Kansas Sampler Festival will highlight the best of Kansas

The Kansas Sampler Festival, to be held this year at Winfield’s Island Park, is scheduled for May 7-8. And it signals the launch of the statewide travel season.

The festival, which was created to help Kansans get to know their state through travel, food and things to do, will end after 2017. The Kansas Sampler Foundation based near Inman oversees the annual festival and will continue to promote the best of Kansas.

This year’s festival continues the tradition.

“Nearly 300 exhibitors from 150 communities will help the public learn about the architecture, art, commerce, cuisine, customs, geography, history and people of Kansas when the gates open in Winfield’s Island Park,” according to a release issued last week by the foundation.

Festival hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 7 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 8. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for ages 7 to 12. Ages 6 or younger are free.

Free-standing exhibitors and cultural demonstrations include McNally Metal Design from Hardtner featuring Pake McNally showing blacksmithing skills, Paradise Ranch pack goats and mammoth donkeys from Henrick’s Exotic Animal Farm near Nickerson, live reindeer from Fulton Valley Farms near Towanda and the Old Abilene Town Gunfighters re-creating scenes and skits from the Old West.

The festival also includes musicians on three different stages, history re-enactment performers, food vendors, a wine and beer tent, two Kansas Product tents and a From the Land of Kansas tent that sells everything from honey, meat, fine art, pottery, salsa, sauerkraut, steam punk jewelry and more.

The focus of the festival is to help the public plan day trips throughout Kansas.

This story was originally published April 10, 2016 at 7:48 PM with the headline "Kansas Sampler Festival will highlight the best of Kansas."