A popular question that has impacted the community involves a historic facility that is currently under renovations.
What is happening at Eureka Downs? The answer, in short... A lot.
In 2023, the Greenwood County Community Center (GC3), an organization formed by four groups: The City of Eureka, Greenwood County, the Greenwood County Fair Board and the Greenwood County 4-H Foundation, was established. Two representatives from each organization and one member at large are the long-term leasees of the Eureka Downs building. Their focus from the start was to transform the Eureka Downs building into a community building after the sale of the ‘old’ Matt Samuels Community Building. The Eureka Downs Concourse Building has been used during the fair for years, but for the last couple of years, it is the only building for projects AND the only bathrooms at the fair.
When this all began, the Eureka Pro Rodeo also moved over to the Eureka Downs facility. With the 2 x 2.5 $32.50 bw $57.50 color
help of volunteers, the building has slowly made a TON of progress. The rodeo committee, Myreka volunteers and entities of the GC3 have spent many hours at the facility cleaning and making upgrades to make the building more functional.
Direction was shifted when legislation approved the return of horse racing in Kansas, including the horse racing capitol of Kansas, Eureka Downs. What does this mean?
The Greenwood County Fair Association board has taken the project on with grace. Through learning a lot, attending countless meetings, venturing on field trips and gathering information, the planning process is forging ahead. For many of the volunteer board members, this is an additional full-time job they were “gifted.”
Two-million dollars was budgeted by the State of Kansas for the project and has been reported regularly in past editions of
The goal is for races to begin in 2026 at Eureka Downs and the longterm support for racing will come from the Historic Horse Racing (HHR) machines at the Golden Circle Casino in Park City, set to open in late 2025.
A million dollars of the promised money has been received to start the action items on their list. One of the first projects: assess the track. An engineer has been hired to provide drainage plans and provide steps for repairing the track.
Throughout this process, the fair board has worked continually with the GC3 board to ensure that all remain on the same page and stick to the mission of the GC3: to turn the Eureka Downs building into our community building.
There is some money to fix a few of the high-priority items in the building as well. The roof is being repaired. Other repairs and upgrades to make the building more efficient are also underway. These include repairs to the shell of the building, insulation and electrical upgrades.
The GC3 has also enlisted some help from the carpentry class at the Eureka Junior/ Senior High School to build some offices and classrooms at the building. The GC3 is moving forward with its plans to have multiplesized spaces for use by the community and 4-Hers. This building will be multipurpose: Racing on the weekend, Rodeo, events, classes, meetings and more. The goal is to make it as functional as possible.
“None of this would be possible without the continued support of the GC3 entities,” stated Jamie Lindamood, spokesperson for the GC3. “They are committed to seeing this project through, and with any luck and a lot of volunteer time, this building will be in much better shape by fair time,” she continued.
For the time being, no reservations will be taken for the building. This will allow for the group to prioritize renovations and reduce utility costs by keeping temperatures only warm enough to keep pipes from freezing.
There are plans for monthly updates in The Eureka Herald to keep the community informed but the GC3 committee asks for patience while renovations occur. they will have to happen in phases and are continually seeking grants to help.
If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions, please reach out to us at GCCC67045@gmail. com.
