Ground broken on new Belleville Ag Society building

It was a major step forward Wednesday morning in the history of the Belleville Agricultural Society.

There was a sod-turning ceremony at the new home along Highway 37 and Black Diamond Road.

Belleville council and staff, officials with the Ag Society, and the construction team from Bel-Con were all on hand.

Jamie Chatten is the general manager of the Belleville Ag Society and says they are thrilled to be able to resurrect and restructure the project to be what they need and something that is financially responsible.

He says the work now is the strategic plan.

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“So once that is released, we’ll be able to give the community a lot more insight as to what activities will be provided here.  We plan on doing car shows, rentals of the building for weddings, graduations.”

Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis:

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“There is 30 acres and we’ve had people actually and companies out here looking at it.  It’s going to take a while to get the infrastructure in, but there’s interest in it.  With the dozers here and you see this starting to come, that’s going to bring people.  It’s not only going to bring people, it’s going to bring industry and light industry.”

The main event building has an expected completion date of August 2026.

The municipality also has 12, two-acre lots that are zoned industrial/commercial along the Highway 37 frontage, and Ellis says they will help pay for the $10.5-million event building.