Noble County couple seeks to acquire county fairgrounds property
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Following recent financial troubles for the Noble County Community Fair, a local couple is offering to purchase the Noble County Fairgrounds property with the goal of preserving the annual attraction for years to come.
John and Lee Wicker said in a post on social media that they intend to sell the site to the city of Kendallville for $1 after paying all outstanding debt on the property.
Our partners at WPTA-TV report the fair’s treasurer, Robin Laymon, was accused in May of embezzling $367,000 from the fair’s coffers.
A GoFundMe page was launched by the Noble County Community Fair Corp. to recover that same amount but has only raised $225 as of Wednesday afternoon.
“The theft of $367,000 has not only jeopardized our financial stability but has also shaken our trust in the very systems that have supported our families for so long,” Troy Rucker, the fair’s president, wrote on the GoFundMe page. “We are now faced with the daunting task of replacing what has been lost and rebuilding the trust of our community.”
John Wicker is the owner and CEO of Kendallville-based tooling company B&J Specialty Inc. He told WPTA that he wants to ensure that the fair remains a community asset.
“We’re not doing this to benefit the Wicker family or anything. That’s not who we are,” Wicker said. “We’re doing this to preserve this property and and save this fair and make this into something.”
The Wickers said they are committed to obtaining the property by paying all outstanding debts, liens, and encumbrances on the property. They also plan to ensure all litigating parties cease legal action against the property and then deed the property to the city of Kendallville, allowing the city to determine the best use for the community.
However, Wicker noted that he intends to make sure that the property remains as the county’s fairgrounds.
“If we get possession of it, before I turned over the city of Kendallville, or Noble County. It will have restrictions put on that deed that will protect this land and this whole thing,” he said. “We’ve seen nothing but prosperity here. This is the heart of Kendallville, and the potential here is astronomical, but what we’ve got going on right now isn’t going to function.”
A message to Kendallville Mayor Lance Waters’ office seeking comment was not immediately returned Wednesday.
This year’s Noble County Community Fair is going on now and continuing through Saturday.