Madison119web

Meet
Steve Hutton
The Mississippi State Fairgrounds came
under new leadership last summer, and
changes are already being noticed. Steve
Hutton of Madison, a near life-long
Mississippian, wasted no time beginning
what many have recognized as a much
needed overhaul of the 105 acre fairground
property. Over 25 buildings make up the
fairgrounds including the Mississippi
Coliseum, Trademart, Kirk Fordice Equine
Center, livestock barns, horse stables, small
animal pens, and the like. “I don’t know
the front end of horse from the back, and it
doesn’t matter,” Hutton said. “I know how
to raise money, fix problems, structure
staff, and organize events, and I’ve already
begun to do all four.”
June 5, 2018, Steve walked into his new
office at the coliseum for the first time at
8am. At 8:30am he walked onto the
coliseum floor to meet the coliseum manager.
They couldn’t even carry on a conversation
because the buzzing of the old metal-halide
lamps illuminating the arena floor was so
loud. It sounded like an old high school
basketball gymnasium. The manager
indicated it had been that way for the 17
years he had worked at the Fairgrounds.
By 9am Steve had Irby Lighting enroute
to perform an analysis of every building on
the 105 acre campus. The Entergy Solutions
for Business program offers incentives for
businesses to get rid of their antiquated
fixtures, and replace them with energy
efficient LED lighting. Steve and his staff
broke down Irby’s analysis into several
smaller projects to be completed over the
next few years. Phase I was the Coliseum
lighting, which would allow for the largest
Entergy incentive. The 80 metal-halide
lights alone burn 100,000 watts every
time they are turned on. They ordered
$40,500 worth of new energy efficient
LEDs and Entergy is providing a $34,000
incentive upon completion of the project.
The Fairgrounds will pay off the $6,500
balance in saved utility costs over the next
eight months, and then save $6,500 every
eight months from here on out. They are
also increasing the average candlepower on
the coliseum floor by 10-15%. Hutton took
a 17 year old problem, and not only fixed it
but, in essence, got it done for free and
eventually will make money on it through
the savings.
Steve then hired a full time facilities
superintendent and is completing the
lighting installation in-house. Hiring this
30 year union electrician full-time also saves
the fairgrounds roughly $40,000 per year
by eliminating contract electricians, and
they get 10 times the amount of work done
with a person on the grounds full time.
He also has hired a full-time HR director
eliminating yet another expense that was
being outsourced for HR and payroll, a
full-time events director working to bring
more events to the fairgrounds, and a
full-time operations manager, to ensure
those events are catered to once they arrive.
“I would do this job for free, but don’t
get me wrong, I’m fortunate I don’t have
to,” Hutton added. “This one position takes
everything I have ever learned and loved
and condenses it into one massive project.”
Steve was a PGA professional for 20
years, running country clubs for the first
13 years of that career, then transitioning
to tournament director of the Southern
Farm Bureau Classic, known today as the
Sanderson Farms Championship. He left
his position at Mississippi’s PGA TOUR
event in 2004 and became vice-president
of Promise Keepers, conducting large-scaled
stadium and arena events across the United
States. He actually rented the Mississippi
Coliseum, twice. He then founded
Momentum Events and continued to
produce events across the Southeast,
including the extremely popular Christmas
44 • January 2019