New stage dedication to take place during Yearwood concert

The locally-constructed new stage will offer more space, as well as stability, for acts that perform before the Clay County Fair's Grandstand audience. (Photo by Randy M. Cauthron)

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 this year.

It's new, it's bigger and it will bring the fair's favorite acts closer to the seats than they've ever been.

Country recording artist Trisha Yearwood will help dedicate the new stage, Saturday, Sept. 6 as her headline performance helps kick-off the World's Greatest County Fair's Grandstand acts.

"With this stage we wind up with a state-of-the-art, multi-purpose facility," Clay County Fair secretary/manager Phil Hurst.

On July 23, a parade of three tractors hauled the new stage in pieces from Bob Maurer's Maurer Manufacturing company, nestled between Royal and Sutherland, to the Clay County Fairgrounds.

Maurer, who Hurst called, "certifiably one of the real heroes" of the project, and is in his 18th year as founder of Maurer Manufacturing, used his massive workshop at his home for the massive project -- the fair's new main stage which is 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.

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.

Arnold Motor Supply donated the paint for the stage.

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.

With the 3/8-mile oval moved to address the safety issues associated with racing, a wide path was left directly in front of the grandstand. Hurst used that space to address other issues.

"We're paving a long strip from the Events Center to about section A," explained Hurst." The paved piece will stretch 620-feet in length and 65-feet in width. It will be used to move the stage in place and then transport it back to the Events Center.

"The old stage was getting pretty rickety and the bottom was marginal. The wooden top was failing and the bottom was deteriorating.…We were looking at ways to get the stage in and out regardless of the weather," explained Hurst.

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."

* Article features contributions from Russ Mitchell and Randy M. Cauthron.