Volunteers help clean up at Cedar County Fairgrounds

HARTINGTON — Mud.

That is what was left in all of the Cedar County Fairgrounds buildings as a reminder of the March 13 flood that swept through here.

Eight days later, more than 100 volunteers showed up to begin the clean-up so this year’s Fair could still go on as planned in July.

“On Thursday we had nearly 100 volunteers between Fair Board members, 4-H volunteers, community volunteers, and the fire department,” said Fair Board member Alissa Bartling. “The fire department was probably the biggest help coming in with the trucks to spray things out.”

As people arrived, they filled out FEMA volunteer registration forms in hopes disaster relief may come their way down the road.

Until that time though, the only thing that could be done was to start cleaning up.

As people arrived and signed in, they were designated to a certain building to shovel mud. In the Office building, that also included taking everything out of the building.

After most of the mud was shoveled out of the buildings, firetrucks hosed down the concrete floors, sweeping away any lingering mud. People then followed by squeegeeing the floors to push any remaining water or mud out of the building.

The Fair Board set up two initial days for clean-ups - Thursday and Friday. Due to the large turnout on Thursday, plans for Friday’s clean up were altered because so much progress had been made.

“We are going back through and doing another round of recleaning,” Bartling said Friday. “We will also be taking some of the paneling and sheetrock off to avoid any mold in places like the quilt building. Then sanitizing some of the buildings and cleaning out the office again to make sure things don’t grow mold.”

With many of these buildings taking on a measurable amount of water, many walls were compromised, leading to new insulation and sheetrock that will need to be installed. Cutting out the damp sheetrock now will help prevent mold from growing as days get hotter through the spring until all of the wet walls can be replaced.

Volunteers were asked to bring shovels, work gloves, and tools to help clean out the offices. Some people showed up with even more supplies to help out.

“We had tractors that some people volunteered and we also reached out to a few people to have them come with machinery to help as well. We had people stop by to help and see what the turnout was and then get home to go get their tractor. That was helpful.”

On top of that, there were donations from businesses and private citizens that could not assist in the clean-up. Bartling says a lot of it stems from the memories people have at the Fair, and the way people were raised around here to look out for each other and help when needed.

“That is just what people do here,” said Bartling. “It can be hard for people too as for help, especially farmers a lot of times because they have earned everything they have by the sweat off their back. These are hardworking people that are genuinely down to earth and will put their own stuff aside to help a neighbor.”

By no means was all of the clean-up work done by the end of Friday’s volunteer efforts, but it was a tremendous start.

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