Digital sign up at fairgrounds

The Hot Springs County Fair Board and Recreation Board installed a digital sign at the fairgrounds on November 14. This is in the same location as their previous sign. The digital sign came from Wyoming Signs of Casper, managed by Enoch Hart. Together with Jason Bowman of Monkey Welding and Chance Honeycutt of Wyoming Signs, they have installed the sign.

Fair Board Chairman Joe Martinez said, "As part of our discussions, we felt it was a positive benefit for both the Rec District and the Fair Board, as well as the community, to have that digital sign up."

The exact cost for the five-foot high, 10-foot wide digital sign is $52,844.50. Martinez added, "It was in the previous budget for the Fair Board and the Rec Board. It's fully funded." 

According to Martinez, the sign will "mostly be utilized for events at the fairgrounds as well as any events and things going on with the Rec District. That's the main purpose of the sign, is for the two entities to utilize it for their purposes. We are planning to have some advertisements available, but it's going to be on a limited basis because we don't want the advertisement to take away from the purpose of the sign."

Previously, the Hot Springs County Travel and Tourism Board was in a discussion about doing a digital sign together, but the entities parted ways. Martinez said, "There is always difficulty when multiple entities work together on a project. In this instance, we were not able to come to a mutual agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding."

Hot Springs Recreation Director Brian Parker added, "We were really excited when the opportunity came about to combine with the Fair Board for this digital sign. It's not something that we would have done on our own completely. Their partnership did help make it possible for us...We were looking for something in the community a little bit more up-to-date than the current signage that we have."