Fair’s rock, country concerts entertain thousands; 11% increase at carnival

    After a 2020 year with most Chase County Fair events cancelled, the return of a full week-long 2021 event was highly anticipated.
    It didn’t disappoint.
    The Friday and Saturday concerts featured rock one night and country the next, as Hairball and Granger Smith headlined the grandstand shows.
    Granger Smith with special guest the Josh Abbott Band sold 2,715 tickets on Saturday.
    A report from fairboard member Jakob Burke shows 300 more tickets were sold—a total of 1,843—for the Hairball/Romero concert Friday compared to Hairball’s shortenend 2019 appearance here.
    “Our concert attendance was right around where we expected it to be,” Burke said.
    A storm system moving right at Chase County before Saturday’s concert caused fairboard members some concern, he said.
    “We were monitoring it very closely, but didn’t have to change anything,” he said.
    A few rain drops fell on the crowd as people waited for Granger Smith to come on stage, after the sun shone for much of Josh Abbott Band’s performance.
    Heart of America Carnival personnel told fair board members they experienced an 11% increase compared to 2019, the last time they were here.
    Sales of 945 mega-ride passes were recorded at the fair’s ticket office, Burke said.    
    Burke said he’s not sure why the big carnival increase, but the void last year due to COVID may be a factor.
    “I just think people were ready to get out and do things,” he said.
    He said the threatening weather Saturday night led carnival officials to shut down some of the taller, larger rides. Some were reopened after it passed, Burke said.
    Numbers were down a bit for Thursday’s Heartland Pulling Series Tractor Pull and Sunday afternoon’s demolition derby.
    Burke said 535 tickets were sold for the tractor pull, while the Imperial Jaycees demo derby drew 456 ticket buyers.
    The fairboard plans to keep those events on the same days in 2022.
    Temperatures earlier in the week were warmer, including a 100-degree reading Aug. 9, and may have affected traffic on the grounds, Burke said. It cooled down a bit later in the week for a weekend packed with events.
    The parade Saturday morning, coordinated by the Imperial Chamber, had close to 40 entries as crowds lined the streets on the route through downtown.
    Normally, the fair expo space is either sold out or close to it. However, with no expo in 2020, standing reservations for this year were down, leaving some open space.
    But as the fair drew near, Expo Director Ed Cupp said he got a flurry of calls from vendors right before the fair and sold out expo space again this year.
    Another highlight was the 4-H/FFA livestock auction, which drew a packed house in the show arena.
    Strong support made this year’s auction one of the best on record for the program.
    Dates for next year’s fair will be Aug. 7-14, 2022.