A big crane lifts a section of bleachers at the former Kittanning High School athletic field. Two sets of bleachers were sold by the Armstrong School District to the Dayton Fair Association.
A large crane was at the former Kittanning High School athletic field removing two sets of bleachers, one from each side of the press box, yesterday.
The Armstrong School District sold the bleachers to the Dayton Fair Association.
Association Vice-President John Strate explained their plan for the using the bleachers.
“We had a vision that we wanted to put bleachers in the infield of our race track. For Friday Night Demo (Demolition Derby), we are overwhelmed with people. We felt it would be a good fit. It would add about 450 seats to the infield.”
Strate said the fair association contacted the Armstrong School District and made the purchase. A nominal fee of $1,000 was paid, which was pennies on the dollar of the cost of new bleachers. Strate said the purchase wasn’t the only cost.
“We are going to have a whole lot more money than (the purchase price) into the movement and the crane. I cannot even estimate those costs at this time.”
The move of the first set of bleachers was finished late yesterday afternoon. The second set of bleachers is expected to be moved today.
“There is a day camp with the YMCA going on this week and then the Fort Armstrong Folk Festival. We wanted to do this before the Folk Festival begins.”
Strate said in order to have the bleachers installed by the time for when the Dayton Fair begins next week, the Association enlisted the help of volunteers from the Demolition Derby.
“Friday night at the Fair is our Demolition Derby night. It is always one of the biggest night we have. We couldn’t figure out how to get these bleachers torn down, so our friend, Ken Moore, from K&S Automotive that got some of the demolition guys in to give us a hand because they are going to be the ones using these bleachers.”
The Dayton Fair will be held August 13 through August 18.
Bleachers created an over-sized load for this trucking company. Kittanning Police assisted the truck in navigating narrow borough streets yesterday late afternoon.