The Lope: Kansas State Fair Starts Today

Friday, September 08, 2006

Kansas State Fair Starts Today

The 2006 Kansas State Fair starts today and runs through September 17 in Hutchinson, KS.

I enjoyed covering it last year and here are some links to those posts:


Garrison Keillor visited the fair and we posted a little thing we like to call Prairie Lope Companion. I don't think we'll cover any of the grandstand shows this year, but ya never know.






Animals, bugs, rocks and minerals are a big hit with the science geek in me so I hope you enjoy Fun with Animals at the Fair.




I also got a bit Monty Python-esque on that one and you get to see Ace visiting a femme fatale in the clink.




Hypnotist Ron Diamond will be back this year; we do recommend seeing him, especially if you want to see your best friend spank herself or your neighbor chase his belly button. You can see Ron and his hypno-monkey put people through zany antics in a feature we call Pigs and Tigers and Hypno-Monkeys. Oh yeah, there were also racing pigs, performing tigers and a cool Egypto-ride.




Do you have an army?




Do you have WMD? Do we think your Estes rockets might count as WMD?




Do you have a fortress of salt-a-tude?




Do you have a tabletop ionic thing-a-ma-jigie? Better watch out, Ace goes a bit megalomanic in World Domination.




Sometimes being a cultural detective means finding out how other people live. And sometimes they live with a stainless steel commode.




See 'lopes go bad and people get wet in Friday at the fair.




National Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19 this year, just after the fair this time. Last year it fell during the fair and we were able to find this lovely prop; let's see what we come up with this time.




Last year, a behind-the-scenes tour of Ye Old Mill was the highlight of our fair visits.




This was partly because we were breathing a sign of relief that it was out of danger of demolition.




This year, it's even been fixed up a bit; that siding is new, so are the porch and the gingerbread. We're hoping it hasn't lost any of it's antique charm. You'll see a report in the next few days.




Norman the taffy puller is one of the under-appreciated icons of the fair, at least to retro-oddity lovers like me. There is another little artificial man at the fair and he lacks Norman's non-threatening quality. Stay tuned during the next few days and we'll chill you with his presence.




We'll also eat our way across the fair, and may give you a gastronomic report.




The fair can be a great place for a photographic scavenger hunt. Last year I was in a Bram Stoker sort of mood and decided to explain Nosferatulope by finding images at the fair to illustrate a passage from "Dracula."




There's also lots of free stuff at the fair, like we didn't have enough crap already. But it's free crap, do you understand...FREE! Anyway, a free picture online takes up far less space than a bag full of free phonebooks we never use, so we kept that; and here it is, presented as our last gasp of the 2005 Kansas State Fair. We might have to pick up another spent fuel rod from Wolf Creek, though...those are cool, and look great with a Homer Simpson action figure. See you out at the fairgrounds for more fun, as quirky as we can find it.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Jo said...

OMG I have just read the entire fair blog, and I have to tell you, I feel just like have been there again!
I didn't get to go to the fair this year, so thanks, Ace, for the tour.

*smooch!*

Fri Sep 22, 09:43:00 PM  

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