Nothing But Blue Skies
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The 2009 Kansas State Fair came to a close Sunday. This year’s beautiful and mostly rain-free week pushed memories of the soggy 2008 fair out of our minds.

Although final numbers aren’t in yet, there are many promising signs that this year’s event was an all-out success. The North American Midway experienced its best Monday in 40 years. Competitive-exhibits entry numbers were either at or above past years. We witnessed lines of fairgoers at the gates. Busy food venues. A steady stream of media in the fair’s publicity office.

Fabulous Media Partners

Whether reporters were in picking up media credentials at the publicity office, getting the scoop on the day’s happenings, setting up interviews or keying in stories – they seemed truly interested in and jazzed by the fair. They were happy to be there. We can never thank them enough for all they do to get the word out. We constantly had people ask us how to find such-and-such they’d read about in the paper, seen on TV or heard on the news. The fair could never succeed without our tremendous media partners. Thanks, guys!

Checkin’ Out the Studs

Animals remain a highlight of the Kansas State Fair. This year’s theme – Check out the Studs – reinforced the horse shows and competitions, a horse-themed quilt-block contest, and the crowd-pleasing Cavallo Equestrian Acrobatics. Rabbits, chickens, goats and other fair animals didn’t seem to mind their second billing and continued to be a big part of fairgoers’ fun.

A Fair to Remember

Be sure to check out the post show featuring Greteman Group’s own Jen Wiley and Todd Ramsey as hosts. Kansas State Fair general manager Denny Stoecklein answered all the need-to-know questions about this year’s events. (How do they figure attendance for the fair? Did Denny try the famous Pickle Pop?) Hypnotist Ron Diamond also shared thoughts on what makes the Kansas State Fair such a special place to visit. (Since Todd was one of the folks hypnotized by Ron last week, his burn question was, “Did I REALLY do that?”)

Now that the fair has come to an end, we’ll have to put our food cravings on hold for another year. (I’m already hungering for an ear of roasted corn.) In the meantime, keep in touch and be among the first to find out about next year’s entertainment via Facebook, Twitter, and the fair blog.