Waterloo showgrounds listed for sale

GRASS LAKE — Foxhunters want to foxhunt. Run a horse show? Not so much, these days.

It’s that simple reality which led Waterloo Hunt to list their showgrounds for sale. 

“A lot of the members, like myself, are getting old,” said Jim Chaconas during an interview on Tuesday. “And there's a lot of time consumed. We all have our own farms, so it’s just time that we want to foxhunt, not run horse shows.”

Chaconas has been a member of the hunt for more than two decades and is the executive vice president of Chaconas Group at Colliers International - Ann Arbor, a real estate firm. Chaconas is handling the showgrounds listing.

The Waterloo showgrounds ad appeared on Colliers’ listing service this week (the week beginning Monday, Nov. 17, 2025). Rumors about the impending listing had been circulating amongst the equestrian community in the preceding weeks.

DECIDING TO SELL

The decision was a few years in the making.

Ultimately, a Waterloo Hunt Club committee, then the board, and finally the membership voted to sell the showgrounds, said Jeff Stommen, club treasurer and a member of the hunt for approximately 40 years. The vote happened in late September.

“The shows are a big burden,” explained Kellyn Burtka, a Waterloo Hunt Club board member. While hunt club members do have required work hours, those hours don’t “begin to cover all the work that goes into running the shows.”

Waterloo Hunt Club was formed in 1941 and purchased its present site amidst the Waterloo Recreation Area in 1946. The club began hosting horse shows soon thereafter.

“We've had a great time operating horse shows, and it's been a proven and successful format,” Stommen said. “We hope it will continue indefinitely.”

The membership, however, prefers to spend their own time following hounds.

Foxhunting is a traditional equestrian sport in which riders watch and follow hounds as the canines hunt a fox. Some argue that “fox-chasing” would be a more accurate description of the activity, as foxes are seldom killed in the American tradition. 

The Masters of Foxhounds Association of North America says “foxhunting” is a generic term and lists red fox, grey fox, coyote, bobcat (and, in some hunts, wild pig or boar) as quarry.

30 ACRES UP FOR SALE

Waterloo Hunt Club is not selling all of its property. Exact figures are pending a survey, but Stommen estimated that the club owns 65 acres total and will sell approximately 30 acres, which contain the showgrounds.

Those 30 acres are spread across four parcels and include stabling for 182 horses (show organizers can expand that to 450+ stalls if they use temporary stabling); four pavilions, arenas and an office, according to the listing. The club is also offering horse-show-related equipment and supplies, including tractors, generators, and other property yet to be itemized.

“It's a wonderful show facility . . . A lot of people like it,” Chaconas said of the Waterloo showgrounds. 

The club is asking $1.2 million for the showgrounds and, in the listing, said the sale excludes “the Waterloo Hunt Club clubhouse; the turnout/lunging ring and the stable/kennel area on Katz Road.”

“We make improvements every single year, and particularly the last 10 or 15 years, we really focused on improving the showgrounds,” Stommen said.

The club is naming additional restrictions and conditions, including an easement to cross the property during the hunt season; shared parking and driveway arrangements; use of the hunter trials field by the club and the lunging ring for the show facility; and other measures. 

Hunt Club membership would have to approve the sale. The listing states the club requests a right of first refusal if the buyers wish to sell in the future.

“We are going to be extremely picky about who we sell to - we want someone who will continue to build on the property's legacy,” Burtka said in a Facebook message.

The club has not offered the showgrounds to any party privately, Stommen said.

“We’re hoping that we can find the right fit. And you know that's going to probably take some time,” Stommen said. “And so as a result, we are making some tentative plans for our 2026 horse shows.”

Waterloo renewed its license with the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), Stommen said.

USEF is the governing body for many competitive equestrian sports, including those seen in the Olympics (show jumping, dressage, and eventing), as well as para-dressage in the Paralympics.

WATERLOO SHOWGROUNDS AND USEF IN MICHIGAN

Only a few facilities in Michigan will host USEF-recognized shows in 2026, according to the organization’s calendar as of November. 

Those facilities are Waterloo in Grass Lake, which hosts both dressage and hunter/jumper competitions recognized by USEF; Flintfields Horse Park in Williamsburg (Traverse City Horse Shows), which hosts hunter/jumper horse shows as well as a dressage competition for international-level youth athletes; Farm Bureau Pavilion at Michigan State University in East Lansing (breed shows); Revel Run in Chelsea (eventing); and Hunter’s Run in Metamora (eventing).

USEF-recognized shows don’t paint the full picture of what’s available in Michigan. County fairgrounds are common horse show sites—and not just during fair week—but none of Michigan’s are used for USEF-recognized competitions. 

Private facilities host dozens of unrecognized equestrian competitions. 

Farm Bureau Pavilion at MSU hosts a variety of equine-related competitions and events, but USEF sanctions only a few.

Neither do USEF-recognized disciplines paint the full picture of horse-related competitions in Michigan. Barrel racing is popular, but it is not a USEF discipline. Harness racing hangs on, with Northville Downs operating at the Barry Expo Center in Hastings.

USEF’s international disciplines include combined driving/para-driving; dressage; endurance; eventing; jumping; para-equestrian; and vaulting. National disciplines include carriage pleasure driving; English pleasure; hunter; hunter/jumping seat equitation; parade horse; reining; roadster; saddle seat; Western; Western dressage and Western/reining seat equitation. The organization also recognizes 11 horse breeds for breed-specific competitions.

Chaconas, whose wife and daughter compete on the hunter circuit, noted that many competitions on the Hunter Jumper Association of Michigan (HJAM) calendar are held in Wilmington, Ohio, at the World Equestrian Center (WEC). A second facility bearing the WEC name is in Ocala, Florida. 

Waterloo is midway between WEC -  Wilmington and Flintfields Horse Park in Williamsburg.