Kansas State Fair 2014: Insider’s guide from A to Z
The Kansas State Fair is so full of animals. So stuffed with food options. So packed with rides and shopping and displays and concerts and street entertainers and pigs.
It’s just so – big.
To help you whittle down the experience to 26 pieces of fair fun you simply cannot miss, we offer this guide to the Kansas State Fair, from A to Z.
A is for arm wrestling: Been pumping iron since last September? Show the fair what you’ve got at the annual Kansas Arm Wrestling Championships at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Gazebo in Gottschalk Park. (Registration begins at noon, and there’s a $10 entry fee.) Haven’t been pumping iron? No worries. It’s always fun to watch, too.
B is for butter sculpture: One of the fair’s most popular attractions is the butter sculpture. It’s made out of more than a 1,000 pounds of butter kept in a cooler in a Hutchinson grocery store. Artist Sharon BuMann has returned for her 14th year of sculpting, and she’s been working on the sculpture for a couple of weeks. But no one will know exactly what shape she has created until the fair’s opening day. Find the sculpture in the Pride of Kansas building.
C is for concerts: And the Kansas State Fair Grandstand is offering a bunch of them. The best-selling concert in this year’s lineup so far is Hunter Hayes, who will perform on Saturday. Hayes, a young country star known for the hit “Wanted,” is getting traction lately with his new album “Storyline.” The next highest-selling concerts are from rockers 3 Doors Down on Sept. 13, followed by country acts Sawyer Brown and Aaron Tippin on Sunday and then contemporary Christian singer Matthew West with Cloverton on Wednesday. Also in the lineup this year: classic rockers Cheap Trick on Friday, Country Gold on Tuesday, country singer Chris Young with Courtney Cole on Sept. 12 and a free concert featuring country singers Aaron Watson and Jack Ingram on Thursday. Concert tickets are available at http://kansasstatefair.tix.com or by calling 800-362-3247.
D is for daredevil high divers: The fair always puts a crowd-pleasing act in Gottschalk Park, from dancing bears to performing seals. This year, it will be the Daredevil High Dive Show, which will showcase divers spinning and twisting into a 9 1/2-foot-deep pool from a high dive 80 feet above. Shows will be at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. daily.
E is for Ejection Seat: The fair also is famous for bringing in one high-flying, daredevil ride that only the bravest (craziest) fairgoers attempt. This year it’s the Ejection Seat, which has been at the fair before. It puts riders in a seat attached on each side to a pole by bungee cords. The seat is let go, and it and its human contents are launched 100 feet into the air, spinning all the way.
F is for fun run: A new attraction at this year’s fair is a noncompetitive one-mile run (or walk) through the fairgrounds scheduled for Sept. 13. Only this run – called the Meadowlark Mile – will sidetrack its participants with fun fair distractions such as free-throw shooting at the Midway and a trip down the fair’s giant slide. At the end, participants will gather at Gottschalk Park for prize drawings. The race starts at 9 a.m. at the Fairgrounds Golf Range outside Gate 9 at 1920 N. Plum. Deadline for pre-registration is Wednesday. Registration is $15 for participants 13 and older and $10 for ages 6-12. Ages 5 and under can participate for free. Registration includes gate admission. To sign up, visit yprenocounty.com.
G is for “Give a Chicken a Bath”: One of the fair’s most delightfully random demonstrations is called “Give a Chicken a Bath,” and it’s intended to teach people how to, well, bathe a chicken. A certified chicken bather demonstrate at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. each day from Saturday to Sept. 13 outside the Poultry Building.
H is for hot tubs: The fair makes people want to buy hot tubs, and each year, several vendors set up their nicest ones at the Kansas State Fair. And people actually buy them, said Sue Stoecklein, commercial exhibits director. This year, they can be found inside and outside the Meadowlark Building and under the grandstand.
I is for Italian food: Stoecklein said she can’t remember the last time the fair had an Italian food vendor. But this year, it does. Mama Mia Concessions at 308 Pride of Kansas Ave. will serve meatballs on a stick, toasted ravioli, toasted cannelloni and deep-fried cheesecake.
J is for Jaffles: For 35 years, Jaffle sandwiches have been the Kansas State Fair treat everyone wants but few can actually describe. For the record, a Jaffle is a grilled, round sandwich stuffed with pizza fillings including pepperoni, ham, mozzarella and pizza sauce. Jaffles are available at 309 Grandstand Ave.
K is for Kaleigh Glanton: The Maize High graduate, who in April competed on the hit NBC singing competition “The Voice,” will perform at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Bretz and Young Injury Lawyers Arena. That show is free with fair admission.
L is for Lair White House: The little white house next to the Domestic Arts Building that once was a home to the fairgrounds’ caretaker is gone. In its place is a new big white house, this one paid for by money raised by the Kansas Fairgrounds Foundation. The two-story house not only will be the site of Friday’s 11 a.m. opening ceremonies, which typically are in Gottschalk Park, but it also will have on its bottom floor a new museum that each year will feature a different exhibit. This year’s exhibit is dedicated to former fair entertainer Bardo the Clown, portrayed by J.B. Holdren, who lived the final years of his life in a camper on the fairgrounds. He died in early 2013 at age 93. The fair has several photographs, costumes and personal items that belonged to him and will be on display.
M is for Mutton Bustin’: Young rodeo hopefuls will put their future skills on display at 7 p.m. Saturday at the annual Mutton Bustin’ event, which features 3- to 6-year-olds trying to hold on during a sheep ride.
N is for Nutella: As in deep-fried Nutella. The fair will continue its tradition of offering strange deep-fried concoctions such as this one, which features the popular hazelnut-flavored spread stuffed into a wonton wrapper with or without bananas and then deep-fried. It will be sold by Brackett Concessions at 300 Fort Riley Blvd.
O is for Oscar the Robot: He looks like he was built in 1981, but the littlest fairgoers still love Oscar the Robot, who rolls around the fairgrounds throughout the event and mysteriously is able to talk and interact with visitors.
P is for pig races: Their legs are stubby, but that doesn’t mean pigs can’t move fast, especially when a race title is on the line. The pig races, which happen five times a day on the north side of the Bison Arena, are a State Fair comedy tradition. See them daily at 10 a.m., noon, 2:30 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. (no 10 a.m. race Friday ).
Q is for quilts: Those with domestic leanings could spend hours looking at all the blue-ribbon cakes, pies, cookies, jellies, canned tomatoes, doilies and handmade clothing in the Domestic Arts Building. But one of the highlights of a visit to that building is marveling at the dozens of handmade quilts. They range from whimsical to old-fashioned, and they’ll make you wish you could cozy up with one.
R is for rabbit barn: If you skip the animal barns at the Kansas State Fair, you aren’t doing it right. City kids, in particular, will enjoy all the colorful roosters, hens, chicken and geese clucking away in the poultry barn. The swine and sheep barn also is fun, if not a little too aromatic. But the rabbit barn is something special, populated with floppy ears, fuzzy paws, pink noses and every color of bunny beauty. If you stop by at the right time, one of the 4-H kids might let you pet one, and if you fall in love, many will be for sale at the end of the fair.
S is for Skyride: The colorful ski lift on the south side of the fairgrounds is the Skyride, which was introduced in 2002 and gives riders a good view of the fairgrounds from way up high. The ride costs $4 for a one-way trip or $6 for a round trip.
T is for truck and tractor pull: Motorheads will want to check out the Outlaw Truck and Tractor Pull at 3 p.m. Sept. 14 at the grandstand. Tickets are $10 for ages 13 or older, $5 for ages 6-12 and free for ages 5 and under.
U is for under the stars: And that is where the Kansas State Fair plans to hold a screening of the hit Disney movie “Frozen.” It will start at 8 p.m. Sept. 13 at Lake Talbott. The movie will be projected onto a big screen in front of the stage.
V is for Vitamix: Shopping opportunities abound at the Kansas State Fair, which is overflowing with commercial vendors selling and demonstrating as-seen-on-TV products, bamboo sheets, ring-cleaning solutions, knives, choppers, Vitamix blenders and more. The four locations for shopping: the Sunflower North Building, the Sunflower South Building, the Meadlowlark Building and underneath the grandstand. Stoecklein has created an online guide that shows where each vendor will be and what they’ll be selling. Find it at kansasstatefair.com under the “All Depts” tab. Click on “Commercial Vendors.” Printed versions of the guides also will be available at the fair information booth.
W is for wee animals: What is cuter than a newborn calf, a little lamb or a litter of piglets? Nothing, that’s what. And every year, Kansas State Fair visitors can get a reminder – and a cuteness overload – in the birthing barn, which is filled with animals about to become mothers. It’s staffed by students and faculty from Kansas State University’s veterinary school. By the end of the fair, the building is full of tiny, new farm animal life. The center is open each day of the fair at 20th and Fort Scott Boulevard.
X is for X-tra large pumpkins: Fans of giant gourds always love to visit the giant pumpkin display in the fair’s Pride of Kansas building to see who won the title. Last year, it was Ryan Grabman, a 13-year-old who grew a 492.6-pounder, unseating six-time-winner Doug Heathman of Liberal. The state record for a pumpkin is 976.2 pounds, grown by Brian Stanley in 2007.
Y is for Ye Old Mill: Generations of fairgoers have stories about Ye Old Mill, which takes riders on a quarter-mile boat ride in pitch blackness that’s interrupted only by the sudden appearance of animatronic goblins, dragons and ghouls. This is the ride’s 99th year in operation. By the end of each fair, around 36,000 people will have ridden Ye Old Mill at $3 a pop. Some love it so much, says operator Charlie Griffin, they ride it five times a year.
Z is for zipline: In 2011, the Kansas State Fair added a zipline that transports daredevils across Lake Talbott. Last year, it was upgraded to a two-way ride. A round-trip ticket costs $10 and is available at the southeast corner of Lake Talbott.
This story was originally published September 4, 2014 at 10:08 AM with the headline "Kansas State Fair 2014: Insider’s guide from A to Z."