(Radio Iowa) – The Lyon County Fair is underway this week — but changes had to be made after high water from the Rock River heavily damaged the Lyon County Fairgrounds in Rock Rapids. Lori Rens is the secretary of the Lyon County Fair Board. “It just devastated and decimated our fairgrounds, all the way down to our infrastructure,” she says. “Some buildings were damaged and we just knew it wouldn’t be a safe place to host our fair this year.”

Lyon County livestock shows were moved to the Osceola County fairgrounds in Sibley. “They ran their fair last week, so there are so many of their fair board members and their superintendents for livestock who are putting in a second week to help us out, so it’s just incredible,” Rens says. “Words cannot express how grateful we are that they opened up their home to us.”

While the livestock shows were moved to Sibley, the Lyon County Fair Queen pageant was held at the community center in Rock Rapids and that’s where 4-H exhibits were judged last Thursday. The Lyon County Fairboard will host a street dance fundraiser in Rock Rapids Friday night to raise money to repair their fairgrounds and racetrack. The flooding not only damaged buildings on the fairgrounds, it left behind large holes in the ground and exposed electrical lines.

(Reporting by Sheila Brummer, Iowa Public Radio)