The Lane County Fairgrounds Repair Project is very much about engaging the community–making use of the synergy of many to bring an idea into reality.
The Lane Fairgrounds Repair Project
The Lane County Fairgrounds Repair Project is a citizens group formed in March of 2008 following a town hall meeting held by the Lane County Commissioners that asked the question: What should we do with the Lane County Fairgrounds? Eric Myers, owner of Cascadia Longboards, and Dan Armstrong, editor of Mud City Press, independently made public comments. Armstrong suggested the fairgrounds would be a good location for a year-round farmers' market, and Myers made that same suggestion but added that the entire campus should be made into a demonstration of sustainability. Afterward Armstrong introduced himself to Myers and suggested they should team up and advance Myers' idea of creating a sustainable campus there a the fairgrounds site in the center of Eugene. The following week they made a joint presentation of the idea to the County Commissioners. Commissioner Pete Sorenson expressed interest in the proposition and asked Myers and Armstrong to meet with him to discuss the idea in more detail. This was the beginning of the Lane County Fairgrounds Project.
Over the next five months, Armstrong and Myers pushed their proposal out into the community, rapidly gaining interest and support for the idea. Ravi Logan, founder of the PROUT Institute in Eugene, took to the idea immediately and offered to host a weekly talk with Myers and Armstrong to further their ideas. This weekly talk expanded into a bi-monthly design charrette that included Myers, Armstrong, Logan, Joshua Smith, an Ecological Landscape and Permaculture Designer, Rob Bolman, a contractor who specialized in green building, and Cary Thompson, owner of the Helios Resource Network. These six people, Armstrong, Myers, Logan, Smith, Bolman, and Thompson are the Lane County Fairgrounds Repair Project and have been working together on the project as a group since August, 2008. This website is a product of their research and work.
