The Mesa County Fairgrounds is looking at getting a face-lift.

"It can serve our citizens better than it already is," fairgrounds manager JoCarole Haxel said.

On top of updating what's already there, the county wants to add facilities that will use the rest of the complex.

"We have 93 acres here,” Haxel said. “About 40 of those acres we consider under utilized and could be a better asset for our community."

The steering committee has been hard at work on this development project for years. Finally, they are at the phase of bringing in experts to do a market analysis and put together a business plan.

"We wanted to know and needed to know of all the great ideas that we had for the fairgrounds what were the ones the made the most sense financially and what would fit in this market," Haxel said.

And the only way officials will know what would fit at the fairgrounds is by asking the community, since they are the ones who will be paying for it.

"What we've been doing the past couple of years is gathering input form the community,” Mesa County public relations director Jessica Peterson said. “Asking people what they'd like to see as far as amenities, facilities out there. What would really get used?"

The committee says it wants to make sure this is a place for current users, but also a draw for new ones.

"The fairgrounds are currently being used for more than 400 activities so it's seeing everything from the 4H groups to Orchard Mesa Little League and lots of other community groups and everything in between," Peterson said.

"It's important to make the most of this property because it has the ability to being tourist’s dollars and economic development to orchard mesa and this part of the community," Haxel said.

The public meeting will be Wednesday, September 12th at the Community Building at the fairgrounds. It will start at 6:00 p.m. and it estimated to last two hours.