NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Concert attendance for the Kansas State Fair was solid, according to Kansas State Fair General Manager Bryan Schulz.
"I mean, we had just shy of 4,200 for the Wynonna and Kimberly Perry," said State Fair General Manager Bryan Schulz. "The Goo Goo Dolls was about 5,500. You get to Casting Crowns and Katie Nicole for our Christian Night. We had about 42, 4,300. Then you get to Riley Green, which was about 81, almost 8,200 people in the grandstand. That's probably the biggest concert we've seen in a long time, and then the Oak Ridge Boys brought in about 2,500 people."
The Fair is going to continue with the same promoter they have used for some time.
"We're going to continue working with Romeo Entertainment Group out of Nashville," Schulz said. "They've been with us for many, many years. We put it up for an RFP. Just what they said that they could bring to the table was something that we wanted to continue with, and we saw that this last year."
Also, moving the stage farther from the main grandstand allowed for additional capacity.
"We were able to basically add up another thousand spaces for people to come and enjoy the concerts," Schulz said. "For the Riley Green concert, we actually were sitting right around that 990 spots down there. It was very comfortable still, but it gave that opportunity of being up and close with the artist. Then the stage up from that, our VIP deck, we had 20 tables of six that people could buy that included beverages and food, and then there was a standing room in there as well. Then you went up to the seated grandstand, and as that went for the Riley Green concert, that was fairly full up there as well."
With the new party pit area, a true sellout of the grandstand now would likely be able to break the 10,000 mark.