MPR’s Tom Crann interviews Art Blakey, chief of police at the Minnesota State Fair, about the damage assesment after a storm wreaked havoc on the fairgrounds, knocking down trees, damaging concession booths, and tearing off part of the Grandstand.
The August 11, 2007 storm packed a punch, with 70 to 80 mile per hour straight-line winds. One area that was heavily affected by the storm was the largely uninhabited Minnesota State Fairgrounds, which was preparing for its opening in 10 days.
ART BLAKEY: I think we got over $3 million worth of damage to our buildings, and not counting the concession stands. This is just State Fair property.
SPEAKER 1: And what about the concession stands? Who is responsible for getting those back in shape? And before the fair opens, how do you notify everybody?
ART BLAKEY: Well, everybody came out in droves on Sunday morning or Saturday afternoon after this happened to check on their stands, and we escorted some of the people who had heavily damaged stands in to assess their damage.
SPEAKER 1: And who's responsible for the repairing of the damage, the individual concessionaires?
ART BLAKEY: The individual concessions are responsible. But we do as far as moving some of the debris, we will assist them.
SPEAKER 1: So which part of the fairgrounds that we might recognize are sort of were the most dramatically transformed as you walked around?
ART BLAKEY: Well, we looked at the-- especially our grandstand, the roof was tore off at the grandstand. Heritage Square is heavily damaged. They lost the roof and just about all their fencing at that point. And then we lost all our big trees at the main entrance of the fairgrounds. Those trees are hundreds of years old, and they're gone.
SPEAKER 1: Really? Will fairgoers notice right away when they come in this year?
ART BLAKEY: They will notice that they don't have the nice shade that we've had through the years. But with our State Fair employees and people are coming in to help, the only thing you'll see that there's no trees.
SPEAKER 1: And then the grandstand. We've heard reports that part of the roof was damaged pretty heavily. What does it look like, and how will that affect the way shows go on there?
ART BLAKEY: At this point, it's not going to affect. We've had structural engineers come in and assess the damage, and we've got construction companies working 24 hours to repair that roof. So there might be a couple of areas where the roof will not be put back on. You'll have a-- you'll be able to sit under the stars and watch the shows, but it will be safe.
SPEAKER 1: How much work needs to be done between now and opening day a little more than a week from now?
ART BLAKEY: It's a lot to be done, but we're working 24 hours. We have our construction crews in. We have our engineers, structural engineers coming in and looking at all the buildings to make sure they're safe to open on a week from Thursday.
SPEAKER 1: I understand you have worked at the state fairgrounds for quite some time now quite a number of years. How would this compare to other storms you've seen over the years?
ART BLAKEY: Well, I think the last big storm, if I'm correct, was in the 1994. I think we had a lot of trees down. But I think this is the biggest-- the years I've been out here, this is one of the biggest storms I've seen.
SPEAKER 1: Art Blakey is the chief of police at the Minnesota State Fair. Thank you so much, Chief Blakey, for talking with us today.
ART BLAKEY: Thank you. And I'll see you at the fair.
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