by Marketing | Oct 5, 2023 | Shank's Take: Newsletter Column
The 2023 Kansas State Fair has come and gone creating new memories to last a lifetime. Hutchinson’s love of fairs started in 1873, the year after the city’s origin when the city hosted its first such event. In 1903, Hutchinson declared its fair the “Kansas State...
by Marketing | Aug 29, 2023 | Shank's Take: Newsletter Column
11 a.m., Friday, September 8 could be described as the “lull before the storm” in Hutchinson as several hundred will gather in the Peoples Bank and Trust Arena to open the 110th Kansas State Fair. It gives pause as to what those hearty pioneers thought on...
by Marketing | Jul 31, 2023 | Boots and Bling, Shank's Take: Newsletter Column
Attending my first Kansas State Fair in 1957 seemed like the ultimate experience to this farm boy from New Cambria in Saline County. It was not as easy in those days to make the 60-mile trip from New Cambria to Hutchinson because Interstates 70 and 35 did not exist...
by Marketing | Jul 3, 2023 | Boots and Bling, Shank's Take: Newsletter Column
The Kansas Fairgrounds Foundation, established in 2003, moved swiftly to create an annual award designed to recognize Kansans for extraordinary leadership in the livestock industry, and who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to support the Kansas State...
by Marketing | May 31, 2023 | Boots and Bling, Shank's Take: Newsletter Column
The eyes of the nation and world were on Hutchinson June 23, 1923, as the Salt City and Kansas State Fair made final preparations to welcome President Warren G. Harding to Reno County. Arriving in Hutchinson by train promptly at 10 a.m., the presidential...
by Marketing | May 4, 2023 | Boots and Bling, Shank's Take: Newsletter Column
In 2003, a small group of civic activists and Kansas State Fair boosters met to form a foundation to do something extra to preserve, enhance and improve the Kansas State Fairgrounds. This new organization would be known as the Kansas Fairgrounds Foundation. Two...