EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
The Five State Free Fair had an idea in 1972 to bury a time capsule and open it 50 years later.
They buried the Wilbert vault full of memories and items, and then it was forgotten. The 50-year anniversary came and went, and there was no unearthing of the capsule.
About a year ago, former Liberal resident and auctioneer Mike Gatlin inquired about the capsule since he was an employee for Tom Kitch’s funeral home when the vault was buried, but there was a snag — the vault was never marked.
For a year, speculation about the exact location swirled, with guesses ranging from just inside the Seward County Fairgrounds wall to being next to the race track.
Monday, Seward County maintenance staff decided to search for the capsule, and after taking in all the input, they opted to start checking close to the barricade separating the fan section from the racetrack.
“We dug a lot of holes,” Seward County Maintenance Director Greg Rice said. “We started by the flagpole and found a concrete slab. We thought for sure it would be under that. It wasn’t. We didn’t know at the time, but if we had gone another six feet to the south, we would have found it. But we excavated from the flag stand to the concession about five feet deep, turning dirt over and putting it back.”
They worked their way back to the wall just a few feet down from the flagman stand where they started, and they hit something solid.
“We got the end of the lid,” Rice said. “We heard it. We got the bucket out of the way and could see enough formation that we were sure that was it. We got in with shovels and found the curvature of the lid, so that’s when we were sure.”
Restlawn Cemetery sexton Brian Holmes brought the Bobcat excavator to the fairgrounds, and that was the key tool in making the discovery.
“We came out Monday morning to start looking,” Rice said. “We decided we could stand here and point at the ground all day, but we decided to bring Brian and the mini excavator from Restlawn out here. We started punching holes, and it was the perfect tool for the job.”
The vault was then hoisted out of the ground and was prepped to be opened, which was not expected to be an easy task according to Mike Hornung, the successor owner of Kitch Funeral Home which evolved from Campbell-Kitch Funeral Home to Kitch Funeral Home to Kitch-Brenneman to Brenneman to Brenneman-Hornung to Hornung over the past 52 years.
“Once they are sealed, they basically become one piece,” Hornung said.
Seward County crews were going to unseal the vault Thursday, and County Administrator April Warden said the contents would be shared with the public at 2 p.m. Friday in the Beef Barn at the Seward County Fairgrounds.
According to an article that ran in the Southwest Daily Times Aug. 19, 1972, people were able to buy the space of a shoe box inside the vault for $1.
“Anything the buyer chooses to put in the time capsule may be addressed to the family name of the buyer and may be claimed in 2022 by the nearest relative,” the article stated.
