August 29, 2024 • 19 mins
CoolKay and Countyfairgrounds.net interview the 2024 Kansas State Fair and Bryan Schulz - Fair Manager. We talk about what is new and exciting and not to be missed at this years fair. We talk fair food and entertainment and where to buy your tickets.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kansas State Fair. This is Brian.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hi, mister Brian, This is cool k from County Fairgrounds
dot net. And I guess you're the fair manager of
the Kansas State.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Fair, right I sure am, I sure.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Am, okay, And that fair is coming up on September sixth.
So one of the first questions I always ask as
a senior, but you know parking. What's the parking like?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Well, we have plenty of parking on our grounds. We
have several lots. We have lots of A and B
on the north side. We also have lots C on
the east side. As far as handicap accessible parking, we
have a whole lot on the north side by Gate
five that is strictly handicap accessible parking, so that makes
(00:43):
it a lot easier. We also have our trams that
we're are trolleys that will pick you up from the
parking lots and bring you into the gates and then
you can jump on one of the trams and that
will take your run the grounds. Or we do have
at Gate nine and at Gate five we do have
(01:07):
scooter and wheelchair rentals.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Now let's change the direction a little bit. Suppose I'm
a mother coming in there. With a bunch of kids
under the age of twelve. What would you suggest I
do first?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well, first off, I would highly suggest that you go
out to the app store and download the Kansas State
Fair new app that will give you the opportunity to
plan your day. It'll show you day by day, hour
by hour, what's going on in the grounds, who's where,
what's you know, all the different things, and this will
(01:41):
give you an opportunity to kind of plan it. It'll
it's really neat. It's got a wayfinding tool in it.
So if you want a Pronto pup, you type in
the word Pronto Pup on your favorite foods and it'll
show you where the closest one is. You hit a
button and it'll actually give you wayfinding directions to it.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Okay, So basically you're saying we can't really get lost
anymore at the Kansas State Fair.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I would say not.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yes, Hey, that's cool, that's really cool, because that's the
way things technology is headed now these days.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Absolutely right, Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Next question I would ask, even before that even came up,
would be what about restrooms around the main entrances?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Around the main entrances, most of them are within walking
distance of the main entrances, like on the north side,
Gate five, it's probably a block inside of the gate
off of the handicap accessible lot gatecour which is our
campground entrance. There is one right there. Most of them
(02:46):
have one within a short distance of walking.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And so that app probably tells everybody where to find
fair food then, right.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Oh, absolutely, So you just go into the app and
there is a a button there that says food Finder,
So you click on that in and up in the
search you would type in your favorite. So, if it's
a Pronto pup, you go into there, you type in
Pronto pup and it shows me that there are five
locations on the grounds for Pronto pups. And then you
(03:20):
click a button and click another button and it'll show
you how to even get to that.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
You know, I must be an ulster. I don't even
know what a Pronto pup is. What is it?
Speaker 1 (03:29):
A Pronto pup is a Kansas corn dog. It's made
with a different type of batter.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Oh, okay, what's your favorite fair food?
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Oh? I would have to say a Pronto pup or
cheese curds or I'm the old time fair food. So
and we've got lots of really cool new fair food
that's out this year. Brackets Concessions is doing a pretzel
wrapped pickle, which sounds amazing and you can They've got
different dippings including mustard cheese and Ranch Friends Food is
(04:04):
doing off of their mac and cheese truck is doing
grilled cheese Slammers, which are barbecue pork and macaronie cheese
with fried pickles and that's served on a Texas toast
with a side of tots. And then if you're into
the sweet side of it, we have do six Casadia trailer.
They're doing a S'mores casadea which is chocolate marshmallows melted
(04:28):
inside of a cassadia with more chocolate and marshmallows on
the outside. We've also got like Carrie's Beer Garden, She's
doing a burnt end brisket sandwich. She's also doing a
slow braised short ribbed sandwich. And then at Charlie's Wine
Garden and these are all kid friendly places, Charlie's doing
(04:50):
a four pack of taco burger sliders and they I mean,
all this stuff just makes my mouth selve salivate because
it sounds really good.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Okay, so there's really basically no printed maths that somebody
could get if they don't well at.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
The main gate. Yes, we still do have our visitor Guide,
which is got all of the information in there. The
only thing that we no longer print is the daily
schedule in there. The reason that is is because we
have to have that to the printer so early. It
has to be like the first part of July, and
by that time there's a lot of changes. So we're
doing a couple of different things. Either the app, or
(05:29):
you can click inside of the visitors Guide there are
some QR codes in there that will give you the
daily schedule, or we're going to also be printing up
single page daily schedules for the gates.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Okay, okay, all right, So what about grounds Ax, We've.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Got a lot of really cool ground acts again this
year at our Gotchak Park. We have the Lady Houdini.
Lady Whodini is doing a lot of the same tricks
that Houdini himself had done. We've also got Strong and Amazing,
which is a female that was on America's Got Talent.
(06:10):
She does a lot of aerial acrobats, so that's really
kind of cool. As far as roving, we've got Dinosauur Refuge.
It's a large dinosaur that will be walking around the
grounds at the Low Incorporation like Talbot Free Stage. We
have got a ton of really neat great entertainment that's
(06:34):
Kansas based and across the country, but we really start
to highlight our Kansas entertainment. We've also got Ellie Oops,
who is a roving act. We've got Kenny Ahearn. He's
got a stage set up over by the Bison Arena.
He does a family variety theater. You know, we just
got a ton of things. Monday Night we have a
(06:56):
Morgan wall In tribute band called Seventh Summer. He'll be
playing at the People's Bank and Trust Arena on Monday night.
That's a free show. We've also have Rockland Road. Now,
if you're familiar with the Oakridge Boys, of which we're
having the last Sunday, Dwayne Allen's daughter has a band
(07:17):
called Rockland Road and they open up for the Oakredge
Boys quite often, and so they'll be playing on the
ground several times and then they'll open up for the
Oakreage Boys. So yeah, lots of great things. Again, the
app has got all that information. If you go to
Kansastatefair dot com. You can break it down by day
of who all the entertainment is. So yeah, just lots
and lots of things out there. All right.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
What about one of the things that the Ferris handle
and I've always handled is the four H stuff, So
can you want to talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Sure? Absolutely. You know, we've actually expanded our four each building.
We have the Forged Centennial Hall, which is located on
the north half of the grounds and this year very
excited about this because that building is actually going to
be air conditioned, so our forage kids and parents and
extension agents are going to be very happy with that.
(08:08):
But they have expanded, and we have also created another
building just to the east of that that will have
a lot of the for Each exhibits in it as well.
So we also have our FFA building, And so kids
are very important to us out here at the Kansas
State Fair.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Now I'm gonna imagine soul. That's one of the things
that the State Fair is known for is taking care
of the kids.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yep. And this year, on the livestock side of four
H and FFA is our twenty fifth anniversary of the
Grand Drive and that is the opening weekend. That will
be a very large event. We've also got the Peterson
Farm Brothers coming in to do a free concert on
Saturday night of the Grand Drive, so that will be
(08:51):
a big draw. But also just seeing the kids out
there showing on the green chips in the show arena
and showing their prize winning animals. That's definitely the reason
that we do this is we want to see the
smiles on their faces and and you know, all the
hard work that they put into raising their animals and
getting them ready for a show. That's a big part
(09:11):
of what a state fair is, and any size fair
from the smallest little county fair to the largest state fair.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Okay, I'm curious. Are you a married nan?
Speaker 1 (09:21):
I am, yes.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Do you have kids?
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I do. I have two kids. One of them is
a junior at Fort Hay State and my other, my
oldest daughter, is the director of entertainment for the Nebraska
State Fair. So staying in a state fair business didn't
go very far in our family.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Okay, Okay from dad, all right, So geez, you've got
a lot of stuff going on here. You have pig races,
and people love pig races. Rather talk a little about that.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Sure. Yeah, so last year we weren't able to have
the pig races, but we worked it out where we
could find some additional space. From this year, they will
be located just on the south side of the Grand State,
right next to the Petting Zoo. So yes, we'll be
bringing back to Hedrick's pigs racing and we have heard
a lot of people that are very happy about bringing
you back, so we're happy that that's happening as well.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Okay, so do you have a Kernival.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yes, we have North American Midway Entertainment. They are a
phenomenal carnival, very conscious about making sure that we've got
something for all all sizes, from some of the big
extreme rides to some of the really neat kitty rides.
That we do have seven of the ten days our
Wristband days, so you can do an unlimited day pass
(10:40):
for Wristband and be able to go on there, or
if you want to just buy a fun card that
gives you so many rides or so many tickets, you
can do that as well.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
All right, now, let's talk. You have stages for entertainment
that are free during the day.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Yes, yep, we have the People's Can Trust Arena which
is on the west side of the grounds, and that
one seats about two thousand people. We've got a wide
variety of entertainment again with that stage, everything from Kansas
Bays based entertainment to youth choirs to jugglers to Ron Diamond,
(11:22):
who has been a staple here at the Kansas State
for for many many years. He has that stage. And
then we also have the Low In Corporation Stage at
Lake Talbot. It kind of mirrors what we do at
People's Bank and Trust just a little bit smaller. Stage
area doesn't have the bleacher seating. It's more grass seating
(11:42):
and some little benches, but more of a sit down
on a blanket type of a place. But both of
them are highly entertainment areas, so we bring in a
lot of fun things that keep people active. We also
have some special events that happen in some of these areas.
We do the State Championship Pedal pol contest at the
(12:06):
People's Bank and Trust Arena. We do the Pronto pup
eating contest at People's and then we do like the
spouse Calling contest over at low and Stage. So we've
got a lot of things that people can get involved
with the lip syncing contest for young kids. So yeah,
lots of things going on. You'll just have to check
out the app or the website and see all the
(12:27):
great things that happen out there.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Okay, let's talk evening entertainment. It's always important too.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
So what have we got so our Grandstand entertainment this year?
We think that our Next Tech Grandstand entertainment lineup is
just phenomenal. Obviously, we kick off on Friday September sixth
with one on A Judd and Kimberly Perry you might
go with the name Perry with the band Perry, and
(12:54):
that will be Friday, September sixth at seven thirty pm.
Kicks are still available, so make sure you get out
in the line and buy those. Saturday we have the
Goobo Dolls and they'll be performing Saturday, September seventh at
seven thirty pm and then on Sunday. Last year, we
tried something different and we think it worked very well,
(13:16):
changing up the diversity of our entertainment. At the next
Tech Grandstand, we are bringing in our Latino Afternoon again,
our Mexican Afternoon, and we have a whole group of
entertainers from mariachi bands to dancers and Oscar Garcia, who's
(13:37):
a local DJ from here in Hutchison, will be performing.
And then we have La Lanzia and Nortina and Groupolas Dichallas.
They will be performing later in the day and early evening,
so it'll be a great opportunity for our Hispanic attendees
to have an afternoon as well. So we're looking forward
(13:58):
to that Monday demolition Derby Tuesday, we have changed it
up a little bit. You know how Taylor Swift is
being such a bit in the media right now, we
don't have Taylor Swift. We can't even afford one of
our shoes. But we have Let's Sing Taylor. It's a
live band experience celebrating Taylor Swift. So this group will
(14:21):
be playing all the Taylor's songs and that the young
girls and kids that love Taylor Swift, this would be
a great opportunity to get out there and see that.
Then on Wednesdays, our Christian Night, we have Casting Crowns
with Katie Nicole again. That one we'll start at seven
point thirty, and then Thursday we are bringing back It's
a tribute band. It is Broadways Rock of Ages band.
(14:45):
It is kind of a rock series, and a lot
of these artists are part of the actual Broadways Rock
of Ages show, and so they will be here. One
of the neat things that we are doing with this
show is we're also doing a master class and what
that is is some of the artists that are performing,
(15:05):
we have invited students from all over the Hutcheson area
to come in for part of an afternoon to learn
what did some of these artists have to do to
get on to Broadway, if they were in theater, if
they were in music or and choir or what it was,
what classes they took and where did they go to
school and how did you do that? And then we're
(15:25):
also bringing in college students that were in those same areas,
and we're going to choose three of those individuals that
are part of the college team, and they're going to
get a special VIP backstage where they're going to see
some of the set up and get to meet some
of the artists and that kind of stuff. So that's
going to be really interesting. And then Friday night is
(15:47):
our rock night. We have Pop Evil and Diamante, and
then Saturday night is our country night, and we have
Riley Green with Ella Langley. Now Riley and Ella have
a new song out, so we're really excited about possibly
hearing the two of them sing that again. That will
be Saturday, September fourteenth at seven thirty pm. And then
(16:08):
we close out the twenty twenty four Kansas State Fair
with the Oakridge Boys with Rockland Road and that'll be
an afternoon concert starting at three o'clock.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Oh, that sounds great, and it's air conditioned, right.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Nope, all outside yep?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Oh yeah, okay, well, okay, all right. So the Kansas
State Fair area has a lot of things happening at
the Kansas State Fair during the year. Do you know
what's coming up after the Kansas State.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Fair, Well, right after we get done, it's basically two
weeks after that, we have the Kansas Junior Livestock Show
that comes on grounds, so it's almost like reliving our
livestock show during fair time. The number of kids that
come back we do have. The Kansas State Fair does
a between five hundred and six hundred events other than
(16:58):
the Fair every year, so as soon as we get done,
we'll turn it over. We actually have racing on our
grandstand stage. Our grandstand area the friday after the fair closes,
so it's going to be a quick turnaround. We've got
other horse shows, dog shows, cat shows, all that kind
of stuff coming in, weddings, kincinnettas, So lots of stuff
that goes on here at the Kansas State Fair.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
And how many hours a day do you work?
Speaker 1 (17:24):
A lot?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I would think, so yeah, yep, okay, all right, Well,
I don't know what else to ask you. Do you
have anything else you want to.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
I've got a couple other things if I could absolutely
go ahead. The biggest thing that I will tell people
when we were talking about the Grandstand entertainment is to
make sure that you're purchasing your tickets directly from the
Kansas State Fair. If you purchase them from an outside,
third party vendor, there's not a whole lot we can
do here at the Kansas State Fair if you find
(17:54):
that they're fraudulent tickets or they're all that kind of stuff.
So the biggest thing we can tell people, yeah, it
is we've had people call in and say, you know,
I paid you know, three times more than what you're
selling them for and I want my money back. Well,
it's there's nothing we can do because we didn't sell
it to you. We don't even have access to the tickets.
(18:14):
Somebody else bought them and sold them to you. So
that's why we tell people go only to the Kansas
State Fair, click on buy tickets, follow the lead there
you're going to go out to etics and there's where
you need to buy your tickets from. Because then if
something would happen, if your your ticket would be bad
or something like that, we can reprint it very fast.
And also with that, when you buy your grandstand ticket,
(18:36):
you also get a free gate admission ticket other than
demolition derby, So I mean that's another thing. Don't buy
an admission ticket in addition to your grandstand tickets. So
a big part of it. But I would highly recommend
people going out to our website, like I said, Kansastatefair
dot com, downloading the app, finding out all the great
(18:58):
things that are going on here. There's a frequently asked
question section that has lots and lots of information, and
just come out and enjoy. It's going to be the
best ten days of Kansas fall early or summer, early fall,
and we're looking forward to having lots and lots of
people out here.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, I'll post a note for you about that ticket
thing too somewhere. Yeah, it's pletty visible, and yes, I
believe me. I'm County Fairgrounds dot net. I am aware
of what's going on. I'm lying right now. Yeah, yep, okay.
I thoroughly enjoy talking to you. It's nice to hear
what's coming up at the Kansas State Fair and firewing
the Fair, and we'll get some of that information in
(19:36):
here too, and hopefully things will work out and it
will be a great there.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Fantastic you have a great day, you Tobe Brian, Thank
you very much. Here you bet Bybie
Kansas State Fair. This is Brian.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hi, mister Brian, This is cool k from County Fairgrounds
dot net. And I guess you're the fair manager of
the Kansas State.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Fair, right I sure am, I sure.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Am, okay, And that fair is coming up on September sixth.
So one of the first questions I always ask as
a senior, but you know parking. What's the parking like?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Well, we have plenty of parking on our grounds. We
have several lots. We have lots of A and B
on the north side. We also have lots C on
the east side. As far as handicap accessible parking, we
have a whole lot on the north side by Gate
five that is strictly handicap accessible parking, so that makes
(00:43):
it a lot easier. We also have our trams that
we're are trolleys that will pick you up from the
parking lots and bring you into the gates and then
you can jump on one of the trams and that
will take your run the grounds. Or we do have
at Gate nine and at Gate five we do have
(01:07):
scooter and wheelchair rentals.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Now let's change the direction a little bit. Suppose I'm
a mother coming in there. With a bunch of kids
under the age of twelve. What would you suggest I
do first?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well, first off, I would highly suggest that you go
out to the app store and download the Kansas State
Fair new app that will give you the opportunity to
plan your day. It'll show you day by day, hour
by hour, what's going on in the grounds, who's where,
what's you know, all the different things, and this will
(01:41):
give you an opportunity to kind of plan it. It'll
it's really neat. It's got a wayfinding tool in it.
So if you want a Pronto pup, you type in
the word Pronto Pup on your favorite foods and it'll
show you where the closest one is. You hit a
button and it'll actually give you wayfinding directions to it.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Okay, So basically you're saying we can't really get lost
anymore at the Kansas State Fair.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I would say not.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yes, Hey, that's cool, that's really cool, because that's the
way things technology is headed now these days.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Absolutely right, Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Next question I would ask, even before that even came up,
would be what about restrooms around the main entrances?
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Around the main entrances, most of them are within walking
distance of the main entrances, like on the north side,
Gate five, it's probably a block inside of the gate
off of the handicap accessible lot gatecour which is our
campground entrance. There is one right there. Most of them
(02:46):
have one within a short distance of walking.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
And so that app probably tells everybody where to find
fair food then, right.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Oh, absolutely, So you just go into the app and
there is a a button there that says food Finder,
So you click on that in and up in the
search you would type in your favorite. So, if it's
a Pronto pup, you go into there, you type in
Pronto pup and it shows me that there are five
locations on the grounds for Pronto pups. And then you
(03:20):
click a button and click another button and it'll show
you how to even get to that.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
You know, I must be an ulster. I don't even
know what a Pronto pup is. What is it?
Speaker 1 (03:29):
A Pronto pup is a Kansas corn dog. It's made
with a different type of batter.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Oh, okay, what's your favorite fair food?
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Oh? I would have to say a Pronto pup or
cheese curds or I'm the old time fair food. So
and we've got lots of really cool new fair food
that's out this year. Brackets Concessions is doing a pretzel
wrapped pickle, which sounds amazing and you can They've got
different dippings including mustard cheese and Ranch Friends Food is
(04:04):
doing off of their mac and cheese truck is doing
grilled cheese Slammers, which are barbecue pork and macaronie cheese
with fried pickles and that's served on a Texas toast
with a side of tots. And then if you're into
the sweet side of it, we have do six Casadia trailer.
They're doing a S'mores casadea which is chocolate marshmallows melted
(04:28):
inside of a cassadia with more chocolate and marshmallows on
the outside. We've also got like Carrie's Beer Garden, She's
doing a burnt end brisket sandwich. She's also doing a
slow braised short ribbed sandwich. And then at Charlie's Wine
Garden and these are all kid friendly places, Charlie's doing
(04:50):
a four pack of taco burger sliders and they I mean,
all this stuff just makes my mouth selve salivate because
it sounds really good.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Okay, so there's really basically no printed maths that somebody
could get if they don't well at.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
The main gate. Yes, we still do have our visitor Guide,
which is got all of the information in there. The
only thing that we no longer print is the daily
schedule in there. The reason that is is because we
have to have that to the printer so early. It
has to be like the first part of July, and
by that time there's a lot of changes. So we're
doing a couple of different things. Either the app, or
(05:29):
you can click inside of the visitors Guide there are
some QR codes in there that will give you the
daily schedule, or we're going to also be printing up
single page daily schedules for the gates.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Okay, okay, all right, So what about grounds Ax, We've.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Got a lot of really cool ground acts again this
year at our Gotchak Park. We have the Lady Houdini.
Lady Whodini is doing a lot of the same tricks
that Houdini himself had done. We've also got Strong and Amazing,
which is a female that was on America's Got Talent.
(06:10):
She does a lot of aerial acrobats, so that's really
kind of cool. As far as roving, we've got Dinosauur Refuge.
It's a large dinosaur that will be walking around the
grounds at the Low Incorporation like Talbot Free Stage. We
have got a ton of really neat great entertainment that's
(06:34):
Kansas based and across the country, but we really start
to highlight our Kansas entertainment. We've also got Ellie Oops,
who is a roving act. We've got Kenny Ahearn. He's
got a stage set up over by the Bison Arena.
He does a family variety theater. You know, we just
got a ton of things. Monday Night we have a
(06:56):
Morgan wall In tribute band called Seventh Summer. He'll be
playing at the People's Bank and Trust Arena on Monday night.
That's a free show. We've also have Rockland Road. Now,
if you're familiar with the Oakridge Boys, of which we're
having the last Sunday, Dwayne Allen's daughter has a band
(07:17):
called Rockland Road and they open up for the Oakredge
Boys quite often, and so they'll be playing on the
ground several times and then they'll open up for the
Oakreage Boys. So yeah, lots of great things. Again, the
app has got all that information. If you go to
Kansastatefair dot com. You can break it down by day
of who all the entertainment is. So yeah, just lots
and lots of things out there. All right.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
What about one of the things that the Ferris handle
and I've always handled is the four H stuff, So
can you want to talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Sure? Absolutely. You know, we've actually expanded our four each building.
We have the Forged Centennial Hall, which is located on
the north half of the grounds and this year very
excited about this because that building is actually going to
be air conditioned, so our forage kids and parents and
extension agents are going to be very happy with that.
(08:08):
But they have expanded, and we have also created another
building just to the east of that that will have
a lot of the for Each exhibits in it as well.
So we also have our FFA building, And so kids
are very important to us out here at the Kansas
State Fair.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Now I'm gonna imagine soul. That's one of the things
that the State Fair is known for is taking care
of the kids.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yep. And this year, on the livestock side of four
H and FFA is our twenty fifth anniversary of the
Grand Drive and that is the opening weekend. That will
be a very large event. We've also got the Peterson
Farm Brothers coming in to do a free concert on
Saturday night of the Grand Drive, so that will be
(08:51):
a big draw. But also just seeing the kids out
there showing on the green chips in the show arena
and showing their prize winning animals. That's definitely the reason
that we do this is we want to see the
smiles on their faces and and you know, all the
hard work that they put into raising their animals and
getting them ready for a show. That's a big part
(09:11):
of what a state fair is, and any size fair
from the smallest little county fair to the largest state fair.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Okay, I'm curious. Are you a married nan?
Speaker 1 (09:21):
I am, yes.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Do you have kids?
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I do. I have two kids. One of them is
a junior at Fort Hay State and my other, my
oldest daughter, is the director of entertainment for the Nebraska
State Fair. So staying in a state fair business didn't
go very far in our family.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Okay, Okay from dad, all right, So geez, you've got
a lot of stuff going on here. You have pig races,
and people love pig races. Rather talk a little about that.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Sure. Yeah, so last year we weren't able to have
the pig races, but we worked it out where we
could find some additional space. From this year, they will
be located just on the south side of the Grand State,
right next to the Petting Zoo. So yes, we'll be
bringing back to Hedrick's pigs racing and we have heard
a lot of people that are very happy about bringing
you back, so we're happy that that's happening as well.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Okay, so do you have a Kernival.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yes, we have North American Midway Entertainment. They are a
phenomenal carnival, very conscious about making sure that we've got
something for all all sizes, from some of the big
extreme rides to some of the really neat kitty rides.
That we do have seven of the ten days our
Wristband days, so you can do an unlimited day pass
(10:40):
for Wristband and be able to go on there, or
if you want to just buy a fun card that
gives you so many rides or so many tickets, you
can do that as well.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
All right, now, let's talk. You have stages for entertainment
that are free during the day.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Yes, yep, we have the People's Can Trust Arena which
is on the west side of the grounds, and that
one seats about two thousand people. We've got a wide
variety of entertainment again with that stage, everything from Kansas
Bays based entertainment to youth choirs to jugglers to Ron Diamond,
(11:22):
who has been a staple here at the Kansas State
for for many many years. He has that stage. And
then we also have the Low In Corporation Stage at
Lake Talbot. It kind of mirrors what we do at
People's Bank and Trust just a little bit smaller. Stage
area doesn't have the bleacher seating. It's more grass seating
(11:42):
and some little benches, but more of a sit down
on a blanket type of a place. But both of
them are highly entertainment areas, so we bring in a
lot of fun things that keep people active. We also
have some special events that happen in some of these areas.
We do the State Championship Pedal pol contest at the
(12:06):
People's Bank and Trust Arena. We do the Pronto pup
eating contest at People's and then we do like the
spouse Calling contest over at low and Stage. So we've
got a lot of things that people can get involved
with the lip syncing contest for young kids. So yeah,
lots of things going on. You'll just have to check
out the app or the website and see all the
(12:27):
great things that happen out there.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Okay, let's talk evening entertainment. It's always important too.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
So what have we got so our Grandstand entertainment this year?
We think that our Next Tech Grandstand entertainment lineup is
just phenomenal. Obviously, we kick off on Friday September sixth
with one on A Judd and Kimberly Perry you might
go with the name Perry with the band Perry, and
(12:54):
that will be Friday, September sixth at seven thirty pm.
Kicks are still available, so make sure you get out
in the line and buy those. Saturday we have the
Goobo Dolls and they'll be performing Saturday, September seventh at
seven thirty pm and then on Sunday. Last year, we
tried something different and we think it worked very well,
(13:16):
changing up the diversity of our entertainment. At the next
Tech Grandstand, we are bringing in our Latino Afternoon again,
our Mexican Afternoon, and we have a whole group of
entertainers from mariachi bands to dancers and Oscar Garcia, who's
(13:37):
a local DJ from here in Hutchison, will be performing.
And then we have La Lanzia and Nortina and Groupolas Dichallas.
They will be performing later in the day and early evening,
so it'll be a great opportunity for our Hispanic attendees
to have an afternoon as well. So we're looking forward
(13:58):
to that Monday demolition Derby Tuesday, we have changed it
up a little bit. You know how Taylor Swift is
being such a bit in the media right now, we
don't have Taylor Swift. We can't even afford one of
our shoes. But we have Let's Sing Taylor. It's a
live band experience celebrating Taylor Swift. So this group will
(14:21):
be playing all the Taylor's songs and that the young
girls and kids that love Taylor Swift, this would be
a great opportunity to get out there and see that.
Then on Wednesdays, our Christian Night, we have Casting Crowns
with Katie Nicole again. That one we'll start at seven
point thirty, and then Thursday we are bringing back It's
a tribute band. It is Broadways Rock of Ages band.
(14:45):
It is kind of a rock series, and a lot
of these artists are part of the actual Broadways Rock
of Ages show, and so they will be here. One
of the neat things that we are doing with this
show is we're also doing a master class and what
that is is some of the artists that are performing,
(15:05):
we have invited students from all over the Hutcheson area
to come in for part of an afternoon to learn
what did some of these artists have to do to
get on to Broadway, if they were in theater, if
they were in music or and choir or what it was,
what classes they took and where did they go to
school and how did you do that? And then we're
(15:25):
also bringing in college students that were in those same areas,
and we're going to choose three of those individuals that
are part of the college team, and they're going to
get a special VIP backstage where they're going to see
some of the set up and get to meet some
of the artists and that kind of stuff. So that's
going to be really interesting. And then Friday night is
(15:47):
our rock night. We have Pop Evil and Diamante, and
then Saturday night is our country night, and we have
Riley Green with Ella Langley. Now Riley and Ella have
a new song out, so we're really excited about possibly
hearing the two of them sing that again. That will
be Saturday, September fourteenth at seven thirty pm. And then
(16:08):
we close out the twenty twenty four Kansas State Fair
with the Oakridge Boys with Rockland Road and that'll be
an afternoon concert starting at three o'clock.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Oh, that sounds great, and it's air conditioned, right.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Nope, all outside yep?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Oh yeah, okay, well, okay, all right. So the Kansas
State Fair area has a lot of things happening at
the Kansas State Fair during the year. Do you know
what's coming up after the Kansas State.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Fair, Well, right after we get done, it's basically two
weeks after that, we have the Kansas Junior Livestock Show
that comes on grounds, so it's almost like reliving our
livestock show during fair time. The number of kids that
come back we do have. The Kansas State Fair does
a between five hundred and six hundred events other than
(16:58):
the Fair every year, so as soon as we get done,
we'll turn it over. We actually have racing on our
grandstand stage. Our grandstand area the friday after the fair closes,
so it's going to be a quick turnaround. We've got
other horse shows, dog shows, cat shows, all that kind
of stuff coming in, weddings, kincinnettas, So lots of stuff
that goes on here at the Kansas State Fair.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
And how many hours a day do you work?
Speaker 1 (17:24):
A lot?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I would think, so yeah, yep, okay, all right, Well,
I don't know what else to ask you. Do you
have anything else you want to.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
I've got a couple other things if I could absolutely
go ahead. The biggest thing that I will tell people
when we were talking about the Grandstand entertainment is to
make sure that you're purchasing your tickets directly from the
Kansas State Fair. If you purchase them from an outside,
third party vendor, there's not a whole lot we can
do here at the Kansas State Fair if you find
(17:54):
that they're fraudulent tickets or they're all that kind of stuff.
So the biggest thing we can tell people, yeah, it
is we've had people call in and say, you know,
I paid you know, three times more than what you're
selling them for and I want my money back. Well,
it's there's nothing we can do because we didn't sell
it to you. We don't even have access to the tickets.
(18:14):
Somebody else bought them and sold them to you. So
that's why we tell people go only to the Kansas
State Fair, click on buy tickets, follow the lead there
you're going to go out to etics and there's where
you need to buy your tickets from. Because then if
something would happen, if your your ticket would be bad
or something like that, we can reprint it very fast.
And also with that, when you buy your grandstand ticket,
(18:36):
you also get a free gate admission ticket other than
demolition derby, So I mean that's another thing. Don't buy
an admission ticket in addition to your grandstand tickets. So
a big part of it. But I would highly recommend
people going out to our website, like I said, Kansastatefair
dot com, downloading the app, finding out all the great
(18:58):
things that are going on here. There's a frequently asked
question section that has lots and lots of information, and
just come out and enjoy. It's going to be the
best ten days of Kansas fall early or summer, early fall,
and we're looking forward to having lots and lots of
people out here.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, I'll post a note for you about that ticket
thing too somewhere. Yeah, it's pletty visible, and yes, I
believe me. I'm County Fairgrounds dot net. I am aware
of what's going on. I'm lying right now. Yeah, yep, okay.
I thoroughly enjoy talking to you. It's nice to hear
what's coming up at the Kansas State Fair and firewing
the Fair, and we'll get some of that information in
(19:36):
here too, and hopefully things will work out and it
will be a great there.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Fantastic you have a great day, you Tobe Brian, Thank
you very much. Here you bet Bybie
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