Sandoval County officials christened a new event center on the county’s fairgrounds in Cuba on Friday, October 30, 2015 by hosting a Halloween Party for Senior Citizens.

The party, at which the seniors were served lunch and treats, is the first of what county officials expect to be regular events at center, which was funded primarily by a federal Community Development Block Grant.

“We hope this build will take us a step closer to making the fairgrounds a place where people can come and have events throughout the year, rather just being used one week out of the year for the county fair,” said Tommy Mora, the county’s public work director, during a brief pre-Halloween-party ceremony to mark the opening of the building. The building can accommodate up to 280 people and the county is open to renting the facility to citizens for wedding receptions, graduation parties and other events.

The building, equipped with a full-service kitchen, cost $555,230 to build. The CDBG grant covered $460,745 of that cost, with the remainder coming from county funds.

The building was designed by the Mullen Heller Architecture firm of Albuquerque, with construction managed by Anissa Construction, also of Albuquerque. See photos of the building on the Sandoval County Facebook page.