Northwest Washington Fairgrounds keep making upgrades

The fairgrounds Expo Building, right, is getting a new facelift that will match closer with the look of the Farm Pavilion, left. (Cal Bratt for the Tribune)

Expo Building gets facelift, clock tower in midst of additions

LYNDEN — Just in time for the 2023 Northwest Washington Fair, look for some facelifts, and more to come.

The Farm Pavilion building that arrived in 2019 changed everything about the Front Street entrance to the fairgrounds. Now it’s time for the neighboring Expo Building to catch up.

The upgrade has already been done on the south side of the Expo Building, said Selena Burgess, fairgrounds manager. It involved dealing with a moisture problem in the concrete blocks of the building, and the fix is wrapped up with a new exterior metal facing that matches the deep red of the Farm Pavilion.

The final Expo north-side treatment was happening the last week of July and will present the new unified look to fairgoers in August.

Another project is also in progress, this one at the clock tower near the center of the fairgrounds.

Continuing on into 2024, it is possible for anyone to buy a commemorative brick that will be placed at the base of the clock tower.

“There are new benches and lighting around the clock tower, and new concrete. The bricks will be inlaid in the areas left blank in the concrete,” Burgess explained. “This will be promoted in our fair program as well as on signage throughout the fairgrounds as well as around the clock tower.”

The first phase of this project was over the past year, with some bricks to be shown in place at this year’s fair.

A brick measuring 4-by-8 inches is $250. A brick eight inches square is $500. There can be two lines of text on the smaller-sized brick, four lines on the larger size. The whole process of ordering can be done online.

And a project that is finished for now, and illustrates the partnership that exists between the fair and the supporting nonprofit Northwest Washington Fair Foundation, was to add acoustical wall panels in the central gathering area of the Farm Pavilion building.

The new sound buffering effect was evident at the Fair Foundation’s annual auction event in June.