Fairgrounds

Yep!
Elkhart County Fairgrounds, Goshen, Indiana:





A different time we were there:

Fairgrounds are a good place to stop. My problem with Elkhart(as a whole) is the amount of trains and they seem to honk their horns at every intersection. Many many trains................

WE used Fairgrounds and City Parks frequently during our travels around the USA

Like you said....nothing fancy
Which is alright with us....we just want a clean, safe place to stay while we explored the local area

We have only stayed at the Omak, WA rodeo grounds (with the approval of the city fathers of course)but wouldn't even consider it during the stampede.

"and they seem to honk their horns at every intersection.

RR engineers are required to "honk" at every intersection.

We've stayed at a lot of them for overnights when passing through small towns. Just make sure you check out their schedule so nothing else is going on. The majority of times when there is the spaces are meant for the worker or fair/rodeo participants, not for general public so check them out. They're a very good option when driving those fantastic secondary roads.

We've even stayed at the Santa Rosa, CA one to visit our daughter who lives in theSan Francisco area. Much better prices than the parks near a large city. She even came up and stayed with us a few days and we did things north of the city.

For Tucson, Pima County Fairgrounds is great and convenient for the city. For Prescott, AZ there's another very nice fairgrounds. You'd be surprised how many of them are out there available for the general public.