End Customer: Canal Winchester Local Schools
Location: Canal Winchester, OH
Completion: Summer 2026
Project Overview
Canal Winchester High School has been seeking solutions to upgrade its football stadium since at least 2024. At the time, officials from the district collaborated with Farnham Equipment Company (FEC) to provide a turnkey solution for making major additions to the home and away grandstands. After unsuccessfully soliciting any public bids for this major addition project, the district went back to the drawing board, looking for potential solutions. After many conversations and iterations of design, the district once more approached FEC to deliver a turn-key solution to deliver this project ahead of the 2026 school year. Rocky Baker from the FEC team worked directly with the district to provide a three-step plan to implement that would deliver everything the district sought.
The FEC team handled this project from start to finish, working alongside Smoot Construction to ensure timely delivery and installation during a busy summer schedule. Given the scope and multiple stages of delivery, this is one of the most impressive large-grandstand projects FEC has completed to date.
The district was thrilled to partner with FEC for these major upgrades and praised the entire FEC installation crew for their professionalism, expertise, and assistance during the process.
Below is a summary of the multi-step process for the Canal Winchester High School Bleacher Addition project:
- Step One – Ground Preparation, Demo, Site Preparation, Concrete Footings and Flatwork, and Final Grade Excavation
- Step Two – Provide and Install New Home and Away Visitor Bleachers
- Step 3 – Fence Installation, Handrail Installation, Ground Protection Removal, Clean Up and Final Grade and Seeding
The district also opted for (2) additional options, including:
- Upgrading the mill-finished footboards of the visitor bleachers to clear anodized footboards
- Upgrading the all-new chain link fencing fabric from galvanized to black vinyl-coated chain link
Key Project Features: Step 1
The major components that comprised Step 1 of the Canal Winchester High School Bleacher Addition are as follows:
- Laying down heavy-duty composite matting for access roads
- Demo preparation, which included demolition of concrete, removal of existing fencing and gates, and the removal of existing bleacher components as required
- Removal of topsoil where the new bleachers were to be installed, and installation of new soil retention
- Spreading the footings based on bleacher manufacturer design drawings
- Final grade and adding 5”-6” of gravel per drawings under the new bleacher areas
Key Project Features: Step 2
Below is a summary of the work involved with the installation of the new home and away bleachers at Canal Winchester High School:
Home Bleachers: (2) 31-Row x 40′-0″ Hillside I-Beam Grandstands:
- Aluminum (Powder Coat & Grit) footboards
- T&G Welded Deck Bleacher System
- Aluminum Tread Mounted “Z” Seat Brackets
- Aluminum 9½” x 1½” Clear Anodized Seat Boards
- Aluminum Clear Anodized Risers at each row
- Galvanized Steel Beam and Column, with Galvanized Steel Cross Beams, Galvanized Steel Angle Cross Bracing, and Galvanized Steel Angle Guardrail Post
- (2) ADA Exit Ramps “straight” style to rear of grandstands with Handrails
- (4) Exit Stairs with Handrails (2 Front Stairs and 2 End Stairs)
- (2) Line Clear Anodized Aluminum Pipe Rail System with 9 ga. Chain Link Fence Infill Guardrail
- (2) 48″ Aisles with Mid-Aisle Handrails (per Grandstand) with 5′-0″ Rear Cross Aisle as shown in the design drawings
- Wheelchair cutouts to meet ADA requirements
- 8″ Rise w/ 30″ Tread Spacing
Away Bleachers: (2) 16-Row x 40′-0” Hillside I-Beam Grandstands
- Aluminum (MILL FINISH) Footboards at each row
- Semi-Closed Deck Bleacher System
- Aluminum 9½” x 1½” Clear Anodized Seat Boards
- Aluminum Clear Anodized Risers at each row
- Galvanized Steel Beam and Column, with Galvanized Steel Cross Beams, Galvanized Steel Angle Cross Bracing, and Galvanized Steel Angle Guardrail Post
- (1) ADA Exit Ramp “straight” style with Handrails
- (2) Exit Stairs with Handrails
- (2) Line Clear Anodized Aluminum Pipe Rail System with 9 ga. Chain Link Fence Infill Guardrail
- (2) 48″ Aisles with Mid-Aisle Handrails (per Grandstand)
- Wheelchair cutouts to meet ADA requirements
- 8″ Rise w/ 24″ Tread Spacing
Key Project Features: Step 3
The final step in this project included installation of the fence and handrails, while final cleanup, grading, seeding and ground protection were taken care of.
