SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - Even as the Santa Barbara County Fair continues on through the weekend, the Santa Maria Fairpark is already strategizing for the future.
Over the past few months, the Fairpark Board of Directors has started the process to create a new community-based partnership that will boost usage at the downtown facility.
"We're trying to work more closely with both the (Santa Maria Valley) Chamber and the City," said Todd Ventura, Santa Maria Fairpark Interim CEO. "We're a major footprint in town here and the city needs more green space. The city needs more parks and recreation areas and all of those kinds of things as our our community continues to grow."
Santa Maria Assistant City Manager Chuen Wu pointed out the two entities are just now in the preliminary stages of potentially having recreational opportunities and events held in the venue.
"It's in the works," said Wu. "We're having those conversations with conversations about opportunities and possibilities. Certainly they have the space and a venue and so many times it's finding the right programing that fits our community, that resonates with residents and visitors."
As the Fairpark looks to add events and other ways to maximize its potential usage, Ventura emphasized what the facility means to the both Santa Maria and the surrounding area.
"It's important for our entire community," said Ventura. "It's a gathering area. It's an area of focus. I think the success of the Fairpark long term is important, especially as the North County continues to grow and outpace growth in South County. Let's face it, population base, tax base, all the other things are very much North County related, and so we need a place up here where people can come and they can congregate and they can gather that safe. It's consistent, it's clean, it's readily available for everybody."
Within the last few weeks, the Fairparks has held the first ever Santa Maria Comic Con and the annual West Coast Kustoms Cruisin' Nationals car show.
In addition, the Santa Maria BBQ Festival will move to the Fairpark in September, relocating from Pioneer Park that is located on the southern edge of the city.
The three events are exactly the type of gatherings the the Fairpark, City and Chamber are hoping to attract on a regular basis.
"Certainly the city is certainly having more conversations with the Fairpark about tourism, economic development, ways to leverage a partnership to bring more visitors to the Santa Maria area, and whether that's through events or there's some long term plans that we're talking about that would ultimately help Santa Maria be a place for just more more things to do, more activities, so it's we're having more conversations for sure."
As for the present time, the Santa Barbara County Fair continues through Sunday, July 12th.
Gates open at 2 p.m. on Friday and noon on the weekend with the fair closing each night at 10 p.m.
For more information about the Santa Barbara County Fair, click here to visit the official website.
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