ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
August is right around the corner, which means it is almost time for the annual Five State Fair, which will officially take place Aug. 4 through 10 at the Seward County Fairgrounds.
As Five State Fair Board member Erin Atchley tells it, there is a lot to be excited about for this year’s fair fun.
“We're bringing in a few different outdoor concerts that week, and two of the singers actually competed on 'The Voice,' which is really neat,” Atchley said. “Baker Arts Center will be hosting an art night that Tuesday evening, and there will be classes for children and adults, and Southwest Medical Center will be hosting its ice cream social that night as well, so that should be really fun. Gospel SongFest will be returning this year, on Aug. 6, and we're really excited to bring that back. We're especially excited for that Saturday because we'll have the Kids Corral, which will include a touch-a-truck event, carnival rides, a petting zoo and a few other attractions, so we're excited to see what the people say about that. We're also partnering up with Food Truck Saturdays for that Saturday, so I think that should be pretty big too, along with the KSCB Home Show. I'm so proud of what we've been able to put together, and it's been a true labor of love.”
Atchley said work will continue in terms of bringing a carnival to the fair in the future.
“As many people probably know, we were unable to bring in a full carnival for this year due to the companies being booked out until 2031, but we are keeping in contact with those companies and seeing what we can do to get on their routes in the future,” Atchley said. “And we totally get people's frustration with that, but there are so many extenuating circumstances when it comes to that, and we are working hard and legitimately remaining in contact with these companies, because we do want to have a carnival with the fair again in the future. The majority of us on the Five State Fair Board are new and just started on the board in February, so we're all still getting familiar with everything, and we didn't have as much time to be able to do certain things the community would like to see. The heart of the fair, however, is the 4-H members, they've been working so hard for the past year for fair week, so I would love to see the community's support for those children and all the hard work they've put in on their projects. But we are legitimately excited for the fair lineup we were able to put together, and I hope the community shows its support, because we want to have everyone excited not just for this year's fair, but also fairs in the future. If anyone wants to see the full schedule of events, they can visit fivestatefair.com and take a look at everything we'll have going on.”
Atchley said a goal for this year’s fair was increasing community involvement.
“One of the aspects we really wanted to highlight this year was getting the community involved. We have multiple entities and groups coming in for the touch-a-truck event, which is being hosted by the K-State Research & Extension office, and they've done a wonderful job coordinating that,” Atchley said. “We've also got a few banks coming in, Southwest Medical Center, and some other local entities. We wanted that community involvement and wanted to make the fair about the community and for everyone to know they are being heard. We know we're not always going to please everyone, but we work hard to make sure we make the fair as fun as possible for as many people as possible. I would highly encourage people to take a look at the schedule, because there's truly something for everyone. Saturday will probably be our busiest day since we'll have so much going on with the Kids Corral and Food Truck Saturdays and everything else. I would encourage people to look at the schedule and realize there is something for them that week they will enjoy. If absolutely nothing else, all the young 4-H members could use the support from the community since they've been working so, so hard on their projects. We are working hard to continue making changes to future fairs that will help elevate them.”
While this year’s fair festivities have yet to happen, Atchley said there are a few things on the radar already for next year and other future fairs.
“A big thing for us was the carnival, we did have multiple long conversations about that, and one of our members took on the responsibility of talking to the different companies and making sure we're in their ear and on their radar in terms of being interested in hiring them,” Atchley said. “There were a couple we might have been able to work with had we been on their routes, but we weren't, and they were also already solidly booked out. And we've also talked about bringing in carnival events outside of fair week, which has happened before, but the carnival being part of the fair festivities won't be happening this year. Something else that had been brought up was a demolition derby, and we had someone reach out to us about hosting one, but that also ended up not quite coming together due to various circumstances, and we didn't have the time or resources to do as much advertising/promotion as we would have liked. That's something else we definitely have on our radar for next year and something we'd love to see again.”
Overall, Atchley said, she is excited to see how this year’s fair turns out.
“We feel like we put together a pretty solid fair lineup that offers something for everyone who comes out, so I would hope to expect a lot of community turnout and involvement,” Atchley said. “Just come out and enjoy the concerts and other events, they'll be a lot of fun. The majority of the activities we'll have are free, which is always really important for us because we want families to come out and enjoy the fair and make those memories. This is actually my second time being on the Five State Fair Board, I was on the board back around 2019 or so, and it was completely different than being on the board this time around. I think that's because we all came in so late and had to bring everything together on a rather accelerated timeline compared to my first time when I was on the board starting at the beginning and saw all the planning happening. We'll have a lot of fun activities going on, and we'd love for everyone in the community to come out and give everything a chance, because I think they'll be surprised at how much we have lined up.”
