TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A
State fair rolls out new attractions
The Associated Press
HUTCHINSON — Visitors to the 90th Kansas State Fair that begins this week will see several improvements, including a permanent Sky Ride and the first tall "landmark" towers.
"Hopefully this sets the tone for what our fair patrons can expect from us," said fair general manager Bill Ogg. "We're building credibility — that we can be trusted to handle the city and county and state contributions the way they were intended."
The $36 million master plan will even include green grass.
Fair organizers have also changed some of the events that kick off the 10-day affair that runs from Sept. 6 through Sept. 15.
Instead of a Main Street parade Friday, a grand opening at Gottschalk Park will feature fair dignitaries arriving aboard the new Sky Ride, a ski-lift-type conveyance on the fair's east side.
"The parade wasn't accomplishing what we wanted it to do — be a Pied Piper to bring people onto the fairgrounds," Ogg said. "We'll try something new this year."
The traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony also may involve a 300-pound alligator, the star of the free "Kachunga and the Alligator" show at Gottschalk Park, Oga said.
The most visible changes to the fairgrounds include a new Sunflower North building identical to the Sunflower building built several years ago.
The Meadowlark Building was transformed from a utilitarian and aging steel structure to an airconditioned copy of the Sunflower buildings.
The three buildings will provide about 84,000 square feet of air-conditioned space for fairgoers and vendors, as well as for events at other times of the year.
Two new towers will serve as guideposts for fair visitors, with more planned in future years.
"The towers at the fair will give fairgoers a sense of direction and a sense of place —" Meet me
The new Sunflower North Building will take in exhibitors and vendors previously housed in the fair's two-story Commercial Building just east of Ye Old Mill.
The red brick Commercial Building this year will be home for a hands-on science exhibit called Wild Science that has been a major attraction at other fairs, said Lori Muleh, special-events coordinator for the fair.
Next year, the building will become a centerpiece food court, with walk-up food vendors and a sit-down restaurant on the second level.
at the tower at the Sunflower Building"—that may be lacking now," said Kelly McMurphy, an architect with Landmark Architects and Engineers of Hutchinson.
Several of the small food-sale shops will be moved to create an open green area where fair patrons can relax and take in the fair's atmosphere.
"We will open a lot of that up around the Old Mill," Ogg said, noting that the green area will
"Hopefully this sets the tone for what our fair patrons can expect from us. We're building credibility - that we can be trusted to handle the city and county and state contributions the way they were intended."
Bill Ogg
General Manager
become a focal point in future fairs when the master plan establishes an east-west main corridor through the fairgrounds.
And this will be the last year the Commercial Building will be known by that name. After its $1.5 million makeover, it will be known as Cottonwood Court, with seating for 440 people downstairs and 330 upstairs.
The Associated Press
SALINA — National Guard soldiers from the Salina area were welcomed home yesterday after seven months guarding U.S. military bases in Europe.
Families celebrate soldiers' return
While the 396 soldiers were away, they became the parents of 13 babies and one couple married by teleconference.
Men and women from the 2nd Battalion,137th Infantry,and the 1st Battalion,161st Field Artillery,reunited with their families yesterday afternoon after Guard officials presented them Armed Forces Reserve Medals in a ceremony at the Kansas Highway Patrol Training Center.
The soldiers landed Sunday night in Salina, and after the ceremony yesterday they were able to go home with their families.
"As we celebrate Labor Day, it's perfect to recognize the labor
of those who have operated in Operation Enduring Freedom," said Maj. Gen. Gregory Gardner, adjutant general of the Kansas National Guard.
U. S. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said he was a teenager when soldiers started coming home from the Vietnam War. Moran said the country did a "terrible job" then of recognizing the soldiers.
"As an elected official and as an American, I want to make sure we never make that mistake again," Moran said.
Short family reunions occurred Sunday night and before and during yesterday's ceremony.
Lacey Donlon and her daughter Elise, 20 months, briefly saw Donlon's husband, Sgt. Justin Donlon, before the ceremony.
"We're happy to have daddy come home and interact with his daughter," Lacey Donlon said. "When he left she couldn't walk, and now she can."