No fowl but plenty of food and fun lined up for Kansas State Fair

For years, the Kansas State Fair has opened and closed in a pleasantly predictable manner.

Longtime manager Denny Stoecklein led his staff though the annual gathering of fried food vendors, 4-H competitors, stilt walkers and quilt makers. Attendance was good. Weather was decent. Nothing much unexpected happened.

That’s all changed for 2015.

When the Kansas State Fair opens in Hutchinson on Friday for its annual 10-day run, its organizers will be dealing with several curve balls.

Stoecklein resigned in June after 12 years as manager to take a job at Hutchinson Community College, leaving his former troops to put the fair together under the leadership of interim manager Lori Hart, formerly the assistant manager and a 17-year fair veteran.

Also in June, the Kansas Department of Agriculture issued an order banning poultry shows and events in the state for the rest of the year, an attempt to guard against an outbreak of avian flu.

And because of where Labor Day falls this year, the fair starts almost a week later – on Sept. 11 – than it often does.

Though that last one wasn’t necessarily a negative, Hart said with a laugh.

“We’re really thankful to have that extra week,” she said.

With the exception of the absent fowl, though, fairgoers shouldn’t notice much difference once they’re on the grounds, Hart said. The schedule is, as always, filled with a long list of big-name grandstand concerts, outrageous new food items, domestic arts contests, farm animal showings, as-seen-on-TV commercial exhibitors and hot tub and tractor salesmen.

Hart said she’s seeing plenty of small indicators that make her think this year’s fair will easily survive its curve balls.

For one, she said, grandstand ticket sales are up. As of late last week, the fair had sold about 11,000 more tickets than it had at the same time last year.

The fair added Nex-Tech Wireless as a sponsor this year, and 2015 has set a record for sponsorships, she said.

Youth livestock entry numbers are up by more than 9 percent. And last year’s attendance was up over 4 percent from 2013.

All those things combined, Hart said, give her a good feeling going into Friday.

“There’s every indication this is going to be a great one if Mother Nature holds out,” she said.

Here’s a list of some of the highlights, changes, additions and subtractions at the 2015 Kansas State Fair.

Bird-free zone

The poultry ban at this year’s fair will affect more than just the poultry barn, which in normal years is filled with roosters, hens, chickens, doves, geese and other fowl.

It also means no chicks in the birthing barn, no dove releases by magicians and no hilarious yet informative “give a chicken a bath” demonstrations by longtime chicken bather Bob Briggs.

Fair organizers aren’t going to leave the poultry barn empty, though. It will offer several educational exhibits about fowl in the barn and in the birthing center. And some 4-H exhibitors will still be able to have their birds judged via video.

Hart, who says she’ll miss the early-morning cock-a-doodle-doos coming from the poultry barn, said she can’t remember a ban this significant in her nearly two decades with the fair.

“There’s always varying degrees of bio security that we’re always aware of, but to completely eliminate a particular species – that hasn’t happened since I’ve been here.”

Grandstand shows

Hart said she’s encouraged by the strong grandstand sales. They seem to be driven in large part, she said, by the popularity of up-and-coming country singer Sam Hunt, who will be performing with Old Dominion on Sept. 13. Hunt, a former college football player who has scored radio hits with his songs “Leave the Night On,” “Take Your Time” and “House Party,” has the strongest ticket sales so far, followed by Little Big Town on Sept. 19 and comedian Gabriel Iglesias on Sept. 18.

Other grandstand acts include Three Days Grace on Friday, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts on Saturday, the Oak Ridge Boys on Sept. 15, Newsboys on Sept. 16 and Hairball on Sept. 17.

Unusual entertainers

Fair organizers always hire new entertainers to perform on the grounds, and this year they’ve found some interesting ones.

One is a walking tree, an act that organizers spotted years ago. The tree is actually a performer disguised in a lifelike tree suit who can blend into his surroundings and surprise passers-by. The only problem is that the Kansas fairgrounds’ general lack of trees will make him much more noticeable than on more wooded fairgrounds.

“He’s very large, and he can plant himself wherever he wants,” Hart said.

Rock-It the Robot, who last visited the fair in 2013, will make a return. He’s a 9-foot-3-inch modern-looking robot who roams the grounds talking to people and had a legion of little boys following him everywhere he went two years ago. Pogo Fred, a street performer who does flips and other stunts on a pogo stick, also will be there.

The fair always stations a different act in Gottschalk Park, and this year, Bruno’s Tiger Show will put on performances daily at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The show, performed by third-generation, Florida-based tiger trainer Brunon Blaszak, features Siberian and Royal Bengal tigers in a ring doing tricks.

All the usual entertainers will be back, including Oscar the Robot, the stilt walker, comic hypnotist Ron Diamond, Dr. Goddard’s Lab, the pig races and the wood carver. Butter sculptor Sharon BuMann will return, but this will be her last year. She’s slowing down to spend more time with her grandchildren, Hart said. A new butter sculptor from Iowa has been hired for the 2016 fair. This year’s sculpture will be revealed at 11 a.m. Friday. Until then, its subject matter is top secret.

Mustache and beard contest

Beware, those who attend the fair on Saturday. You may find yourself surrounded by bushy faces.

The fair is putting on its first Mustache and Beard Contest at 1 p.m. that day. The contest will include seven categories – including a humorous one for women wearing fake facial hair – and best in show. Contestants are asked to e-mail a photo of themselves to ksfbeardcomp@yahoo.com before the competition. If any category is not full on the morning of the contest, bearded folks will be able to register until noon at the Nex-Tech Wireless Stage at Lake Talbott.

The categories are natural mustache with no styling; freestyle mustache (anything goes); partial beard, with a break somewhere in the beard, including mutton chops, goatee and whaler (no styling); full beard over 6 inches (no styling); full beard under 6 inches (no styling); full beard freestyle; ladies fake facial hair (use whatever materials you like); and best in show (costume and stage presence helpful).

Midway and beyond

Thrill rides are a big draw at the fair, and attendees will find several this year.

The midway operators are bringing back the popular spinning coaster known as Crazy Mouse. Other midway rides have intimidating titles like Orbiter, Ring of Fire, Zero Gravity, Sizzler and Thunderbolt.

Off the midway, Commercial Exhibits director Sue Stoecklein has booked a few other diversions of interest.

Instead of helicopter rides, fairgoers who go exploring north of the midway will find an area designated for Zombie Paintball, where participants can save the world from a zombie apocalypse. A round costs $10 to $15. Also, in the same area, people can try platform jumps, where they fall off a 20-foot ledge onto an inflated mat, just like a stuntman on a movie set. Jumps will cost $7 apiece or $15 for three.

The fair also will have a go-kart track set up, and rides will cost $5.

The Ejection Seat, a favorite among fair daredevils, also will be back. It puts riders in a seat attached on each side to a pole by bungee cords. The seat is let go, and the riders fly and spin through the air.

Deep-fried foods

Eating at the fair is always an adventure because the vendors try to outdo themselves (and each other) with crazier and crazier culinary inventions each year. Most of them are deep fried.

Among the wild food offerings fairgoers will find this year: pumpkin spice funnel cake, double smoked bacon popcorn, Cap’n Crunch corn dogs, Oreo churros, chicken lollipops, deep-fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and jalapeno Twinkies.

Most of the fair’s usual vendors will return, with the exception of the Hutchinson Civitan Club, which sold hamburgers and hotdogs from a booth in the main food court, Cottonwood Court. They’ve decided to give up their space, but it will be filled with new coffee vendor Fair Grounds, which will serve fancy coffee house drinks, muffins and mascot cookies.

One fun addition, Sue Stoecklein said, will be a T-shirt fairgoers can buy that lists 24 must-have State Fair foods on the back – some new, some classics. Fairgoers can use them to plot a dining path through the fairgrounds and try to check off all the dishes by the fair’s end. The shirts sell at the Fountain Building souvenir stand for $12.

“I’m hoping that this T-shirt really gives people an idea,” Stoecklein said. “I’m sure that everyone comes with something they have to have, but I’d like for them to come and try something new.”

This story was originally published September 5, 2015 at 5:23 PM with the headline "No fowl but plenty of food and fun lined up for Kansas State Fair."