Fort St. Clair is in Preble County. The Fort St. Clair dog show no longer is.

If you have a business that benefited directly or indirectly by the long running Ft. St. Clair Dog Show being held at the Preble County Fairgrounds, then you might want to review this post.

I heard of this issue a while ago, and while there were parts of the story that defied belief that it would be allowed to happen, it was not a total surprise.  The facts as they are currently known should be public knowledge, and at least some of it part of the County Commission record.  Based on information that I received, I made an open records request for any information pertaining to the loss of the dog show and any Fair Board/ Jim Shute response.  While the commission is clearly copied on the Dog Club letter, the information could not be found. Not entering all correspondence into the public record could be the reason.  Not entering items into the commission record is hardly conducive to any claims of transparency.  The amount of business lost for this debacle is staggering when compared to what it would have cost to address the concerns raised. The Expo rents for $1,000 a day and the issue of lack of bathrooms has been raised many times before. There was a grant to address it but the money was used dressing up the grounds and for new roofs. Bathrooms at the grandstands were upgraded but that did not address the regular concern raised about the Expo building.  One commissioner even suggested that if people could not get into Brunner that they could go behind a truck.  Commissioner Robertson supported using the grant money to address the Expo bathroom issue, as it was originally intended.

The public might want to ask where the Preble County CVB and Preble County Development Partnership are regarding follow-up with events already being held in Preble County vs. chasing things that can’t be “quantified”.  Keeping events already here happy, with follow-up of what can be done better, should be a priority over spending money with no way of quantifying a return. They can bet their rear ends that Montgomery County can quantify this and will.

Read the correspondence below. Watch the videos for background. The Expo issue goes back at least a decade and I’ve included post links for background.  The Dog Show was even mentioned in a February 3, 2010 post.

Ag Society  response:

Alright, if you have got this far you may be wondering why someone from Preble County couldn’t pick up a phone and invite Larkin Vonalt and representatives from the Fort St. Clair dog show in and try and get a long running event back.  

Keep wondering.

Here is some background.

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The year Dave Wesler was up for re-election against challenger Rodney Creech, Dave obtained a large grant to address the lack of bathrooms at the Expo and ongoing electrical issues at the Fairgrounds. The wording was loose enough that other issues could also be addressed, as at the time no one had any cost estimates. Dave lost, Rodney pushed for another direction – paint, steel roofs and cosmetics to make the fairgrounds look better. This did not address the long running issue of lack of bathrooms at the Expo.

If you want to know more, these are the videos and posts that I have from the time.

June 10, 2015

Here is a video with Mary Bullen and myself addressing issues surrounding the grant, Expo and more on the topic at the time.

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This is a link to my post that day:

http://www.preble411.com/preble-county-commission-should-use-grant-money-for-electrical-improvements-restrooms-at-expo

May 22, 2015

Here is a link to another post and video on the topic.

http://www.preble411.com/fairgrounds-improvement-grant

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This last link shows that the Dog Show had voiced concerns 10 years ago with a dirt floor that led to concrete. My point is that there should have been annual follow-ups after those first concerns: How we doing and what can we do to make things better?

February 1, 2010

http://www.preble411.com/pork-festival-threatening-to-leave-preble-county-concern-over-expo-building-tractor-pulls