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Get to Know: Roseville Resident David Attaway

Roseville resident David Attaway was familiar with the fairgrounds as he lives in the neighborhood and would walk around the area frequently. In the long periods between county fairs, the grounds sat mostly vacant due to deteriorating structures and facilities and was visited only by a few community groups who had been meeting there for decades. Yet, Attaway, as CEO of Placer Valley Tourism and @the Grounds, saw potential in the site. “People didn’t know it was there,” he recalls, adding, “I saw a way for it to become a space that serves not only the community, but also its business needs.”

 Attaway wanted to create a space for people in the community to come together as well as bring tourists into the area to enjoy the place. As a child, his family had moved often due to his father’s job with the federal government. Later, his own career in the hospitality and leisure industry took him all over the country. But after moving to Roseville over eight years ago, Attaway felt he’d finally found his niche and he refused to let the grounds fall prey to housing developers.

 These days, the former Placer County Fairgrounds (now @the Grounds) is at the end of a two-year renovation with the construction of a 160,000-square-foot indoor multi-purpose facility on the site well underway. For Attaway, an art enthusiast, the most rewarding aspect has been the creativity involved in imagining what the space could become—and then bringing that vision to life. “It’s important to have a place where we—and future generations—can connect and create and brainstorm and do business,” he shares. “It’s something you can’t reproduce via computer or phone.” 

By Amber Foster


Q&A

What advice would you give to your younger self? 

Learn at least one other language fluently. Live abroad.

 

What comes to you naturally?

Strategic visioning, creative thought, numbers.

 

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

Stagnation or lack of commitment.

 

Are you high or low maintenance?

Personally, low maintenance; professionally, high maintenance.

 

Biggest life inspirations?

Thich Nhat Hanh.

 

What are you most proud of?

The amazing team, both on the staff and on the board, that PVT has become over the past years, especially the impact they have made on our community.

 

Best words of wisdom you’ve received?

Done is better than perfect.


FAVORITES

Guilty pleasure

Binging on Netflix or Amazon

MEAL IN TOWN
Ninja Sushi

LOCAL LANDMARK

Train station

MOVIE
Slaughterhouse-Five 

Musician/Band
Lou Reed

Place to Buy a Gift, Locally
Blue Line Arts

Annual Event
Lottery for the Arts

Saying

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”—Winston Churchill