BOONE, Iowa - A group of officials from Richland Community College arrived at the Farm Progress Show on Tuesday afternoon.

Among them was Cindy Laegeler, who heads Progress City USA, the Decatur home for the show. Laegeler was making a homecoming of sorts, having spent a year of her childhood in Boone.

With a long list of exhibitors to see in a few hours, Laegeler hadn't made it into town yet but was enjoying what she saw.

"I never thought I'd come back," Laegeler said. "It's really a twist of fate. It's kind of fun."

Laegeler was anxious to see if she'd run into any of her cousins who still live in the area. She ran into them at the Decatur show last year.

"You never know," Laegeler said. "It's crazy. It's such a small world."

The Richland group was running into a lot of people they knew on their way through the exhibit field. Not having a show to host, they could spend a few minutes chatting and catching up from last year.

They're looking forward to seeing more exhibitors today before returning to Decatur.

Headquarters

The Boone site in many ways feels similar to the one in Decatur. Much of the layout is the same, but among the differences is a permanent administration building where Farm Progress Show staff is headquartered.

It's a welcome addition for the staff, who worked out of a trailer in Decatur.

"It's awesome," said Matt Jungmann, the show's manager, as he sat in what he calls his office. "It's a great home base for us."

Jungmann isn't going to pressure Decatur organizers to build a similar structure in Decatur. He's happy with both sites.

"We appreciate things about this facility that we like better than Decatur and there just as many things we like about Decatur," Jungmann said. "Both are world-class show facilities."

Laegeler said it would take funding for such a building to be built in Decatur. In building Progress City in 2005, she said their main focus was on finishing the site.

Mostly finished

Although the Boone site is mostly complete, permanent restrooms haven't been built in two of the four corners. In their place, visitors can use portable toilets.

The layout seems to be working just fine.

"We knew they weren't going to be finished from the start," said Darrel Rensink, president of the Central Iowa Expo, the local organizing group.

The exhibit field is 5 percent bigger than in Decatur, Jungmann said. It has one more street, bringing the total to 12. But it is narrower, making the layout more rectangular than in Decatur, he said.

A power line runs through the middle of the site, leaving an empty void underneath. Jungmann said that's just part of having the site where it is located.

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