By ROD ZOOK
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — It is Governor's Day at the Kansas State Fair, a tradition that dates back to the very first fair. The day kicked off with the Chamber's annual breakfast where Gov. Laura Kelly spoke. Kelly spoke very little about the fair and instead took time to talk about her time as governor.
“Gov. George Hodges rode the train to Hutchinson . . . in 1913 to open the first fair,” emcee Richard Shank said. “He actually came two days after the fair started because he had a fear that it would not open at all.”
Shank also talked about the day Hutchinson Sen. Emerson Carey pushed to bring the fair to Hutchinson in 1913.
“It was an amazing day in 1913 when our senator, Emerson Carey, stood in the well of the Senate and said, 'If you will make Hutchinson the home of the official Kansas State Fair, we will give you 300 acres of prime real estate on the north edge of the city,'” Shank said. “It was what everybody wanted to hear. There were 12 cities vying to be home of the state fair, Hutchinson won out that particular day.”
Author William Allen White also visited the fair as a candidate for governor and produced one of the better quotes when the state was dealing with prohibition. White ran as an independent candidate for governor because neither of the other two candidates would denounce the Ku Klux Klan.
“White said his biggest fear was not the Klan but that he would get elected,” Shank said. “While here, he was asked about the issue of prohibition, a prominent issue of that time, and he gave the quote: ‘Kansans will vote dry as long as they can stagger to the polls to vote.’”
Here are other notable visits involving the governor: In 1961, the Today Show was broadcasting live from the fair with new Gov. John Anderson Jr. Sept. 11, 2001, Gov. Bill Graves was on the fairgrounds during the terrorist attacks on our county. Graves insisted that the fair should go on, not wanting to give in to terrorists.
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