Barton County Events

GREAT BEND 2021

September

28....................23rd Annual Great Bend Tribune’s Women’s Expo 24-25 ..............SRCA Races *Summer Street Stroll Season Ends

October

1......................F&E Auto Auction 2......................Rosewood Rodeo 3......................Beef N’ Brew 8-9 ..................SRCA Races 16....................Walk To End Alzheimer’s 22-23 ..............SRCA Races 30....................Downtown Halloween Parade

November

6......................Explore GB Month: Mingling & Mimosas 13....................Explore GB Month: Open Houses 20....................Explore GB Month: Find A Turkey 20....................SRCA Awards Banquet 26....................Explore GB Month: Black Friday 27....................Home for the Holidays Festival & Parade - Cookie Contest - Small Business Saturday - Explore Great Bend Month Winner Chosen - Santas Around the World Opens - Trail of Lights Begins

December

1......................Hometown Rewards Starts 20....................Last Day for Santas Around the World 20....................Santa leaves for the North Pole 30....................Last Day for Ice Skating 31....................Trail of Lights End

2022

January

15.....................Central Kansas Health & Wellness Expo 15.....................Cabin Fever Relief Sale

February

1.......................I Heart GB Promo 5.......................CASA Chocolate Auction 19.....................Chamber of Commerce Banquet 2.......................I Heart GB Promo Final Winner Chosen 26.....................Sunfl ower Diversifi ed Services Gala

March

17.....................Ladies Night Out 19-20 ..............Eagle Communications Home & Garden Expo 19.....................Dilly & Doc Pop-Up Market 25.....................Family Crisis Center’s Bunco Night

April

6-8 ...................Farm, Ranch and Hemp Expo 9.......................Stores Pay The Sales Tax Promo 9.......................M&M Craft Fair 28.....................BCC Job Fest 29.....................Catholic Charities Wine Tasting

May

4-7 ...................KCAC Championship Tournament 5.......................Art & Wine Walk 7.......................Cinco De Mayo in the Square 12.....................Summer Street Stroll Starts 26-27 ...............KSHSAA 2-1A State Baseball Championship

June

1-15 .................June Jaunt Monopoly In Stores 3-5 ...................June Jaunt Festival 3.......................Free Outdoor Movie 10.....................Barton County Relay for Life

July

3.......................City Fireworks Display 5-9 ...................Barton County Fair 14-16 ...............Summer Sidewalk Sale 22-29 ...............Christmas in July 23.....................Bike Brew Q

August

11.....................Ladies Night Out 13.....................Party in the Park 20.....................United Way Kickoff

For more events go to the following websites: www.greatbendks.net www.exploregreatbend.com www.greatbend.org ALBERT 2022

March

TBD .................Pancake Feed Fundraiser and Raffl e

All Schedules Subject To Change.

CLAFLIN 2021

December

TBD .................Christmas Events TBD

ELLINWOOD 2021

September

23....................Ladies Night Out on the Brick Streets 25....................Fall City Wide Garage Sales Main Street Sidewalk Sales

December

5......................9th Annual Christkindlmarket

2022

April

30....................Spring City Wide Garage Sales

July

14-16 ..............49th Annual After Harvest Festival

Ellinwood Chamber of Commerce: www.ellinwoodchamber.com

HOISINGTON 2022

September

2-5 ..................126th Annual Labor Day Celebration

Hoisington Chamber of Commerce: www.hoisingtonkansas.com

GREAT BEND CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU

Th e Great Bend Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) is located inside the front of the Great Bend Events Center at 3111 10th Street. Th e offi ce is perfectly located with the Events Center because CVB staff books and bids on big events and conventions for the Events Center and Great Bend in general. Th e Events Center is designated as a Kansas Travel Information Center which partners with State Travel & Tourism which is a resource for the State of Kansas tourism opportunities.

Since 2019, major renovations have been a goal for the Great Bend Events Center. In 2021, the City offi cially opened the newly renovated back area as breakout rooms, extra offi ce space and it now is the home of the Great Bend Economic Development (a separate entity working to better Great Bend). Th e next goal is to completely update the front bathrooms.

Th e CVB is part of Community Coordinator/CVB Director Christina Hayes’ department. CVB staff includes Emily Goad, Visitor Coordinator and Missy Pfl oughouft , Visitor Representative. Th e CVB is 100% funded by Transient Guest Tax from hotel stays and 1% of that Guest Tax helps fund the Events Center along with revenue from events. Th e Great Bend City Council still strives to make the Events Center a premier event location for our area to improve the quality of life of residents! Larami Parsons, Administrative Assistant is another staff member that is located down at City Hall.

Th e staff works hard to promote Great Bend in various ways. Christina’s goals for her department include getting Great Bend’s attractions, events, fun things to do and places to stay out to a bigger area of the state, Recruitment of new conventions, tournaments and meetings to town. Continue to provide hospitality program for hotels, gas stations, businesses and doctors’ offi ces so the front lines of our community know what’s happening in town.

Every two years the CVB will design and distribute a new Visitor Guide for Great Bend, get our community’s name out there as a real presence in the state, eff ectively market and promote the Events Center as the premier location for Events and work with the area to bring people to our wonderful town!

CVB Board Members

Chairperson: Allene Owen, Vice Chair: Mark Mingenback Members: Wally Eldridge Lacey Scholfi eld Jan Westfall Jolene Biggs Kyle Walters Claudia Elsen Loren Unruh Cory & Katie Zimmerman Diann Henderson Curtis Wolf Non-voting members: Mayor Cody Schmidt Kendal Francis Megan Barfi eld Sara Hayden Shawna Schafer Christina Hayes

Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo Kansas Wetlands Education Center Beautiful Playgrounds & Parks SRCA Drag Strip & Racing Wetlands & Wildlife National Scenic Byway Hike & Bike Trails Long Pumpkin Patch Explore Great Bend Month Santa’s Around the World Christmas Craft Mall Trail of Lights & Christmas Festival

Cheyenne Bottoms & Quivira Wetlands

Trail of Lights & Christmas Festival Wetlands Waterpark

Fun Festivals! GREAT BEND BRIT SPAUGH ZOO SRCA Dragstrip

www.exploregreatbend.com

Unique Shopping Hike & Bike Path

Great Bend Airfest