A $50,000 revamp of the grandstand at the Oamaru showgrounds is expected to be completed next month, in plenty of time for the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association's 150th anniversary show next year.
Grants from the Lottery Grants Board, the Lion Foundation, and the Otago Community Trust, along with fundraising events, raised $50,000 for renovations to the 103-year-old grandstand.
Association president Bryce Burnett said the work, which started on Monday, would be finished in six weeks.
Efforts had been made in the 1990s to strengthen the stand with the use of concrete, but they had not been entirely successful, he said.
"Things have been getting progressively worse, and 12 months ago we decided to get quotes from builders in Oamaru. Water was starting to come through the foundations."
The concrete fronting would be replaced with a similar "old-style" timber balustrade, and Mr Burnett expected the stand to look "quite tidy" when the association held its 150th show, on February 22-23.
