HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Those who attend the Billy Currington concert Sept. 7, at the Kansas State Fair’s Nex-Tech Wireless Grandstand should come early and be prepared to wait just a little bit longer to get to their seats. The fair announced Thursday that they will have security checks for the concert.
The Fair has routinely upgraded its security, staffing and surveillance with the aim of ensuring the event remains a great memory for those who attend. “More entertainers are putting these provisions in their contracts. If we are going to continue to get popular entertainment at Kansas State Fair, we may need to have the same security measures that similar venues already have in place. It is a practice entertainers and spectators have grown to expect and accept,” Fair’s Director of Marketing Amy Bickel said.
The Currington contract only calls for bag checks and prohibited certain items, most of which are already prohibited. The contract also prohibits firearms.
“This is complicated a little by the Kansas law,” General Manager Robin Jennison said.
“Kansas has long had a philosophy that if you are going to take someone’s ability for personal protection away from them, you need to provide adequate security measures.”
Adequate security measures include armed security and electronic equipment to check for
firearms, he said. The professional security firm, 360 Security, that is responsible for security at the concerts, will perform the bag checks. Guests will also be subject to metal detector screenings using wands to provide adequate security.
To better control access to the grandstand on this evening, the fair will only use the two
entrances inside the grandstand, plus the outside south entrance as an ADA entrance and for those going to the two Partner on the Patio areas. Both inside entrances have two lanes for a total of four lanes inside.
The grandstand opens at 6 p.m. for this concert. Even though the fair believes they have made plans to efficiently perform the security checks at the inside entrances, it is prepared to open the north and south outside grandstand entrances, as well, to accommodate the concert’s growing ticket sales.