By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
The smell of funnel cakes and kettle corn filled the air in front of the Smoky Hill Museum on Saturday. The sounds of hammers striking iron and live music greeted hundreds of guests at the annual Smoky Hill Museum Street Fair.
The day began at 10 a.m. with history-themed floats downtown, followed by a chili cook-off, live music, food trucks and free entry to the Smoky Hill Museum.
"We've got some great music — all brand new bands this year," said the Smoky Hill Museum Director Susan Hawksworth. "We're just excited to see so many people here."
The musicians and bands who visited the fair's stage included Geff and Dawn Dawson, Ghost Town Revival, Jaron Bell and Nick Tayler.
At 2 p.m., Hawksworth announced the chili cook-off winners.
Out of the six stands, patrons of the fair chose Aliento de Vida BIC Church with Hector and Maribel De Leon, Xochitl Paez Cervantes, Juan Carlos and Daniel Ramos for the best chili.
Aliento de Vida won for the third year in a row.
The crowd chose Beans and Rolls for its best booth. Some comments about the winning booth included its design and the way the team interacted with chili tasters.
Besides the chili cook-off, the fair included Old West exhibits like archery, horseshoe smithing, knot tying and more.
"I like all the little activities like, I'm 26, and I want to go shoot a bow," said Katie Probst, a Salina resident who visited the street fair.
Miss Kansas High School Rodeo Queen Cheyanne Johnson helped young kids learn how to rope while volunteers taught children how to make rope by hand, allowing them to keep the cords they made.
The museum stayed open to visitors all day, and in the middle of the street, a large booth stood for children to paint small pumpkins and make paper crafts.
"(It's great to) see my daughter playing with all the different art stuff," said Salina resident Anderson Dugazon. "She's having a good time."
Geff and Dawn Dawson closed out the live music performances, and the Smoky Hill Museum kept its doors open until 5 p.m. with its featured exhibit — Fire: Embers of Discovery.