Kansas State Fair General Manager Bryan Schulz gave Hutch Post an update on the ways the Fair hopes to upgrade visitor experience in the coming years.
“We actually are working with Landmark Architects to see what a brand new stage area would look like inside of the racetrack,” Schulz said. “Every year, we have to bring in a portable stage and all the sound and lights that go with it. That bill is right close to $200,000 a year. If there’s a way that we could have a permanent stage, we’d probably cut that in half, if not more. Obviously, you still have to have them bring in their sound and lights, but the setup and teardown would take a lot less time and that way, we could put in other events there as well. We could bring in some other touring acts. We could do some other special events going on the grounds. It all comes down to money.”
Schulz met with the local legislative delegation on Monday as the legislature has appropriated money for the Bison Arena project and that work is underway.
“We are in the midst of phase one,” Schulz said. “Phase one is basically the new roof, new windows, new doors, working out all the brick work, tuck pointing. We are bringing up two of the sides. They were starting to sink a little bit. We leveled that all out and there’s some interior work. That is all scheduled to be done by August of 2025, and then we will be going out for phase two bidding here, I think within the next month, and that will be to do a portion of the inside that we could open that up.”
Also, there will be a change in the look of the People’s Bank and Trust Arena.
“The canopies are starting to fail a little bit,” Schulz said. “We just wanted a permanent structure because there are a lot of events that we could do on that stage, so we decided to look into putting a permanent structure there, and we just got everything finalized. So I don’t know if we’re going to get any of the footings done yet this fall, early winter, or if it’ll all take place next spring, but it’ll be a full covered grandstand over in that area now.”
The People’s Bank and Trust Arena is the second-largest venue on the grounds, second only to the Grandstand itself.
