Paul Scheil remembers the good ol’ days of camping outside to earn a vendor spot at Santa-Cali-Gon Days.
Scheil, booth coordinator for St. Paul United Methodist Church and a Santa-Cali-Gon Days volunteer for more than 20 years, said the church and about 10 other organizations would wait outside the Independence Chamber of Commerce’s former office on South Main Street, eager to secure a coveted spot at the festival that attracts thousands of attendees. The United Methodist Church aimed to protect its location at South Liberty Street and West Lexington Avenue, where the booth has remained for 23 years.
“That was just a part of Santa-Cali-Gon then,” Scheil said Friday afternoon during a quieter moment of the 38th annual festival that continues today through Monday. “The festival has evolved, just like working in a booth has evolved.”
Selling food items like Polish and Cajun sausages and hot dogs, one aspect of the United Methodist Church’s booth that has evolved is the inclusion of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts troops’ volunteerism. In the early years, only church congregation members volunteered, but as the majority of the members aged, the scout troops provided “some warm bodies in the booth to keep it going,” Scheil said.
“When I entice people to get them to work, I tell them it’s one of the best places to people watch,” he said, smiling. “You’ll see it all.”
Despite rain and mild thunderstorms Thursday night, Friday showcased better weather with sunny, clear skies and temperatures near 75 degrees. However, wind gusts of up to 20 mph briefly hindered vendors setting up their booths on Friday morning.
“Ah, this is beautiful weather – it sure beats this time last year,” Scheil said. “I remember years when it was near 100 every day – but not this year.”
Forecasts for today and Sunday call for highs in the mid-80s and sunny skies. On Monday, partly cloudy skies will give way to highs in the upper 80s.
Looking across the Square toward the historic Jackson County Truman Courthouse, Scheil said he misses the trees that once surrounded the building but were removed in 2009 as part of a renovation project.
“When they were up, I missed seeing the clock,” he said, “but now that they’re down, it’s bittersweet because of the shade they provided for people.”
But Scheil also favors the widened streets that came out of the renovation project because even the booth coordinators like Scheil have their favorite Santa-Cali-Gon Days spots.
“I try to not eat every meal here,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s hard to force one of those Polish sausages down for breakfast.”
About 225,000 people attend the festival annually, and chamber officials are expecting record crowds this year, according to Terri Steele, the fair board chairwoman who is entering her 14th year of volunteering on the fair board. Throughout the weekend, chamber officials take aerial views on the roof that overlooks the Main Stage and carnival areas for crowd estimations.
“When we’re looking at Maple and Main and when you see no concrete, you know we’re at capacity. The good weather is definitely drawing the crowds,” Steele said. “So far, so good.”
Visit www.santacaligon.com or call 816-252-4745 for complete details on the 38th annual Santa-Cali-Gon Days.
Using your senses at Santa-Cali-Gon
TASTE: Among the essential items for Santa-Cali-Gon Days attendees is an empty stomach. Classic fair-style foods like hot dogs and funnel cakes are present, but then there are combinations like Messiah Lutheran School’s fried Pepsi mini doughnuts. A combination of water and Pepsi is used in the doughnut batter at this booth on Liberty Street directly across from the Andrew Jackson statue.
“I think it’s great because you have such a variety of choices,” Jorjana Pohlman, a Messiah Lutheran School board member, says of the weekend’s food booths. “Everyone has to have an angle in what’s fried out here.”
Now in its third year at Santa-Cali-Gon Days, proceeds from the doughnut sales benefit new technologies and computers at the Independence preschool through eighth grade school.
TOUCH: Past Santa-Cali-Gon attendees may remember the wax hand mold vendor, but this year, Kansas City’s Matt and Debbie Englebrake are putting a different spin on capturing one’s hands in time. (A hand wax vendor is available on West Maple Avenue just west of Liberty Street.)
In their first year as vendors at the festival, the Englebrakes bring their booth, Forever Hands, to the corner of Main Street and Lexington Avenue. With a permanent casting, people of all ages may capture their hands, including such details as wedding rings, fingernails, and yes, even age spots.
“I can attest to that,” Matt says, comparing his hand to a casting, showcasing the age spots. “Some people don’t want to do it because it shows so much detail.”
They might be vendor rookies, but the Englebrakes have attended Santa-Cali-Gon Days for years, Matt says.
“I don’t know a year that my wife has missed, whether it’s been raining or 102 degrees,” he says, smiling.
SMELL: Walk west down West Lexington Avenue, and inhale deeply. Gator, shrimp and chicken on a stick will fill your lungs. Take a few more steps, and such smells are followed up with fried Twinkies, fried candy bars and apple fritters. They are the smells that you most likely only experience once a year – and they round out the signature Santa-Cali-Gon Days scent.
HEAR: It’s country music all weekend long, whether it comes from a live broadcast of stations like KFKF-FM 94.1 and Q104 or the lineup of acts that continues at 5:30 p.m. at the Main Stage near Lynn Street and Lexington Avenue.
Listen for Travis Marvin and Hammer Down; Steel Magnolia; and Easton Corbin tonight. On Sunday, also starting at 5:30 p.m., look for Kansas City-based Outlaw Jim and the Whiskey Benders; Michael Twitty, son of legendary country singer Conway Twitty; and Ash Bowers. Rounding out the weekend starting at noon Monday are Rustic Heart; Six Degrees West; and LoCash Cowboys.
Per the festival’s tradition, admission is free to all shows.
