WEBSTER CITY – One of the oldest buildings on the Hamilton County Fairgrounds has seen its last fair.
Floral Hall is scheduled to be demolished this fall to make way for a new, larger building that will house the county’s first Career Ag Academy, part of a joint venture to expand agricultural education in Webster City and the surrounding area.
According to Gene Gourley, chairman of the academy’s board of directors, it is not a lack of respect for history but a passion for the future of agriculture that motivates the new facility and the educational focus behind it.
“It is extremely important,” to prepare and attract more students to agricultural careers, Gourley said.
He envisions a learning environment where students with little connection to agriculture can learn about the role of agriculture in Iowa and the state’s economy. Students gain hands-on experience with animal husbandry and related areas of agriculture.
“Our mission has always been to provide children with the best learning experience,” explained Gourley. “We’re trying to raise good citizens for the community. That’s the whole idea.”
Just as Floral Hall was designed to showcase the best and brightest minds of its time, the new Career Ag Academy will serve to develop agricultural leaders for the next generation.
The project is a joint effort between the Hamilton County Fair Board and the Webster City Community School District.
Goal-setting and planning meetings began in 2004, and the plan has been revised over time, long before construction began. It will now serve the vocational agriculture program at Webster City High School and will include classrooms, live animal areas, and a meat lab with meat refrigerator.
It would also be available if other schools, colleges or companies wish to use both the classrooms and animal areas.
The metal building will occupy a slightly larger footprint than Floral Hall.
While the current building measures 40 x 90 feet, the new building will be 50 x 120 feet. The south side of the building will have two classrooms, the walls of which can be removed to create a large multi-purpose room. This space can also be used for community use. There will also be modern toilet and shower facilities in both the classroom and livestock areas.
A dynamic pen area at the north end of the building is used to house live animals as needed by each class. Animals are not intended to be housed there full-time, only when they are part of the class.
“Agriculture teachers told us that one of the biggest challenges they face is that children in the city have no contact with farm animals,” said Gourley. “They don’t know how to work with them or handle them. I can show them pictures of animals, but with today’s biosecurity, you can’t take children on the farm anymore.”
According to Gourley, the desire to teach children how to handle farm animals does not mean that it is only about promoting such careers.
“The idea behind it is not to train children to work with animals, but to give them a passion for working in agriculture,” he said. “They could become bankers or lawyers, but some knowledge of agriculture can help them in their work.”
The presence of live animals in the educational process is one of the main reasons why the fairgrounds were chosen as the location for the new Career Ag Academy.
“This is already designated for agriculture,” Gourley said of the exhibition center.
A new building at the high school was once considered, but bringing live animals could be problematic. The Floral Hall site already has a good buffer zone between itself and surrounding homes. In addition, the building will have an air filtration system to ensure it is a good neighbor in the community, Gourley noted.
Perhaps one of the most unique features of the project is the agreements that had to be made between fair officials, Career Ag Academy and Webster City Schools. Ag Academy, which operates as a 501c3 corporation, will lease the land from the Hamilton County Fair Board. In return, the Academy will lease the facility to Webster City Schools, which will provide the program for students.
“The Academy will own the building and maintain it,” said Gourley. “We will have a foundation to maintain and equip it for the future.”
The cost of the building is estimated at just under $1 million. The contract for construction was awarded to Ag Force of Jewell.
The demolition of Floral Hall is planned shortly, after which construction of the new building will begin.
“It has to be ready by next year’s fair,” said Gourley. “That is our goal, hopefully by July 1, 2025.”
The building is available for trade fair events every year during the annual fair period. The fair management assured at the beginning of the summer that there would be enough space on the exhibition grounds for the flower and textile exhibitions that have been housed in the Floral Hall in recent years.
Face-to-face teaching at the Ag Academy could then begin as early as the fall semester of 2025.
Gourley understands that some people are sad that Floral Hall is no longer there, but he is clearly focused on the future and hopes that the academy will help young people pursue promising careers in agriculture.
“Our goal is to give students knowledge and understanding and hopefully develop a passion for working in agriculture so that they can stay in the community or region,” he said.
Gourley, who has worked in agriculture all his life, knows that there are good jobs in agriculture here. The Career Ag Academy aims to stimulate young people’s interest in these careers and help them build their own long-term lives here.
The new building will in some ways mirror the show arena at the fairgrounds. The main body of the building will be white, with green accents on a wide panel at the bottom, a green roof and a dome above.
“It will be a beautiful building, very functional,” said Gourley.
In addition to Gourley, Career Ag Academy board members include Dean Bowden, Phil Voge, Adam Richardson, Zach Sukraw, Gerry Gourley, Holly Weisberg, Steve Stokes, Kurt Veldhuizen, Matt Berninghaus, Kyle Swon (treasurer), Zach Chizek (legal counsel), and Shayla Troendle (secretary). Afton Holt initially served as vice president but has left the board due to other business commitments.
