A Great New Agri-Tourism Attraction is Coming to DeKalb County by John Dersham

Two weeks ago I attended the ground breaking of the new Agri-Center of Rainsville. The ground breaking was well attended. Reports said there were more than 200 people present for the event. The Agri-Center has been in the planning stages for eight years. Carey Baker (Chairman of the Agri-Center Board) and the Agri-Center board members have been diligent planners for this complex. They have all worked very hard together with the community to get the funding required to have a state of the art facility that will be a first class facility and the very best Agri-Center in our region.
The Agri-Center is slated to be open by November of next year, with a projected economic impact of $8mil the first operating year and the potential of doubling the second year. Carey and the Board are intending to hire a professional facility manager with experience in booking major events at large facilities. The search for this professional will begin soon. This facility will function as a regional Agri-Center and will draw attendees from all over Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi, with some events reaching further.
The Agri-Center of Rainsville is a 43 acre development consisting of a 17,000 square foot Community Affairs building, a 71,300 square foot arena seating 3,800 for performance events with additional seating to 5,400 for concerts. There will be 208 covered stalls with all the amenities, a 25,000 sq. ft. warm up pavilion, a picnic area, a two acre lake with a fountain and a RV campground. The arena is heated and cooled and will be equipped with high versatility lighting and electrical needs to accommodate the most sophisticated concert or arena event.
Some of the events the Agri-Center will be seeking are as follows; concerts, trade shows, motocross, ATV, horse shows, tractor and truck pulls, monster truck shows, bull shows, Rodeo’s, circus, Television tapings, dog shows, flower shows and the list is endless. The arena floor is 150’ by 250’ with a 40’ high ceiling. The seating capacity and arena size enable this facility to host an extremely large range of major events.
The DeKalb County Tourist Association is looking forward to the Agri-Center becoming a major tourist draw to DeKalb County.