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Alton Jubilee, Alton (36 years, 1985 to present). The two-day annual celebration was first held to honor the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of Alton. Since then it has evolved into the city’s primary summer event. A highlight of the Jubilee is the Saturday night play/musical, put on by citizens of the town.
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Alton Sunrise Service, Sumner Township (73 years, 1948 to present). This annual event has been held the morning of Easter Sunday at the Alton Bluffs, located a mile south of Alton, Kansas. First held atop the Bluffs, it was moved to a lower location in 1950 due to the cold winds. A pageant was also added. In 1951 a breakfast was added to the program.
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Downs Celebration, Downs (142 years, 1879 to present). The longest-held Festival or Event in Osborne County, the Downs Celebration was started to celebrate the founding of the city of Downs in July 1879. By 1900 it was not unusual having crowds of up to 10,000 people attending the three-day event from across northern Kansas, with special trains bringing in still other attendees from many other places. Held along the railroad tracks that were instrumental in the town’s founding, the Celebration in recent years has expanded to include the annual gathering of the Downs High School alumni.
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Meadowlark Storytelling Festival, Downs (29 years, 1992 to present). When professional storyteller Joyce Koops learned that there was not an official Kansas State Storytelling Festival, she sought local support to establish one in Downs. Held each April, the annual Festival features professional storytellers and performers from across the United States as well as a revolving local group of amateurs.
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Miss Solomon Valley Scholarship Pageant, Downs (33 years, 1967 to 2000). The brainchild of the Downs Rotary Club was an annual event that attracted contestants from a 12-county area – Osborne, Phillips, Rooks Ellis, Smith, Russell, Jewell, Mitchell, Lincoln, Republic, Cloud, and Ottawa. The winner of the Pageant automatically earned a place in the Miss Kansas Pageant, which is operated by the Miss America Pageant organization. A declining number of entrants eventually led to the pageant’s demise.
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Mount Ayr Camp Meeting, Mount Ayr Township (117 years, 1904 to present). The Mountayr Holiness Association held the first Holiness Camp Meeting for ten days in a tent on June 9-19, 1904, in Oreste Winslow’s grove, located a half mile south of the Mount Ayr Cemetery. Excellent attendance inspired the church to hold it again the next year. In 1905 additional tents were made available for rent to accommodate those attending from a distance. All subsequent meetings were held in the grove until 1944, when a new site was bought a half mile west and a wooden tabernacle building erected on the new grounds. The building has been the site for the annual event held for ten days each June for the last 77 years.
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Natoma Auto-Horse Race, Natoma (August 21, 1913). The following announcement of a unique contest came in an advertisement for Natoma’s Second Annual Picnic, which was set to be held on August 20-21-22, 1913:
The novel event created quite a buzz among the populace and ignited debates everywhere. Which would be faster, the reliable horse or that newfangled invention prone to breaking down known as the automobile? Bets made on the event were said to be almost entirely in favor of the horse.
Anticipation grew until an enormous crowd lined the course on race day. They roared their encouragement as McEwen drove his own Ford Runabout against F. E. Sarver’s race horse, rode by Will Winters. The horse led nearly the entire race but, with only a block to go, the car passed the horse on the final stretch as the crowd watched in shock. Only a select few realized that what they had just witnessed was a symbolic passing from the horse age to the machine age on the prairie.
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Natoma Labor Day Celebration, Natoma (83 years, 1938 to present). Natoma’s annual civic celebration has proved to be very popular throughout its long history. Events are regularly held in the city park, the downtown, and at other locations across the community.
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Osborne County Fair (first), Osborne (7 years, 1872-1879). The first annual Osborne County Fair was sponsored by the Osborne County Agricultural Society and held over two days in October 1872 on the public square in and around the courthouse in Osborne. An estimated five hundred persons were in attendance. The 1873 fair was also a success. After not holding a fair in 1874 it returned in 1875. The September fair was noted for the first premium on bread and butter being awarded to Mrs. J. W. Addison and a diploma to T. H. Cunningham for best tanned robe. There was a distinct lack of interest in the 1877 fair and the 1878 fair failed as well due to poor crops that year. For the September 1879 fair the Agricultural Society brought the Beloit band in as an attraction, but the crowds stayed away and the Society then decided to close the fair permanently.
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Osborne County 4-H/Free Fair (second), Osborne (86 years, 1935 to present). The second Osborne County Fair was conceived as a way for the numerous county 4-H club members to show off the projects they had worked on all year. It grew rapidly and over the years added FFA, EHU, and Open classes. A sharp decline in 4-H activity eventually led to a name change from 4-H to Free. The fair was long held during the first week of August but for the past 20 years has been held the last week of July.
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Solomon Valley Gun Show, Downs & Osborne (14 years, 1968 to 1982). This two-day event was for several years sponsored by both the Solomon Valley Gun Collectors and the Osborne Area Chamber of Commerce. It was started in Osborne and overseen for many years by internationally known cartridge collector and expert (and Osborne County Hall of Famer) Frank Wheeler. For the first few years both a spring and then a fall show were held. Beginning in the early 1970s the Gun Show was held periodically in Downs as well. The first show of its kind ever held in North Central Kansas, in its peak years the Gun Show attracted over 150 presenters from four states or more and drew crowds of well over 1,000. Many things besides guns and cartridges could be found at these shows, coins, stamps, antiques, books and more. After Wheeler’s death first Mike Desmarteau and later Max Goheen oversaw the event until the decision to end it in 1982.
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Osborne County Kansas Hall of Fame Honors - 2021 