EMBARRASS — An attempt by the Embarrass Region Fair Association to purchase fencing panels and other equipment currently owned by the Northwoods Saddle Club has raised many questions from saddle club members, who are worried about what a change in ownership would mean for club events.
The two groups, along with committee members from the fair’s team penning group, met at Timber Hall on Monday, and while they did not come to a final decision, they did agree on next steps and set another meeting for Aug. 4 at 6 p.m. at Timber Hall.
The meeting was well attended, with over 30 interested people, the majority from the saddle club at the meeting.
The fair association owns the horse arena land and has been doing maintenance on it. Saddle club members have also done improvements to the arena, such as improving the drainage after rains to improve riding conditions. The fair board has an informal, not written, agreement with the saddle club, which hosts frequent arena events like play days and horse shows. The fair itself has been sponsoring events at the arena also, including team penning, barrel racing, and ranch sorting. The arena is also used by saddle club members for practice and other informal riding time.
The arena’s fencing is older and in need of repairs. Fair board volunteers said they would like to be able to find grant money to both replace the panel fencing with a more permanent style, as well as increase the size to make the arena more suitable for barrel racing.
“We want to pull everyone together,” said Carl Peterson, who leads the fair association’s arena committee.
The fair offered to pay the saddle club $1,500 for the fence panels and other equipment such as the jumping poles and barrels.
“This is also an insurance issue,” Peterson said, “because we don’t own the equipment.”
Peterson told the saddle club members that the $1,500 offer was just a starting point.
“Our goal is still to find funds to build a new arena,” Peterson said. “But that won’t happen this year and probably not next year.”
The fair association currently has two volunteers working on grant applications. They are currently setting priorities, and Peterson said that writing a grant for arena improvements is on their list.
While some saddle club members were concerned that the price of $1,500 was too low, others noted the panels are not in great shape.
Other saddle club members were more concerned about what the fair association would charge the saddle club for use of the arena for their events.
“We haven’t voted yet on the offer,” said saddle club Vice President Nicole Rinas. “Members are torn because the two ideas and want to know how it would work,” Rinas said. “As a saddle club we get a little nervous. We have not settled on what we want to do. We are keeping our minds open. We want to do what is best for the saddle club.”
Fair association Vice Chair Sarah Wallert-Ramponi said if the fair association purchases the arena equipment and takes full ownership of the arena, the arena committee would have oversight of the arena area. That committee could include members of the saddle club.
“We need you to be involved in all of this,” said Peterson.
“You’d decide what happens in the arena,” said Wallert-Ramponi. “The whole point of having the arena committee is to make decisions on a shared resource.”
Deb Nelson, whose daughters are avid horse riders, said the rental agreement’s details would be ironed out between the fair and saddle club.
Everyone at the meeting was in agreement about the importance of the arena to the local community.
The club will be part of the negotiations involved in writing the contract, noted an arena committee member.
“The saddle club plans out their dates for events a year in advance,” said Lisa Gibson. “So the arena committee wouldn’t schedule anyone else on those dates.”
The cost to be charged to the saddle club, which operates on a slim budget, is not yet set, and perhaps would only be a nominal amount. That cost also would be negotiated by the arena committee.
Fair board members noted that any rental fees would go back to maintaining the arena area.
“We are all in the same community,” said Deb Nelson. “We can go on the fair association board. They can become a member of the saddle club. Why are we fighting about this? They are not trying to take stuff from us.”
Peterson said the fair association is looking at applying for a grant from Lake Country Power to bring better electrical power to the arena area, which would allow trailers to hook up while at the arena.
The saddle club is not in a position to apply for grants for equipment, it was noted, because they do not own the arena property. This issue would be solved if the fair board had total ownership of the arena property.
Rinas said the saddle club has around 45 members but has had low attendance at its regular meetings. Others noted there have been too many rumors floating around about the proposal, as well as talk of moving the arena from the fairgrounds.
“We are a small saddle club,” Rinas said. “We are here for our community and our members.”
Rinas said she had been a saddle club member since before she could walk, over 36 years.
“I don’t think moving the arena will help our community,” she said. “But I have to listen to our members.”
Rinas agreed to set a special saddle club meeting for Monday, July 21 at 6 p.m. at Timber Hall, to discuss and vote on the fair’s offer. The first step would be to agree to a sale, and then to negotiate a price for the equipment, and then to negotiate the rental agreement and cost. After that meeting, saddle club members will again meet with the fair association, at the meeting on Aug. 4.
Other items the fair board hopes to discuss include deciding on a new name for the arena, other events that can be hosted at the arena, rental fees for arena use for the saddle club events as well as clinics and other such events, discussion of waivers needed for riders and setting up a system to have waivers available online through the fair association website, discussion of the trail riding program that has riders track mileage and qualify for awards.