{"id":370180,"date":"2026-08-13T08:58:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/370180\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T08:58:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:58:18","slug":"rodeo-arena-under-construction-collapses-in-lake-city-no-serious-injuries-reported","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/370180\/","title":{"rendered":"Rodeo arena under construction collapses in Lake City; no serious injuries reported"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">LAKE CITY, Fla. (WCJB) &#8211; A rodeo arena under construction at the Florida Gateway Fairgrounds collapsed Wednesday afternoon, leaving some workers with scrapes and bruises but no serious injuries, according to Columbia County Commissioner Tim Murphy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The first 9-1-1 call came in at 4:06 p.m. The Columbia County Sheriff\u2019s Office said all workers were accounted for following the collapse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Murphy said workers were using three cranes and installing beams at the new rodeo arena when the structure came down. He said he heard a worker say the collapse happened after a gust of heavy wind. Strong storms were moving into Columbia County at the time, though an official cause has not been determined.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Authorities say a construction project at the Florida Gateway Rodeo collapsed on Wednesday...\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/X3NRRMHOHBCXDA7VQB3VFV5TTU.jpg\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" \/>Authorities say a construction project at the Florida Gateway Rodeo collapsed on Wednesday afternoon.(CCSO)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">An insurance representative visited the site following the collapse. A spokesperson for the Florida Gateway Fairgrounds said the cause will be investigated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">A spokesperson for Plumb Level Construction, a contractor on the project, issued a statement following the collapse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cSometimes things happen that are outside our control,\u201d the statement said. \u201cAll we can do is replace. We can replace a building, but we can\u2019t replace someone\u2019s Husband, Father, Brother or Son.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Dakota Harper, who works nearby, stopped to view the damage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cInitial reaction? I was a little shocked because I\u2019ve seen them building it probably for about a few weeks \u2014 maybe two or three weeks now,\u201d Harper said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of crazy seeing it collapse like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Murphy said the construction site was not scheduled to be used during the Florida Gateway Fair and Livestock Show, which is set to begin in late October. A pro rodeo is slated for March at the venue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcjb.com\/newsletter\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to subscribe to our newsletter.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WCJB. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAKE CITY, Fla. (WCJB) &#8211; A rodeo arena under construction at the Florida Gateway Fairgrounds collapsed Wednesday afternoon,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[763,6401,28,149825,30,29,12024,45804,149826],"class_list":["post-370180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-columbia-county","tag-columbia-county-sheriffs-office","tag-florida","tag-florida-gateway-rodeo","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-lake-city","tag-rodeo","tag-rodeo-collapse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}