 | Faye Graves, a native Wichitan, attended school at Friends and Wichita State, concluding at Midwestern Theological Seminary. He has been active in media for many years with Channel 12, KIRL, KFDI, KOOO AM & FM (Omaha), KFRM & KICT 95, as an owner, manager, producer, director and announcer. He has served as President of the Haysville Board of Education. He has also served on several national boards of the Southern Baptist Convention. Faye currently serves as Executive Pastor and Director of Administration and Education at Immanuel Baptist Church, 1415 S. Topeka, Wichita. You may contact Faye by e-mail fmgraves@amenibc.org, or by phone at (316) 262-1452. |
Nostalgia
2012-08-29 13:37:20
Do you remember?
Q- Do you remember the earlier years at the Kansas State Fair?
A- Yes I do. This year, the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson begins on September 7th and goes on with lots of excitement through the 16th. I remember the older times at the fair when they had the Royal American Shows carnival. The carnival would arrive at the depot with a train load of fun with all the cars filled with rides and a whole bunch of equipment. Then they held a parade on Main Street to the fair grounds to show off their equipment and animals and personnel. Remember the barkers calling out like an auctioneer in stage fashion what was inside their tent that you needed to come in right now and
See? There were all sorts of thrilling shows from motorcycles running around a steel circle, many dancing and singing events, oddities that only could be seen there , and of course the game booths where you could win all kinds of prizes. Then there were the many rides including the giant ferris wheel, roller coaster, thrills riding in the sky ride chairs across the fair, and the Old Mill boat ride through a dark tunnel with creatures jumping out to scare you. We always took the miniature train ride around the fairgrounds which was a good tour to see all of the displays and buildings. There were cables everywhere connecting to rides and tents and the food vendors. The stage shows all had national personalities for you to see at night.
I remember one time, years ago, coming home to tell my wife that there was a new food introduced called tacos. You can guess how many years ago that was. Perhaps Dan and Robin Foley can give you a clue.
During the ‘50’s, 60’s and ‘70’s, I worked in both television and radio and our stations always had a booth at the fair. The radio station booth that I worked for was located right next to Hugo’s Harley- Davidson booth. This was the year that Hugo booked in Evil Kneivel where he did one of his famous jumps. This time he was going to jump over a group of big trucks . The thing about his appearance that was super interesting to me was that I had the opportunity to interview him on the radio and then to sit personally with him and just visit. He told me about how he started in this daring business and I asked him why he continued. It was common knowledge that he had been injured many times and was in pain a lot of the time. I told him that I knew that the walking stick he carried was full of liquid pain killer. He smiled and said, “I do it for the money. Today as we sit here my wife is completing the sale on a new home for us.” He made the successful jump that day.
I also was attending Immanuel Baptist Church in Wichita at that time and we were doing our weekly television show with John Click, the pastor, from the fairgrounds live on Saturday. I asked one of the Fair’s advertising men if he would ask Roy Rogers and Dale Evans if they would do an interview on our program on Saturday. When Saturday came, I asked the man if he had set up a time we could meet with them. He said he forgot and asked that I approach them at the press conference on Saturday where
all the news media would be present. After the conference had dismissed, I went up to Roy Rogers and asked if they would appear and our program and give their testimony. Roy said they only did that on their show and would not be able to do it for us that day. Well, Dale Evans was walking about five feet in front of us and she said, “What does the man want, Roy?” He told her and she said to me,” I will do it.” So I picked her up at the Baker Hotel in Hutchinson before our broadcast and she did an excellent job
of explaining that she and Roy were Christians.
I had many exciting times working at the fair and met a lot of interesting people. My wife and I always had to spend our wedding anniversary at the fair as we were married on September 14th and I had to work in one of the TV or radio booths. It always gave us lots of memories.
Don’t miss the fair this month. It is always great.
