The equestrian center at the county fairgrounds is at-risk of closing if a new operator isn’t found to take over the facility next year.
The equestrian center, currently run by the OC Fair & Events Center, makes revenue through borders and trainers who rent spaces at the facility. Michele Richards, general manager and CEO at the OC Fair & Events Center, said the expenses to run the equestrian facility far outweigh the revenue it brings in.
In October, the equestrian center made $117,422 in revenue, but cost the fairgrounds $225,176 in expenses.
A request for proposals to operate and maintain the facility is expected to be posted sometime in December to attract potential bidders. An operator would be responsible for maintaining the equestrian center grounds, offices and taking care of the horses.
If an independent operator for the center is not found, staff would notify equestrian center users of the facility closing by March 31, officials said.
Even if all of the stalls are full and the center is at 100% capacity, “our modeling shows that the organization would lose almost a quarter of a million (dollars) a year,” Richards said, adding that the stalls are currently at 63% of capacity. “And so the board just simply can’t ignore that anymore. It doesn’t make business sense for us to keep a facility open that is costing the people of the state of California so much money.”
Gibran Stout, who runs the OC Vaulting nonprofit out of the equestrian center, said closing the facility would go against the board’s mission of serving the community and preserving the county’s agricultural heritage.
“It’s critical because there’s no other space for this. There are five stables including this one with less than 800 stalls for public boarding, and there’s nowhere else to go other than out of the county,” Stout said. “There’s so much critical programming that will just be lost forever. It’s supposed to be an agricultural district. And if you…
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