Zack Nemmers, 14, of Le Mars opted to re-paint the Hall of '76 at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds to earn his Eagle Scout badge. Both he and Gaul are members of Troop No. 184. [Click to enlarge]

Zack Gaul and Zack Nemmers, of Troop No. 184, decided to spruce up parts of the Plymouth County Fairgrounds to obtain that rank.

Eagle Scouts must demonstrate they live by the principles of the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives, earn a total of 21 merit badges, and serve actively in a position of responsibility for six months.

Zack Gaul, 16, of Le Mars chose to scrape and paint the Round Barn at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds for his Eagle Scout project. [Click to enlarge]

They must also plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project.

Gaul, 16, of Le Mars, has been a Boy Scout for nine years and has earned 27 merit badges during that time.

When he was ready to pick his Eagle Scout project, he immediately chose to scrape and paint the Round Barn at the fairgrounds -- an easy decision for Gaul.

"As a little kid, I wanted to paint it," Gaul said. "I thought it'd be really cool to do."

Taking his childhood aspiration to the next level, Gaul pitched his idea to his troop and Scoutmaster Dean Christoffel, who took it to fair board member Tom Galles.

"I talked to Tom off and on, and he said, 'It's all yours.'" Gaul said.

The Round Barn, which just saw its 26th year of use this past fair season, is used to display open show creative arts, food and horticulture exhibits submitted for the fair. For the rest of the year, it is used for general storage.

Gaul and his helpers began by scraping away the old paint by hand on June 17. After that, they used a power-washer to clear the remaining paint chips and dirt.

"We have to have others help us on these projects," Gaul explained. "Depending on the day, I've had about two to seven people helping me out. I usually work from 10 to 4:30 about three days per week, on average."

As this point, Gaul also has the primer on the barn, but has yet to re-paint the building.

"I've got to paint the red bottom all the way up to the shingles," Gaul said, pointing at his project. "I hope to have it done by the end of August."

Zack, the son of Fritz and Sharon Gaul, will be a sophomore at Le Mars Community High School this fall. He is a member of the bowling team and FFA.

Nemmers, 14, of Le Mars, has also been a Boy Scout for nine years and has 35 merit badges. For his Eagle Scout project, he just wanted to help somewhere.

The opportunity came quickly.

"Jim Klein and the fair board always save some projects on the fairgrounds for Eagle Scouts," said Nemmers. "I just picked one and got to work on it."

That project was re-painting the Hall of '76 building at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds -- an immediate need before the 2008 fair.

"When they painted it a couple years ago, they didn't use fire retardant paint," Nemmers said. "That's a huge fire code issue."

He got to work June 7, and was helped greatly by his father Marty Nemmers, who is a painter himself.

"That first day I had a lot of help," Nemmers said. "We worked from about nine to five. It was good having my dad there, 'cause he got all the paint for us. We tried to keep the cost down for the fair board."

After that first day, Nemmers said they were almost done. They finished the entire project after one more day of work -- but they didn't really have a choice.

"For Ice Cream Days, they wanted to use the Hall of '76 for their toy auction," recalled Nemmers, "so we had to quick finish it no matter what."

So father and son returned to the building June 13th to put the finishing touches on the walls and to paint the ceilings.

"My dad had to paint the ceiling for safety reasons," Nemmers said.

Working into the early hours of the morning, the project was finished and the equipment was moved out by 4 a.m.

The toy auction was held at 5 p.m. that day.

Along with Boy Scouts, Zack, the son of Marty and Teresa Nemmers, will be involved in band, basketball, baseball, and cross country as a freshman this fall at Le Mars Community High School.