NORMAN — Cleveland County officials have broken ground on an ARPA-funded remodel of the Cleveland County Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall.
The $10 million project to renovate the aging facility at 615 E. Robinson St. in Norman is being funded by American Rescue Plan Act allocations and has been in the design phase with the REES Associates architectural firm for several months. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held Friday.
In May 2021, Cleveland County was earmarked to receive $55 million in ARPA funding, and county commissioners began discussing with community leaders ideas about how to best invest the federal funds. Officials said that the fairgrounds event hall could be repurposed to better serve large-scale events, including mass vaccinations, which District 1 Cleveland County Commissioner Rod Cleveland said would be more important than ever post-COVID-19.
“The recent pandemic underscored the need for large, adaptable public spaces capable of hosting events like mass vaccinations and distribution of medical supplies, a need that Cleveland County currently cannot fully meet,” Cleveland said.