he became upset after the railroaders group went public and said they were being kicked out of the fair. Dunn said the group was welcome at the fair but could not keep the display in the Exhibit Building year-round.
“Instead of coming to the Fair Board and discussing it with us, you chose to go to the media, you chose to go to the service groups in Roseburg and say ‘The Fair Board is kicking us out.’ We never had a conversation. We never had a discussion. You went out and threw up this big cloud and I don’t think that was fair,” Dunn said.
Fair Board member David Briggs said other groups were not allowed to store things at the fairgrounds and not pay any rent. For him, he said it was a matter of fairness.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
