OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — The Oshkosh venue home to some of the biggest local events, including Lifest and the County Fair, is undergoing multi million dollar improvements. The 10-month-long project is meant to address parking and flooding issues.
- Winnebago County allocated $4.2 million for improvements at the Sunnyview Expo Center
- The construction started at the end of August, and is expected to last until June 2026.
- This weekend the center will host the Annual Walk for the Animals.
The Oshkosh Area Humane Society is preparing for their annual fundraising event, Walk for the Animals, this Saturday, Sept. 13.
“This is our biggest fundraiser of the year,” Ieva Engel, executive director of OAHS, says. “We’re fundraising for all the medical care that the animals receive here. Our fundraising goal is $65,000, which is a record high… just because of the increasing cost of supplies."
Walk for the Animals is held each year at the Sunnyview Expo Center off County Road Y.
“It's amazing, just the set up of the venue just works out perfectly for us for this event,” Engel says.
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This weekend’s OASD fundraiser is just one of the many annual events at the venue.
“We book about 600 event days per year, which kind of sounds funny when that’s more days in the calendar, but we have a lot of multiple events- we can run a horse show at the same time as a craft fair,” Rick Helms, Winnebago County expo manager, says.
Even with hundreds of successful events, the expo center was running into flooding and parking issues.
“We've had events that we’ve had to cancel completely because the parking lot wouldn’t support the weight of their equipment,” Adam Breest, Winnebago County parks and expo director, says.
Over the next ten months, the Sunnyview Expo Center will be undergoing construction to address some of the issues.
“We’re addressing a lot of drainage issues with this project, we’re expanding the parking area, and we’re making it more convenient for people to get in and out of the property, and just make sure that stuff is usable for all the different events year round,” Helms says.
Breest says the county has allocated $4.2 million for the project. Breest says it’s a worthwhile investment.
“It's an important economic driver for the area, just as the Resch Center is up in Green Bay,” he says.
The construction is expected to finish in June, and Helms says scheduled events, including the 2026 county fair, won’t be interrupted.
