Dylan Jacob of Emporia swings a sledgehammer at a beat up Chevy Nova Monday evening at the Lyon County Free Fair. For $1 a person got three swings at the car.
A forlorn-looking Chevy Nova took a beating for charity Monday night as part of activities at the Lyon County Free Fair.
Organizers postponed the Pee Wee Rodeo, which was the scheduled grandstand event for the evening, but fairgoers found a host of booths and displays that were offering fun, food, entertainment and education to raise money for community projects.
The Nova, donated by West Side Auto and towed at no charge by Flint Hills Towing, was being sacrificed at three bashes for a dollar to provide scholarships for women. The fund-raiser was sponsored by the local chapter of the American Business Women’s Association.
Glass and trim had been removed to lessen the hazards inherent in sledgehammers, and the area around the car was roped off to keep bystanders at a safe distance.
“Can I headbutt it?” spectator Troy Laflin asked Roxana Johnson and Lana Richardson, ABWA members who had car-bash duties Monday evening.
Across the road in front of the Anderson Building, the Fair Improvements Committee was selling $1 tickets for drawings that will be held Saturday at the Demolition Derby. Two child-sized all-terrain vehicles — one pink and one red — will be given away. Winners need not be present, according to committee member Peggy Mast.
Money will be used for a variety of projects planned at the fairgrounds, including updates in the Quonset hut area, moving power lines and other improvements.
The ticket table will be manned through Saturday, and tickets will remain on sale during Saturday’s event.
“They’re going to have some kids go out through the grandstands before they draw,” John Mast added.
Emporia Jaycees may have the longest tenure of local civic groups; members have run a food stand near the Quonset huts since the 1960s, Jaycee Ken Hanson said.
Money from selling hamburgers, hot dogs, Frito pies and other refreshments help the group finance its basic operations, such as insurance, equipment and storage of its old fire truck. That, in turn, gives Jaycees opportunities to run a barbecue cookoff and other events throughout the year to raise money for the Kansas Cerebral Palsy Ranch, SOS and other charities.
“The fair is what kind of keeps us going yearround,” said member Sheri Brooks.
SOS’s booth inside a middle Quonset hut featured a small duck pond for children, who could pick up a numbered duck, then answer a question from a list of corresponding numbers. The questions were intended to educate the youngsters: “Should you be mean to someone who is mean to you?” SOS staff member Sharon Allemang read from the list. “If someone is making fun of you every day, are you being bullied?”
Answers were being provided Monday by Allemang and Kathleen Inwood, who handed out prizes to all of the children, no matter what their answers.
At the opposite end of the hut, Camp Alexander was raising money for camp scholarships for children, according to booth worker Crystal Karmann. Tie-dyed T-shirts and a T-shirt and water bottle set were for sale, and a donation jar sat at the edge of the table for passersby who wanted to give money instead of buying merchandise.
The Dold Team had a variety of games and products for sale to raise money for the Lyon County chapter of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. “Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back.” was the theme for the booth, where bracelets and luminaries were for sale and children could spend 25 or 50 cents to spin a wheel or pull a lollipop for prizes.
“If nothing else, they end up with a sucker,” said Joan Dold, who was running the booth with her 10-year-old daughter, Katie. The Dold Team is one of several in the county that are holding fundraisers in preparation for the Sept. 7 and 8 Relay for Life.
“Every team is trying to raise money,” Dold said, explaining that there are no prizes for the top money-raising team. “It’s not about us. It’s about money for research.”
Members of St. Catherine’s Catholic Church set up their food stand at its usual spot, between two Quonset huts at the west end. There, fairgoers lined up to buy burritos, tamales, nachos and the group’s legendary pinned tacos.
Teresa Rios said taco sales were averaging between 40 and 50 dozen a day, in addition to other items on the menu.
Money raised is used to help in church operations and missions.
The Peter Pan Playground group was selling colorful T-shirts at $12 for adult sizes and $8 for children’s.
Eric Tincher, a member of the group, said that children could make handprints or footprints on blocks for $5 each. The blocks all will become part of the new playground area being planned.
“These are going to be the towers,” Tincher said, “so when people come back in 30 years, they can say, ‘Wow! There’s my handprint.’”
Pickets also are being sold at $25 each. Buyers’ names will be put on individual pickets, which will be installed around the playground.
The Emporia Lions Club brought in the state club’s Kansas Mobile Screening Unit, to test vision, hearing, diabetes and blood pressure free of charge.
Member Bob Glover said the club has sponsored the checks several times in the past, as part of its emphasis on sight, in particular, and health in general. The club also was accepting donations of old eyeglasses, as it does throughout the year.
Nurses and emergency medical technicians from the community donated their services to the Lions to staff the screening unit, which will be open from 5 to 9 p.m. tonight before the unit moves on to another city.
Lyon County Crime Stoppers members dished up scoops of ice cream at no charge to call attention to the group’s work and perhaps raise money through a donations container sitting on the serving table.
Crime Stopper Lee Schroeder said that Dieker Dairy Distributor donated ice cream for the giveaway, as it has done for many years.
Several businesses were conducting drawings for a variety of prizes. The prize from Phillips Insurance is 15 pounds of T-bone steaks, Flint Hills Lanes will give away a “Shrek” bowling ball and the Lyon-Coffey Electric Co-Op and The Gazette both will award gasoline cards of $50 and $100, respectively.
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