ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The Five State Fair has officially wrapped up for another year, and overall attendance proved not even the week’s hot weather could keep people away from the festivities.

“Overall, we were excited about the fair. The total amount of people that came definitely looked like there was an increase from last year,” Five State Fair Board President KayLonni Bradley said. “There was definitely an increase in entries and participation throughout the week, which is good news. We want to continue to see that increase, and that’s what we’re all working for. We want to bring more people out to see everything people throughout the community and the Five-State area have entered, along with the 4-H members here in Seward County. We want to make it to where they’re being showcased. Overall, we thought it was a great turnout, and we hope we can continue to increase those numbers as time goes on.”

Bradley said there were many of the events throughout the week that brought people to the fairgrounds.

“The demo derby definitely had the biggest turnout and the most people throughout the whole week, which was great, and we were glad to be able to bring it back,” Bradley said. “The different food events were also big, and being able to have the free food events and the help from our sponsors throughout the week because the people were coming for those meals and then they were sticking around to see the events afterwards. Being able to line that up and tie it to different events, I feel like helped bring people out to those events. Monday night kicked everything off with the talent show, the free ice cream and the 4-H fashion revue, and this was the first time we ran out of ice cream. It was amazing to see that, and all of that continued throughout the week as far as seeing more participation and turnout than what we’ve seen for me in the past couple years, especially since most of us on the board have only been together for the past two years. We all know it was hot, and the heat plays into what kind of turnout we see. But for example, with the hot dog feed that Tuesday night, we still had plenty of people show up. We also tied that with the Farmers Olympics and the 4-H archery shoot that were going on, and it was nice because all these different things were going on at the same time, and it brought the people to where they could see all those different activities.”

With the fair having just wrapped up, Bradley said the board will take a short break before making any decisions about the 2027 festivities.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to try and bring back the events that went really, really well, and then look at new ideas for others,” Bradley said. “At the end of the day, unfortunately, the concert that Saturday night didn’t turn out how we wanted. We didn’t have a good turnout for how much we tried to bring in the culture of the community, from having the Leonard Skynyrd tribute band to a Red Dirt Country band to a Hispanic band. We wanted to bring all of the community together, but unfortunately for us, it didn’t turn out how we wanted. We thought it would be a good way to get everybody out there, and it came up short. So we probably won’t be doing that next year, but at the end of the day, we haven’t had that time yet to really decide anything for next year.”

However, that does not mean there will be a shortage of ideas for next year’s festivities, Bradley said.

“I think the Farmers Olympics went very well, and I definitely want to see that come back,” Bradley said. “With the talent show, we had a lot more there Monday night for the 4-H fashion revue, and we ended up only having one person who competed in the talent show. It would be great to be able to do that again and have more people come and participate. Different counties in the area that have different things that work for them, and sometimes it’s just a matter of reaching out to them and seeing what works for them that could potentially work for us. There are a few things I’ve seen that I might suggest or see if they would work, but again, it’s way, way too early to say anything definite.”

Bradley said anyone interested in helping with the planning for next year’s fair is more than welcome to contact her or any of the fair board members to be part of the group.

“We can only do so much, and new ideas come from new people,” Bradley said. “Having a more diverse philosophy and more ideas helps us in bring more options to the table. We will be having the association meeting in October, where we will be electing the new board members for the following year, so the board takings are for three years, and the terms are for three years. There are a total of 11 board members – six of those are part of the association and the other five are appointed by the Seward County Commission. Each year it kind of rotates on how many are the commissioners, how many are elected by the association. Anyone who wants to be part of that can call me or any of the other fair board members, or they can send us a message through the Five State Free Fair page on Facebook, and we’ll be happy to get you involved.”

Bradley said as a whole, the board is pleased with this year’s fair festivities.

“At the end of the day, the numbers are up, the participation is up, and so that’s what we want to see,” Bradley said. “We’re putting our time in to bring activities in that’ll bring people. We want to bring stuff to the community the community is going to like. We appreciate the community coming out, and we appreciate the support for the fair and hope to continue bringing in more activities the community will enjoy.”