Kansas Local Custom Tips by basstbn Top 5 Page for this destination

Hot Air Ballooning

The Kansas City Hot Air Balloon Invitational is held on the final weekend of May in Gardner, Kansas. It's a colorful, family-friendly event that normally includes 20 to 24 balloon teams competing in contests and participating in evening group ascents which are great for photographers.

Website: http://kchabi.com/

The Prairie Burn

Before the coming of European settlers to the Great Plains, spring time prairie fires were a natural occurrence as a result of lightning strikes. It was nature's way of preparing the soil for new growth of the indigenous tall grasses and ridding the prairie of foreign plants. Because the vast areas of Kansas' Flint Hills are still grazing land (now beef instead of bison), ranchers annually set fire to those lands - usually in April.

If you are driving through this small vestige of the remaining prairie in the spring, you may be fortunate enough to see this burning ritual - especially awesome when seen at night. Those interested in learning more about the practice of prairie burning will find the following video (by the Emporia Gazette) helpful: www.emporiagazette.com/videos/2010/apr/18/231/

Walnut Valley Festival & Nat'l Flatpicking Contest

This is far more than a local event that takes place every September in Winfield, Kansas! The Walnut Valley Festival draws thousands of music lovers and musicians from all over the world. A week before the festival begins, you will see campers and RVs lined up for miles waiting to get into the camp ground.

The music is what it is all about, but it is a great social event, as well. 2004 was Nancy and my first visit to this festival, but we discovered that people have developed close friendships at Winfield and get together for fun, food and music yearly in September. In 2005, we returned to the festival for two days with hometown friends in tow. We have made reservations to stay three days at the '06 gathering, meeting Nancy's sister and brother-in-law. We hope to return year after year. What a great event!

The music is eclectic. My impression was that it would be primarily bluegrass, but there was much more - old time music, folk, cowboy, Celtic, gospel, a little classic accoustic rock, and some old-style country music. Saturday evening at Stage 1 in front of the fairgrounds grandstand, there was reported to be a crowd of 25,000.

See my travelogues for Winfield, Kansas, for photos.

Phone: 620.221.3250

Website: http://www.wvfest.com