Fair-goer Jackie Long believes Kansas is known for agriculture and aircraft. And at the state fair, people from all over experience this, with some traveling all the way from New York and others enjoying the day off of school.

“I think it’s amazing someone can sculpt something completely out of butter,” Macksville elementary teacher Channi Miller said of the butter sculpture.

The butter sculpture is one of the Pride of Kansas exhibits that shows what Kansans take pride in and, according to fair goers, what captures the essence of Kansas.

“It’s very detailed with everything on it,” Jungle Park Elementary student Justice Messersmith said. “Took a lot of time out of everything (the sculptor’s) supposed to do, and I think it’s amazing.”

While the sculpture itself was mesmerizing, spectators think it is more than art.

Long thinks the butter sculpture shows hard work, through both the sculptor and the sculpture itself.

The butter sculpture shows “a little girl, very determined. Somehow she got that pumpkin on (the trailer),” Long said.

Ron and Roberta Seiler thought the tractor represented the farming community in Kansas and the work farmers put in.

“When I was a kid, we’d actually pull a trailer like that with 80 (hay) bales on the trailer,” Ron Seiler said. “I always tell my son when he goes to the gym and he works out and I say, ‘we worked out, too.’”

The largest pumpkin contest is another exhibit in the Pride of Kansas building. Born and raised in Kansas, Leon Archer attends the state fair every year, and his favorite part is the pumpkin contest.

Although each exhibit had a different primary goal, they all put the work into them that Long believes is a vital part of Kansans.

The Kansas Wheat Commission’s goal was to promote the Kansas wheat industry, milling industries and homemade baking. Nutrition Educator Cindy Falk also loves making the contestants in the National Competition of Breads feel welcome.

Reese Gehringer, president of the Buffalo Association, has been a member for around 20 years and, like Falk, he takes pride in what he does. His dad owned buffalo since before Gehringer was born, and he grew up with them. He sees buffalo as ingrained in the history of Kansas.

“The animal itself is a very majestic animal in tune with grasses here in Kansas since the animal themselves grew up with the Great Plains,” Gehringer said.

Each person had a different experience at the fair, but with the experience, came special memories.

“One year I entered a charcoal drawing, and I won a blue ribbon,” Candi Means said. “I thought it was the coolest thing ever to see my picture on the wall.”