The second day of the 2019 Great Bend Farm & Ranch Expo continued into the evening to provide more opportunities for people to come out to the Expo Complex west of town and check out hundreds of exhibits. Friday is the final day of the huge trade show, going on from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
As always, admission and parking are free to the public and there are shuttles available to move crowds across the 80 acres of vendors featuring much more than farm and ranch equipment. There are major firms as well as entrepreneurs such as Linda Skellenger, a Hutchinson woman who started Uncorked Wine Jelly in 2011 out of her curiosity to see if jelly could be made out of wine.
There are also informational booths, such as the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs and the Barton County Farm Service Agency. Marsha Gerstner and Eleanor Jahay from the FSA said people had been stopping by to ask questions about the Farm Bill that President Donald Trump signed in December.
Temperatures plummeted to the 30s Thursday after several days in the 70s and 80s. Jan Westfall at the Fuller exhibit said traffic at the show was steady but she hoped more people would be there on Friday.
J.D. Wing, the head trainer and manager of the Tee Cross horse program, is in Expo 3 again this year, demonstrating some of his training techniques and answering questions.
“Every horse is an individual,” Wing said from the saddle of a colt he is training. However, “I’ve seen certain trends in this bloodline.”
Lois Mauler from Great Bend brought her great-grandchildren Kacen (age 6) and Mila (3), to watch Wing and his horse. They came to the Expo to see the sights and maybe find something fun to eat.
“Horse training is getting a horse to do anything,” Wing told his audience. “Horsemanship is being able to overcome anything.”
Exhibitors are hoping Friday’s milder forecast of 54 degrees and sunny will bring a larger crowd for the final day of the show. Here is the schedule for Friday:
9 a.m. - Expo opens
11 a.m. - Beer garden opens
noon - K-State presentation, “Mesonet Weather Patterns & Forecasting” in Expo 3
All Day - JD Wing horse training demos in Expo 3; live show interviews and entertainment
4 p.m. - Show closes
