BUNNELL, Fla. — When Flagler County broke ground on its new Fairgrounds Expo Hall last November, County Commissioner Leann Pennington called it a project with the “perfect need, perfect place, perfect reason.”
On Wednesday, September 23, she stood inside the finished building as the county celebrated its opening — also proudly referencing a new 4-H barn that will give young people more room to learn and show their animals.
The improvements expand what the Flagler County Fairgrounds can offer throughout the year. The Expo Hall provides space for gatherings and events while giving Flagler County its first dedicated, stand-alone emergency shelter. The county says the building was designed to withstand Category 5 hurricanes, with showers, backup water capabilities and a generator that can power the entire facility.
For Pennington, the ribbon cutting was also the end of a long funding effort. At the groundbreaking, she recalled how a conversation about existing fairgrounds facilities grew into a project serving the whole county.
She took it “under my wing,” she said, helping secure an initial $5 million from the state. When more funding was needed to complete the project, Pennington and her son, Clint, drove to Tallahassee to meet with legislative leaders, including Florida Senator Tom Leek.
“He really believed in the project and he promised he’d help us, and he did,” Pennington said at the time. “It’s a really happy day for us.”
On opening day, she thanked Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord for his vision and the many people who helped bring that vision to life. “It is a legacy project,” she said. “You want it for your community, and you work hard and you achieve it.”
Clint, who joined his mother for the ribbon cutting, had seen that work up close. He remembered evenings when she spent hours talking about how to get the project done.
“I’m very proud of it,” he said. “I saw the hours, the immense passion she had for this project.”
State Representative Sam Greco said he was glad to play a small part in helping the approximately $10 million project “get over the finish line.” He praised the cooperation behind a building he said was completed within budget and in about 10 months.
“Resiliency is one of the most important things to me, and I think one of the most important things statewide in Florida. So when we have opportunities to put taxpayer dollars to really, really meaningful purposes like this building, and then we get to see this be built, completed in 10 months, completed within budget. It’s a great example of what we can do when the state, the county, and the city work together,” Greco said.
Lord described an Expo Hall designed to serve residents in both everyday life and emergencies. The roughly 16,000-square-foot facility has room for up to 500 evacuees, areas for pets and electrical connections for people with critical medical needs. Cots can be stored on site, avoiding the need to move them into schools ahead of a storm.
But Lord hopes the building spends far more time hosting the community than sheltering it.
“My ultimate hope remains that emergency management will be the least of this building’s regular users,” he said.
The new 4-H barn adds to that everyday promise. Flagler County Fair & Youth Show President Penny Buckles said it replaces a barn more than 35 years old and will allow more young people to house animals for the fair’s livestock show and sale.
“The county needs the expansion,” Buckles said. “It’s all about educating these kids in agriculture and economics.”
From the Expo Hall’s broad open floor to the stalls of the new barn, the fairgrounds now have more room for the moments that bring Flagler County together — and a stronger place to turn when a storm brings residents there for safety.
