New $1.25M livestock evacuation and event center coming to Thurston County
A new livestock evacuation and event center will be built on the Thurston County Fairgrounds within the next few years.
The county recently secured more than $1.25 million in federal and state grants to construct a 20,000-square-foot “Evacuation and Agricultural Center,” according to a Wednesday news release.
The fairgrounds, located at 3054 Carpenter Road in Lacey, hosts the annual county fair and various community events. The county already accommodates evacuated livestock at the fairgrounds during natural disasters, such as the flooding recently affecting the region, Fairgrounds and Event Center Manager Thomasina Cooper said, but space is limited. The new structure represents a “significant expansion” for the fairgrounds, she said.
“Being able to have a space dedicated just to that is going to be a pretty important thing for us as we talk about our emergency preparedness and resilience in the face of things like increasing floods and fire hazards,” Cooper said.
Outside of emergencies, the county says the new structure will serve as a dedicated space for the Thurston County Youth Market Animal Sale as well as housing for sheep, goats and pigs during the annual county fair. It may also be used as a weather-resistant space for community rentals, horse-riding arenas and other events.
“I think it’s got a great potential to be a resource to the community as well as to really serve the kids during fair time, the youth that show their animals,” Cooper said. “It will also be able to really center agriculture as an important part of our county and our county economy.”
To make this possible, the county will use a $1 million grant in federal Community Project Funding for 2026 and $250,000 in state Fair Capital Grant funds from the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
U.S. Representative Marilyn Strickland helped the county receive the federal grant, according to the release.
“This project directly addresses the need for an evacuation center for livestock and provides a much-needed year-round location for community events,” Strickland said in the release. “This investment, from all levels of government, will support our agricultural community for years to come.”
Thurston County Commissioner and Board Chair Tye Menser called the grants a “major win” for the county community.
“It provides infrastructure to strengthen our community safety and resiliency in the event of an emergency, and it opens the door for economic development opportunities,” Menser said in the release. “This is yet another example of what partnership funding can do for our community, and we’d like to thank Rep. Strickland for her ongoing commitment to Thurston County.”
Strickland previously supported the county in securing funding for the Green Cove project, which replaced a decades-old bridge and created a free-flowing waterway for salmon passage. The county completed that project earlier this year.
Cooper said the two new grants will help the county build the livestock structure, but more funding will likely be needed to fully complete it.
“This funding will really be for the barn itself, without walls or windows or HVAC or any of those things,” Cooper said. “Right now, we have enough to secure the building, and we’ll see how much further we can go with what we have.”
Prior to this phase of the project, Cooper said the county used a 2022 grant of about $200,000 from the WSDA to demolish three old barns and two small out-buildings at the site of the planned structure.
The county also used that initial grant to grade the ground and complete some permitting work, she added.
While the county has won the two new grants, Cooper said the county must still finalize and sign contracts to receive the money before construction can be scheduled. She said the county has until mid-2027 to use the new funds.
