The Shelby County Fairgrounds is getting a new electronic sign.

Green Sign Company of Greensburg, Indiana, will build the internally illuminated sign standing just over 13 feet tall and eight feet wide at the entrance of the Shelby County Fairgrounds, 500 Frank Street in Shelbyville.

The electronic message center will be four feet tall and eight feet wide and programmable for several individual messages.

A representative of Green Sign Company and Jeff Pruitt, president of the Shelby County Fair Board, appeared before the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) Tuesday night at City Hall to get approvals for two zoning variances regarding electronic messaging centers needed for the project.

Both variances were approved unanimously by the five-member BZA.

The electronic sign will replace the much larger, hand-operated message board that has been in existence since the mid- to late-1980s, according to Pruitt.

“It will be the first thing people see when they come into the fairgrounds,” said Pruitt. “We already have the money to pay for it. And we will use it for any kind of event we have at the fairgrounds.”

Pruitt stated the goal is to make the fairgrounds more user friendly which can help with the overall costs associated with the facility which serves as host for the annual Shelby County Fair.

“We want the fairgrounds to be used for any kind of event,” he said. “We are trying to grow it and let it be used for more than just the fair because you can’t support it with just the fair.”

The fairgrounds will host a truck and tractor pull Saturday night and a car show Sunday.