Olathe gearing up for festival

OLATHE —Since 1992, Olathe has held its annual Olathe Sweet Corn Festival. The festival features live entertainment, crafts, carnival games, rides and, of course, "Olathe Sweet" sweet corn.

This year's festival consists of two activity-packed days, Friday, Aug. 1, and Saturday, Aug. 2.

Friday's events will be held in downtown Olathe. The Olathe Chamber of Commerce will host a classic car show. Registration starts at 2 p.m. and the event ends at 7 p.m.

"Anybody with a car that they would like to show off, an antique or something they are restoring, can come and get to visit with other car enthusiasts," said Jerra Grett, Olathe Chamber of Commerce member.

The show welcomes motorcycles as well.

There will be a few food vendors at the event, including funnel cakes, popcorn and cotton candy.

In years past, a burnout was held following the car show. "The burnout is when everyone gets together and they squeal their tires as loud as they can, all at one time," said Grett.

Unfortunately, the burnout will not be held this year.

"There were some liability issues that were prohibiting us from having the burnout this year," said Bobbi Sale, special events director for the town of Olathe.

"We are sorry for that because we know people love it," she said. "We are going to try to work it out so we can figure out a way to do it next year."

After the car show, the Chamber is sponsoring a street dance.

"It is a good family event and hopefully it will be a good kickoff for the festival," said Grett.

Saturday is the day for vendors, rides, music and free corn. The festival gates open at 9 a.m. All events are at the Olathe Community Park at 420 Horton Ave. in Olathe.

“The reason people come to the festival is the two C’s, the corn and the concert," said Sale. "Everything else is just frosting.”

The Field of Dreams 5k Walk/ Run will be held at 7:30 a.m., as well as the Bank of Colorado Pancake Breakfast. A men's and women's corn eating contest is scheduled for 2:15 p.m.

The festival will feature around 150 craft and food vendors. "We have increased the amount of kid's attractions we are going to have by 40 percent," said Sale.

According to Sale, two different types of rides are featured at the festival. There are hard rides like mini roller coasters, and inflatable rides, such as bounce houses. The festival will have a variety of booths for children of all ages.

The big change this year is the entertainment. Country music star Travis Tritt is featured. Instead of the regular 90-minute concert, Tritt will entertain the festival crowd for two hours.

"We have never had an artist who, in their contract, said they had to have 120 minutes," said Sale. "It has always been 90 (minutes). He wants to perform longer and we are thrilled with that. That means the people are going to get more entertainment for their money."

Due to this, the fireworks will start at 11 p.m. instead of 10:30 p.m.

The David Starr band will open for Tritt at 7:30 p.m. According to Sale, Starr is out of Paonia and has been in the music industry for many years.

“We are going to have continuous live entertainment on two stages. One of the stages features the Western Slope Karaoke Championship,” said Sale.

The championship begins at 9 a.m. and the finals are at 4:30 p.m. on the main stage.

This year, the main stage sound system has been completely refigured. The speakers will no longer rest on the ground or the stage.

“We are doing what is called ‘flying the speakers,'” said Sale. "We are going to bring in rigging and ‘fly’ the speakers up above. There will not be any obstacles in the way of the sound, so there will be no dead spots,” she said.

Repeaters also will be set up so audience members in the back can hear the sound just as clearly as those seated in front.

The presenting sponsor for the festival is Alpine Bank. Pepsi, DMEA, National Rent-a-Car and Scott’s Printing are also sponsors.

“The ticket sales are down a little bit," said Sale. "We just attributed that to the economy. People are just waiting to see if they are going to be able to squeeze out that extra little bit of money to come."

Advance tickets are $19 for adults, $14 for seniors and $4 for children. Gate prices are $22 for adults, $17 for seniors and the same for children. For more information, check www.olathesweetcornfest.com or call 1-866-363-CORN(2676).