MONMOUTH – Volunteer labor and more than $12,000 in donations has brought a five-year project to build a roof over the pulling ring at the Monmouth Fairgrounds to near completion.

The work should be completed before next summer, said James Cunliffe, pulling ring superintendent at the fairgrounds.

The Charles Henry Robinson Memorial Pulling Ring has been named in honor of Cunliffe’s grandfather who died in 1998. Robinson was actively involved in the operation of the fairgrounds.

Volunteers began soliciting donations for the roof in 1998. The following year they broke ground for the project. Currently, only a ridge cap on the tin roof remains to be completed.

“That’s just a matter of getting several volunteers up on the roof and getting it completed. That might be a spring project,” Cunliffe said, adding that a covering for the bleachers would be another project in the future.

“We’ve had a lot of donations. That’s how we paid for it,” Cunliffe said. Donations have come from all over. Some people gave money in Robinson’s name instead of sending flowers for the funeral. Donations in lieu of flowers were made as memorials for other people as well.

Other money has been raised by selling hats and “passing the hat” for donations during the Monmouth Fair over the past few years. They have also sold rafters for the roof. Individuals, organizations and businesses have their names inscribed on a plaque for contributing $100 to “buy a rafter.” The Windsor Fair bought two and the Antique Tractor Club bought five.

“We’ve asked for business donations and got them,” Cunliffe said. He added that he bought one rafter in his family’s name.

“The fact that we had a lot of help was appreciated,” he said. Many individuals and families volunteered labor on weekends and on weekdays after they finished working at their jobs.

Copy the Story Link