By Bill Jackson

The Greeley Tribune

A dream becomes reality at the 2002 Colorado Farm Show. The new Community Building joins other facilities at Island Grove Regional Park to house additional exhibitors for the 38th annual show, bringing total exhibitors to nearly 400, making the show easily the largest of its kind ” and oldest ” in the nation.

The addition of a new building has been a dream of Farm Show officials for many years and it was those officials, led by Tom Rainbolt and Carl Hill, who made the dream become a reality.

The official groundbreaking on the building, which provides an additional 60,000 square feet of exhibition space, was conducted at last year’s Farm Show.

Rainbolt said a waiting list of those wanting to participate in the show got larger each year over the past 10 years or so. “We’ve pretty much got that cleaned up with this year’s show with the addition of the new building, but it seems we always get calls once advertising of each show begins,” Rainbolt said.

The estimated 400 exhibitors for the 2002 show, he said, represents an addition of between 70 and 80 over last year. “It’s really difficult to put an exact number, because some of existing exhibitors are expanding their space for the 2002 show,” Rainbolt said.

Construction of the $6 million building was a joint effort between the city of Greeley, Weld County and the Farm Show, along with private contributions, grants and other sources. Hill is chairman of the committee seeking contributions. Those contributions continue to be sought to help pay for a $1 million loan obtained by the Farm Show to get the building constructed. And, Hill said, each contribution is tax deductible since the building is in an enterprise zone. Contributions to the building receive a 25 percent tax credit off Colorado taxes, “which comes right off the top,” Hill said, an additional 5 percent Colorado tax deduction and a federal tax deduction, which is dependent on the tax bracket of that person or organization making the contribution. It’s possible, Hill said, that actual out-of-pocket expenses on a $100,000 contribution would be $29,400.

Hill, Rainbolt and other Farm Show officials will be at this year’s show to answer any questions. “And we’ll take any contributions,” Hill added.