At next year’s Door County Fair, you will not have to worry about being caught in the rain while enjoying your favorite band, thanks to a grant awarded by Destination Door County last week. The County of Door received a grant totaling $92,850 to build a new open-air pavilion at John Miles County Park in Sturgeon Bay. Door County Administrator Ken Pabich estimates that a structure like this has been on the wish list for the Door County Fair for more than a decade. It would have been put to good use each of the last two years when fair officials had to scramble to find room to hold their main stage acts when rain otherwise would have canceled the performances. Pabich says the addition of the structure will also allow other events to take place without the fear of weather wrecking the day.

Pabich says the construction will begin after the Door County Fair takes place later this year. The grant was part of the over $202,000 awarded by Destination Door County last week through its Community Investment Fund. Other projects at least partially funded by the program include $80,000 for the Sturgeon Bay School District’s new ADA-accessible playground at Sunrise School, $22,500 to the Friends of Potawatomi State Park for an accessible kayak launch, and more than $7,000 to address parking lot lighting at Bjorklunden in Baileys Harbor.