By Brenna Eller
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Many bands from across the state traveled near and far to perform and march at the Kansas State Fair the past three days. On Wednesday, Sept. 13, from 8 a.m. until about 1 p.m., 24 bands performed at the People’s Bank and Trust Arena for judges sitting up in the stands. They also marched on the fairgrounds heading to the performance as well.
Richard Shank was the emcee for the bands this week and shared where each band was from before they performed. He also thanked the bands for coming to the fair as they left. Especially those that traveled from far distances.
If you didn’t see a particular band perform at the arena, they most likely opted to just march and perform around the fairgrounds. Smoky Valley High School was one example of a school that just marched the fairgrounds.
Shank would point out jokingly as a band passed by the arena, “I guess they don’t like our company.”
There were originally 45 bands expected to be on the fairgrounds today and the largest band was Andover Middle School with 145 band members. The Andover Middle School performed at the Peoples Bank Arena, and they brought a large crowd of support with them as did many other schools.
Bands marched to the arena from morning to afternoon from places like Fairfield, Caney, Kingman, Baldwin City, Leon, Sedan, Winfield and many more. Circle Middle School and Circle High School had separate performances.
The smallest band that performed Wednesday was the Lyons AFJROTC band, with 4 members.
One of the more unique performances came from Caney Valley High School. In the middle of their performance Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” they yelled, “ahh” and surprised the audience, and the judges laughed. Then they played “I Want You Back” afterward. The band also had shirts with the members’ names on the back and underneath was a silhouette of Michael Jackson.
Many like Caney’s band were original with style and music choice too.
Unlike Monday, the performers Wednesday didn’t have to endure inclement weather.
It’s starting to feel more like fall, which makes seeing the pumpkins at the Pride of Kansas Building all the more pleasant.
If you haven’t taken a look at this year’s heaviest pumpkin, it is a sight to behold as well as the butter sculpture by Sarah Pratt of Des Moines, Iowa.
The sculpture, which is entirely made out of butter, is of Amelia Earhart, with the front of an airplane coming out of a wall of butter behind her, sunflowers to her left and words behind her on her right, “There’s more to life than being a passenger,” and on the left, behind the sunflowers it says, “To The Stars Through Difficulties.” The words are carved into the walls of butter.
