Arizona State Fairgrounds

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The Arizona State Fairgrounds is a permanent fairgrounds on McDowell Road, Encanto Village, within the city of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is currently used yearly to host the Arizona State Fair and the Maricopa County Fair, as well as for other events.

Contents

The Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, an arena at the fairgrounds, hosted the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association from 1968 to 1992. In 1992, the team moved to what is known today as Footprint Center.

The dirt oval track hosted AAA National Championship and USAC National Championship races in 1915 and from 1950 to 1963, and NASCAR Grand National races in 1951, 1955, 1956 and 1960. It was replaced by the Phoenix Raceway in 1964.

History

The fairgrounds was created in 1905, when a volunteer organization, the Arizona Territorial Fair Association, purchased the property and first developed it. [1] At that time, Arizona was not yet a state and had territory status. In 1909, the grounds were purchased by the Territorial Fair Commission, which became the State Fair Commission after statehood in 1912.

Facilities

The fairgrounds site includes the following buildings: [2]

WPA Administration Building

The WPA Administration Building was completed in 1939 in the PWA Moderne style. [10] [11] [12] More recently it had been allowed to deteriorate, and was set for demolition in July 2014, before historic preservationists sought to stop the demolition and were granted a temporary restraining order by the Maricopa County Superior Court. [10] They were given until April 14, 2016, to raise $120,000 towards preservation of the building. They succeeded, on 8 April 2016 the project was awarded a historic preservation grant of $120,000 by the Phoenix City Council and a $80,000 grant by the Phoenix IDA, a provider of private activity bonds for projects that give a public benefit. [13]

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References

  1. "Arizona State Fairgrounds" . Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  2. "Arizona Exposition & State Fair.com: Arizona Exposition & State Fair Facilities" . Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  3. Arizona Exposition & State Fair.com: Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
  4. Arizona Exposition & State Fair.com: Party Gras building
  5. Living New Deal Blog: Arizona State Fairgrounds Stadium and Art
  6. Arizona Exposition & State Fair.com: Grandstand Arena
  7. "Race to restore 1930s-era Phoenix sites from ruin" . Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  8. Arizona Exposition & State Fair.com: Hacienda De Mexico building
  9. Arizona Exposition & State Fair.com: Home Arts Center building
  10. 1 2 Phoenix New Times: "Demolition of WPA Civic Building at Arizona State Fairgrounds on Temporary Hold", 18 July 2014.
  11. Youtube.com: "1938 WPA Administration Building in 1949 & 1969"
  12. KJZZ.org: "Did You Know: Arizona State Fairgrounds 110 Years Old", by Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez, 21 August 2015; with images of the WPA Grandstand and Administration Building.
  13. "$200,000 to go toward preserving State Fairgrounds building" . Retrieved April 10, 2016.

33°28′10″N112°05′51″W / 33.46944°N 112.09750°W / 33.46944; -112.09750