Family provides affordable parking near the Eastern Idaho State Fair for generations

BLACKFOOT – The owner of a Blackfoot construction company has been providing fairgoers of the Eastern Idaho State Fair with affordable parking for over three decades.

Gale Lim, owner of Gale Lim Construction, has a gravel lot across the street from the fair and he’s able to park around 60 vehicles for the low price of $6 a spot. For context, most of the parking lots surrounding them go for somewhere between $10 to $20 for a spot.

“This community has done a lot for me and my family,” Lim said. “If I can give back a little bit to the people of the community, that’s my only concern.”

Operating this parking lot has been a benefit to not just the community, but Lim’s family as well. His daughter, Sheri Lim, said it started with her and her four sisters operating the parking lot, and now Lim’s grandchildren have taken up the opportunity.

“That’s made a big difference in my kids’ lives and I’m glad that they had the opportunity,” Sheri said.

Sheri, her sisters and their children have all learned to have a good work ethic, and that extends beyond operating the parking lot to working for him in construction. She said they weren’t given preferential treatment and had to work their way up after starting with a shovel in their hands.

“He has grandkids that are doctors and dentists and business owners and they all have had to work really hard cause construction is not an easy trade,” Sheri said.

When they started the parking lot, Lim considered it a good opportunity for his children.

“This is a great project for you,” he told them. “You got to prepare it and clean it up and everything. So they started and now their children do it and it’s a good little project for them.”

Lim also pointed out that it’s a “pretty hard days work.”

“Rain, shine, wind blowing or whatever,” Lim said. “They take care of it and they can make some money.”

Sheri said one year when she was younger, she earned $800 from the parking lot.

“And that was a lot of money,” Sheri said. She said that her daughter is able to fill her propane tank every year with the money she makes from the lot.

At that time, he was able to sell a parking spot for $3. Now after all these years, the price has only gone up by $3. They also do free parking for senior citizens on Wednesday.

Lim said it was important to him that people have an affordable option for parking.

“Maybe we can help some of the people afford to come to a fair that otherwise couldn’t,” Lim said. “You treat the people right.”