Los Banos Rotary Club History
Tells Of Plans For County Fair

Judge D. Oliver Germino, secretary of the Merced County Spring Fair and Livestock Show, stated to members of the Los Banos Rotary Club Tuesday noon that plans are now being made for construction, at the earliest possible date, of a large gymnasium-auditorium at the fairgrounds as the first step in an extensive program of park development. The building, he said, will be approximately 140x210 feet, adequate to accommodate the largest crowd that might assemble in that community. Cost of the building is estimated at over $110,000.

Germino said the only thing the fair board is waiting for now is clearance of the legal red tape to permit the city to make the park available to the Merced County Fair, either by deed or long term lease. The park was acquired by the city from Miller & Lux with funds derived from a bond issue, and it may be impossible, Germino said, for the city to transfer the property to the County Fair without submitting the matter to the voters of the city at a special election.
Funds for improvement of the fairgrounds is derived from the state by means of the pari-mutuel racing tax. The fair board now has on hand $120,000, which will be matched by an additional amount of state funds. In addition, another grant of $65,000 will be payable to the Fair for further construction during the coming year.

During the last fiscal year, Germino said, the Fair expended more than $44,000 in acquiring land and making the first improvements. Almost 95 per cent of this money was spent right here in this county—most of it in Los Banos.

Germino complimented our neighboring communities of Dos Palos and Gustine for their generous support of the Spring Fair program, and for the interest shown by the citizenry of the entire west side. He also urged the local merchants to realize the value of the Fair to the community and to give it their wholehearted support.

The Rotary Club luncheon Tuesday way the final meeting for President Rudy Lindemann, who will be succeeded next Tuesday by F. E. Buck, local Shell Oil Co. manager. Lindemann, who during the last year made a practice of bestowing a homegrown rose or flower upon each Rotarian on the anniversary of his birthday, was himself the recipient of a bouquet of roses Tuesday—a dozen beautiful rose buds bestowed with due ceremony by Rotarian Newt Olson.

June 29, 1948

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