418
HISTORY OF MILLARD COUNTY
manager, urged the county commission to support some east Millard recreation projects using Intermountain Power Agency funds. The commission agreed and in 1989 approved the use of $250,000 in IPA funds to help build a new Fillmore swimming pool. The Fillmore City Council and Mayor Keith Gillins agreed to appropriate $250,000 locally provided the county matched the appropriation. The county commission agreed, using additional funds from the Utah C o m m u n i t y Impact Board. The Fillmore swimming pool was opened in April 1991. In the meantime, to augment recreational opportunities in Delta, the West Millard Recreation Board voted to lease the Plaza Bowling Lanes with the intention to purchase the facility later. The recreation board also voted to build racquetball courts and a classroom complex near the Delta swimming pool at a cost of more than $500,000. The high cost of this and other recreational projects and the apparent lack of public accountability of the board created sufficient voter outcry to induce the county commissioners to disband the recreation districts on both sides of the county and for the commission to commit to oversee such matters in the future.29 After another brief hiatus in horse racing in the late 1970s, horse races resumed again in 1982 and 1983 when large purses were posted for the winners. In 1984 prize money totaled more than $11,000 for thoroughbred as well as quarter horse races in the county. Flooding in 1983 had caused serious damage to the county fair p r o p e r t y and rodeo facilities in Deseret. Utah Power and Light Company declared the lighting to be unsafe, and the lack of display buildings at Deseret forced county officials to move the fair to Delta High School a n d the associated horse race to the Fillmore fairgrounds. In 1984 the fair combined with the first annual Hay Days and was held at the city park and South Elementary School. In 1986 the county commission voted to r e t u r n the fair p e r m a n e n t l y to Deseret, but that decision did not hold for long. In the late 1980s, as construction of the IPP was winding down, land owned by the power consortium located near the White Sage Regional Park was put up for sale. The county commission purchased the property for the purpose of relocating the county fair in Delta permanently. A new exhibit building was completed by the time of
