(Photo by Russ Mitchell) Work continues at Maurer Manufacturing where Bob Maurer and his staff work on a state-of-the-art portable stage. Performers will take to the new stage for the 2008 edition of the Clay County Fair. Kevin Maurerand and Jake Schoelerman work on the stage.

Daily Reporter Staff

Sure, the performers are going to draw the focus most nights at the 2008 Clay County Fair.

But the stage under their feet is worth some attention, too. It's new, it's bigger and it will bring the fair's favorite acts closer to the seats than they've ever been.

Bob Maurer is in his 18th year as founder of Maurer Manufacturing, a company nestled between Royal and Sutherland. His massive workshop is home to the massive project -- different buildings house different pieces of the new stage:

The fair's main stage will be 48-feet wide and 70-feet long with two, adaptable 36-foot by 6-foot wings on each end. Fully extended, the wings give artists 142 feet to roam from one end of the grandstand to another. If the wings are angled, the artist will be able to walk right up to the racetrack's barrier wall.

"It's going to be a one-of-a-kind stage and, probably the largest moving stage anywhere," said David Potratz, who serves on the Clay County Fair Executive Board and is the fair's grandstand superintendent.

Fair officials first contacted Maurer about constructing the project back in 1997.

"Nothing happened," Maurer recalls. "Then last year they came, and started talking again."

The fair was looking for a replacement to its portable, 60-by-40 foot stage. The outgoing platform propped up the likes of Bill Cosby and Garth Brooks. It also slugged through the mud after 12 inches of rain over three days -- the mud was over the stage axles when the fair hosted a Brad Paisley concert.

It broke down last fall, when organizers were trying to get it hauled out on a Saturday night. Fair officials had to enlist a welder before a Sunday show.

Plans for a new stage were well under way before last fall's malfunction. Maurer penciled out plans and turned them over to Jake Schoelerman of Everly, who transformed the designs into a blueprint.

Schoelerman, an engineering student in Mankato, Minn., began putting together the Computer Aided Drafting designs in May of 2007. They weren't ready for review until February of this year.

He's spending part of his summer seeing the project through: Schoelerman and Bob's grandson, Kevin Maurer, worked for the company in high school. Rain allowed them to return to the company Friday to help with the construction. Jeremiah Quest, Jason Guinn and Jeff Steffens have also helped with the project.

The Dvergsten Charitable Foundation, formed by the late Irvin and Ruby Dvergsten of Spencer, provided $400,000 in funding for the stage. Clay County Fair Manager Phil Hurst said the gift will enhance the entertainment options at Spencer's signature event.

Some venues, such as the Knoxville raceway, specialize in track or racing-based events. Other venues, like the stage at the Sioux Empire Fair in Sioux Falls are more suited for concerts.

"Ours is a combination," Hurst said. "We do both the race program and the concert series."

The larger stage also will allow the fair to incorporate track-side seating, which should be a boost to the gate totals and allow the fair to draw from a deeper pool of talent.

Hurst said the fair would eventually like to pave the area in front of the stage. Major artists would be possible additions in the 2009 line-up.

Currently the fair can seat about 6,000 people in the grandstand. The added seating will allow them to draw acts that require an audience of 8,000-12,000 in their contracts.

"Many of the artists today go down the road with one to three semis of equipment," Potratz said.

When they arrived in Spencer, they would have to leave half their equipment in the semis because of the size of the old stage.

"With the stage of this size we can handle about any sized show today and into the future," Potratz said. "Brad Paisley has a much larger show. Brooks and Dunn has a much larger show set. If they want to put a big outdoor set on the stage, they can do it at ours."

The stage will likely be delivered and assembled at the fairgrounds in August.