There’s nothing like the smell of a Kansas county fair. Yes, the unique scents animals naturally provide are sometimes not for the faint of stomach, but the scents of funnel cakes and carnival rides, cotton candy and leather are unmistakable. 

You can’t look past the sights of a county fair, either: vibrant colors from Ferris wheels, brave bull riders testing their eight seconds and kids participating in activities and showcasing their care of animals. 

County fairs across the state provide a great opportunity to reach various types of people — there’s typically something for everyone at a county fair, and they have a unique way of connecting audiences to agriculture. Two Kansas county Farm Bureaus are finding new ways to engage fairgoers through unique competitions and added incentives. 

Labette County Mystery Bag Cooking Competition

Emily Zahurones serves on the Labette County Farm Bureau board of directors and introduced an idea for the county to add to its fair event lineup.

“I’m a native Iowan, and while I was in Iowa, I worked as a 4-H coordinator,” Zahurones says. “Something we had done was a Mystery Bag Cooking Competition at the fair. One year, it happened to be raining at the fair the day of the competition, so we had a huge crowd. People loved that it was like watching a TV show cooking competition and seeing the kids and adults having so much fun.

Zahurones got approval from the board and ran with it. With the help of 4-H leaders, the county assembled eight kids and eight adults to cook as teams of two.

During the Labette County Fair, the county Farm Bureau set up tables in the pavilion at the fairgrounds so an audience could watch the teams prepare their dishes.

“We kept it simple for the first year,” Zahurones says. “All kids were given the ingredients of pineapple, pancake mix, a can of Spam, a green pepper, an egg and a mystery ingredient — in 2023, it was licorice. These ingredients are all put into a bag, and they’re instructed to open them at the same time. Teams were also able to bring up to three sauces to use in their dish.”

The teams had 30 minutes to prepare a unique recipe.

“We had eight teams and eight very different dishes,” Zahurones says. “Not a single one was the same.”

The competition secured three judges — Joe Newland, Kansas Farm Bureau president; Kyle Zwahlen, agricultural  education instructor at Labette County High School; and Charisa Page from Frontier Farm Credit’s Parsons office.

“Judges could walk around the tables and talk to the participants to see how the teams were working together and interacting,” Zahurones says. “It was a teaching opportunity, and it was fun to see the creativity they put into their dishes.

Judges tasted each of the eight entries and provided feedback — what they liked, how the team worked together and any improvements the team could have made.

It was wonderful to see these students and adults in our community working together,” Zahurones says. “For those students to learn some basic cooking skills is imperative to their future, and having role models you can learn from and learn with is a huge benefit of the Mystery Bag Cooking Competition.”

Labette County Farm Bureau plans to keep improving and growing the competition. 

“Looking to the future, we’d love to use local ingredients and talk about where they came from and increase that agricultural knowledge with our youth,” Zahurones says. “For the first year, it was about building that connection between 4-H youth and agriculturists in our county.”

The county Farm Bureau offered a cash prize of $50 to the first-place dish, second place received $30 and third place won $20. A $10 prize was also awarded for showmanship.

The winning dish, created by 4-H member Brian Longan and Kansas Farm Bureau 3rd District Field Services Manager, John Kennedy, was coined a “Brazilian Breakfast” — an open-faced breakfast sandwich with a pancake, fried egg, pepper and fried pineapple, topped with a sweet and spicy sauce and garnished with licorice.

“My cooking partner sure was creative!” Kennedy says. 

Be sure to watch Labette County Farm Bureau’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LabetteCoKFB for details on the next Mystery Bag Cooking Competition, typically held in late July.

Dickinson County Farm Bureau buckets

In Dickinson County, the Farm Bureau board and the Farm Bureau Financial Services (FBFS) agent, Cory Powell, saw an opportunity to reach more 4-H members at the fair. 

“Prior to this new program, we would buy livestock at the fair’s auction,” Jennifer Latzke, Dickinson County Farm Bureau coordinator, says. “Our board felt like while it was a good effort, the money was only going to one kid or one family with a livestock project, and we were kind of neglecting kids with gardening or craft projects. We talked to our FBFS agent about offering premiums to any 4-H kid who had a project in the fair and was also a Farm Bureau member. He said whatever we were willing to pay as a county, he would match.”

The first year, the premium was $50 and had around 60 recipients. The program grew from that success, and the FBFS agent proposed an increase in 2022.

“We looked back and saw that we gained four or five memberships from the event, so we increased the premium to $100 per 4-H/Farm Bureau member,” Latzke says. “The agent also gave each of the kids a new ball cap.

In 2023, Powell and the county Farm Bureau partnered again to provide $100 premiums to 75 kids and gave out five-gallon buckets with scoops. The bucket featured a Kansas Farm Bureau Health Plans sticker to promote the affordable health care coverage offerings, and the scoop promoted FBFS. 

While there are some stipulations to receive the premium, the county is pleased with the impact of the offering.

“You do have to be a Farm Bureau member prior to the fair to receive the premium,” Latzke says. “But we know this impacts our community in a positive way. We’ve heard of kids putting the money in a savings account or using it to help fund their fair project for the next year.

The community also learns about the positive efforts Farm Bureau is making through the project. 

“When our livestock 4-H’ers check in, they have stall cards and we have a big Farm Bureau member sticker we put on there,” Latzke says. “You know who our Farm Bureau kids are.”

Learn more about Dickinson County Farm Bureau at www.facebook.com/DickinsonCoFarmBureauAssn and check out FBFS agent Cory Powell at www.facebook.com/CoreyPowellAgent on Facebook.

Projects all over the state

County Farm Bureaus throughout the state are involved in their county fairs in one way or another. Be sure to contact your county Farm Bureau to see what it offers or how you can get involved at www.kfb.org/contact.

YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY: