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Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds undergoes sound improvement project in main exhibit hall

Sound improvement project underway at Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds
Sound improvement project underway at Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds 03:31

YUBA CITY — The main exhibit hall at the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds is undergoing a project to make it more sound-friendly for visitors. 

The building serves multi-purpose uses throughout the year, but its concrete walls and high ceilings make it hard for people to hear each other. 

"We have a crab feed here every year. About 800 people come in and I was sitting there talking to someone, just like, I'm talking to you, but I had to shout for them to hear," said Bill Highland, a Yuba City Rotary Club member. 

Highland didn't want anyone waking up with a sore throat from straining their voice to be heard. 

"I'm sitting here in the crab feed and I'm thinking, 'You know, I'll bet you I can do something about this,' " he said. 

Highland came up with the idea to install acoustic paneling throughout the building. The sound project is now well underway with help from the rotary club and county agencies. 

"We're building about 82 of these [acoustic panels] and we're going to mount them all around the walls," said Curt Aikens, another rotary club member who is assisting with the project. 

The rotary club said that with only four panels up so far, the project is already making a difference. 

"[The fairgrounds] is the evacuation zone, where fundraisers are held. This is where the fair is done every year," said Andi Richmond, rotary club president. "So this building is used probably three-quarters of the year every weekend." 

The acoustic paneling will reduce noise reflection by roughly 65%. 

"It's pretty thrilling for me because I haven't found one person that said, 'Hey, Bill. This is the dumbest idea I've ever heard of.' Everybody I talk to will go, 'Wow, that's a really good idea,' " Highland said. 

"One aspect of showing what rotary can do, you get 60 people together who say, 'Let's find something cool we can help with,' and now we have a project that, if was done custom through a company, would've cost $60,000 or $70,000," Richmond added. 

They've raised about $26,000 for the project through grants and pitch-ins by the fairgrounds, the rotary club and the Yuba Water Agency. Some money is expected to be left over to go toward a speaker system for the building. 

"So this year, in our crab feed on February 1, maybe everyone can sit here and talk to each other," Highland said. 

Money raised from the crab feed will go back into the Yuba City Rotary Club and, in turn, back into the community for other projects just like this. 

Hilbers, Inc. is a local contracting company that is donating its time and labor to help make this project happen.

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