by KARI BLURTON
Hays Post

With three days left of the Ellis County Fair, board president Jill Pfannenstiel is encouraging the community to come out and support one of Ellis County’s longest running traditions and the local youth who have worked all year on their 4-H exhibits.

“These kids would love to teach you about their animals and their sewing, their crops and arts and crafts,” Pfannenstiel said. “They are so proud of what they enter… we want people to come see what they have made and how hard they have worked all year, and they are really proud once they get those ribbons and head home with them.”

The 4-H portion of the fair will end Friday evening, with the 4-H barbecue, livestock auction and the “round robin,” an event in which Pfannenstiel said, “Champion showmen will be showing for overall grand champion.”

Pfannenstiel said this week’s rain did not drown-out one of the fair’s biggest draws,  the second night of the Kansas Professional Rodeo Association’s event, but two events were rescheduled for Thursday.

“Due to the rain all day Wednesday, we went ahead and moved the Kids Safety Fair and kids pedal pull to Thursday evening, same time, same place, out here on the midway and we invite everyone to come out here for that,” Pfannenstiel said. “The first 200 kids get a free bag of goodies, a firetruck, ambulance, all sorts of vehicles will be out here for the kids to look at…it is a real popular event.”

The Kids Safety Fair is from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., and the pedal pull starts at 7:00 p.m.

Other events scheduled to close the fair include Friday’s concert, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in which Logan Mize will open, at 7:45 p.m. Friday.

The fair will close with what Pfannenstiel said has proved to be the “biggest night” in years past, with the annual Ellis County Fair Demolition Derby, scheduled for Saturday night.

For a complete list of events and times, visit the Ellis County Fair website.