It’s fair time in Salina. The Tri-Rivers is in full force through Saturday.

The Tri-Rivers Fair parade launched fair events Tuesday night  with the theme Fancy Like … Fair Life! Ken Wasserman was the grand marshal

The Tri-Rivers Fair royalty crowning will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Great Plains Manufacturing Convention Hall. King and queen candidates are nominated by each 4-H club in Saline County. Each will be recognized at the crowning, and first, second and third place candidates will be announced. The 2023 Tri-Rivers Fair King and Queen, along with second and third place candidates, will help assist the distribution of awards during the 4-H and open class livestock competitions throughout the Tri-Rivers Fair.

The Community Showcase will take place from 3-8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4 in the Great Plains Manufacturing Convention Hall showcasing talent from the local area.

Thursday will include evening activity geared just for kids. The Kids Pedal Tractor Pull, coordinated by M&C Pedal Power, will begin at 6:30 p.m. with registration at 5:45 p.m. outside of the Tony’s Pizza Event Center. The Kids Pedal Tractor Pull will include competition categories for kids ages 4-12, with trophies awarded. This is a qualifying event for the Kansas State Fair.

Kids can also get their face painted by face painters setting up shop outside of the Tony’s Pizza Event Center, and a Touch-A-Truck event will take place from 6-9 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot south of Tony’s Pizza Event Center for kids to explore. The Touch-A-Truck event hopes to include a school bus, semi-truck and trailer from Isaacson Truckline, tractor from LandPride, equipment from LDI and other heavy equipment and emergency response
equipment.

The Tri-Rivers Fair, in cooperation with Salina Cornhole, will host a corn hole tournament, starting at 6 p.m. Friday in the horse practice arena at the heart of the Saline County Expo Center. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m. which includes a $40 registration fee. The tournament will be a double elimination tournament with prize money distributed to first, second and third place winners.

The final day of the Tri-Rivers Fair will wrap up with a free concert celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the Peterson Farm Bros release of I’m Farming and I Grow It at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Great Plains Manufacturing Convention Center. The concert will headline a full schedule of educational opportunities spanning the day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. during a new event called a Inspiration and Innovation Showcase.

The showcase will feature Saline County businesses and organizations presenting forward thinking projects. The line-up of educational presentations includes Cory McDaniel and Brent Sadler with WCCiT with information about
cybersecurity; Emanuel Ashiedu from Salina Code Academy sharing classes available to teach computer coding; The Land Institute; Rolling Hills Zoo; the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce; Phillip Smith-Haynes, Saline County Administrator presenting about the new Saline County App and ARPA funds distribution and Jim Kowach with the City of Salina explaining the city’s goal to reduce solid waste. A legislative update featuring local representation and senators in the Kansas legislature will present at 12 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6.

With the future on stage inside Tony’s Pizza Event Center, agriculture technology of the past will be displayed outside in the south parking lot of the event center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The Kansas Tractor Club will host an antique tractor show and tractor games, with tractors arriving as early as 9 a.m.

The Tri-Rivers Fair concludes with the Draft Horse Pull at 7 p.m. Saturday in Ag Hall at the Saline County Expo Center. Tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for children ages 6-12. Doors
open at 6 p.m.

More information and updates regarding the Tri-Rivers Fair can be found at tririversfair.org.