Grange Equine Center to receive $1.5 million grant for expansion

With hopes of attracting more statewide and national shows, the Equine Center at the Centre County Grange Park in Centre Hall plans to expand this year, and the Centre County Board of Commissioners approved the execution of documents required to accept a $1.5 million grant to allow that to happen.

The money will come from a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant the park recently applied for, and it will cover half of the $3 million dollar project. The remaining funds will be covered by the Grange Park. Darleen Confer, general manager of the fairgrounds, said the equine facility is heavily used.

“Centre County Grange Park is now almost a year-round exhibition center,” said Confer. “It has been the location for many top quarter-horse shows in Pennsylvania and the United States.”

The facility received a RACP grant to build an indoor arena in 2011, and began hosting the big shows and events. But the lack of covered area has lead some equine shows to look at other venues.

The project will include an expansion to exhibit arenas, construction of three permanent barns and expansion of other facilities and infrastructure. There also will be a cover added to the small outdoor horse ring. Confer said a big addition will be a 115-by-300-foot pre-engineered metal structure over the smaller show arena into the larger show arena.

According to Confer, the plan is to start construction this year, with the project expected to take four months to complete. She said the addition will boost the ability of the center to attract major equine shows, thus increasing the economic impact for the area.

In 2016, the American Quarter Horse Association was looking to host a 1,000- to 1,200-horse completion at the center. The facility had everything except enough covered area needed in case of bad weather. The show went elsewhere, and Centre County lost a huge moneymaker, said Confer. The addition will provide the necessary upgrades to qualify for such events in the future.

“Based on formulas used to determine the economic impact of those equine shows, that show alone would have exceeded $2.5 million,” said Confer. The county commissioners agreed that this is a great addition to the county.

“We’re very excited by this and looking forward to this,” said Commissioner Mike Pipe. “This will bring millions of dollars back into the local economy.”