Topeka Kansas Mid-America Fair

[@marchaney]

Thanks! My first memory of the Topeka Fairgrounds is when I was three. I remember walking through the gate onto the midway. It had a certain feel under my feet (when I wasn't being carried) and there was an amazing mix of smells. It wasn't all food, but it was all part of the experience. I remember the words "GO-RILLA!!!" coming from the loudspeaker by a huge mural depicting several sideshow attractions. It was a fascinating place to be as a young child!

[@johnfitzpatrick8883]

Sad to see the Grandstands being dismantled. Lots of great memories there at the old fairgrounds as we lived only a block away for much of our lives.

[@mikefrech1123]

I lived on Western Avenue and Douthit Street in the mid-fifties to the early sixties. My sister and I would collect empty pop bottles all week and cash them in to go to the fair and ride the rides. When it became the Mid-America Fair there was an admission charge, but there was a gate on Western south of 17th Street that nobody was watching. I remember cardboard Skelgas visors and free samples of Tums, maybe four in a package, that were on the ground everywhere. I went to the races there with my dad, too.

[@sammysincharge1036]

This is great, I had forgotten about some of those buildings....

[@lairdkelly2463]

In the building with the electric bolts over the door, in about 1953, Admiral televisions gave out a cardboard punch-out television studio with various characters and sets. Each character (and each television camera) had a strip of iron in its base and they were moved on the stage with the use of a magnet wand under the stage. I played with that for hours and hours and eighteen years later I was producing television programs in NYC. @bruce re memory #1, my favorite slogan, yelled by the homeowner, "you ought-to park at our auto-park."

[@dragonmeddler2152]

Laird Kelly Yeah, I remember the family cross-town drive to the fair each year and being fascinated with the folks living close to the fairgrounds waving yardsticks to encourage people to park in their yards. We never did it but I was always trying to get dad to pull in so I could get inside the fair sooner. Great video. I remember all of those buildings.

[@MartinRanger65]

Work for Gill concessions in the early 70s couldn’t wait till the fair came to town work in the grandstands and a brick building called the dairy🍦 bar ! Thanks for the memories👍🏼

[@marchaney]

We moved from KC to Topeka in the late 60s, when I was entering jr. high (Roosevelt). We lived at 101 N. Kendall and Mrs. Gill lived across the street at 101 S. Kendall. A kid in my Social Studies class told me about working at the circus at Municipal Auditorium - getting out of a day of school AND making some money! Then I started working the grandstands for Fairgrounds events like the super modified races (Tiger Bob Williams) and a fair concert with "some guy" who had a hit called "A Boy Named Sue!" Great memories of the Fairgrounds and my first employer.

[@lyleshoemaker2948]

The Perry American Legion & United Methodist Church had the largest dining hall across the midway from the American Royal where the dancing girls performed. It was the best dining hall on the grounds. They raised money to build the large American Legion building in Perry. My mother Una Shoemaker managed the dining hall for three years. Us High School students were allowed to skip school to help serve tables at the dining hall. Thanks for the memories.

[@lyleshoemaker2948]

That was the Royal American Shows where the Girls performed and thy all ate at the Legion Dining Hall.

[@sharpsharp5555]

Awesome place. Olivia newton John and Mac Davis back in Sept of 74

[@bttrflygal]

I saw BJ Thomas one year .

[@kristlebox84]

I have a great Uncle who worked at this fair. Story goes, he was robbed and killed leaving one night I think in 1968. His name was Al Taylor.