Greg Gerber posted on September 07, 2008 00:54
HUTCHINSON, Kansas -- The campground has the early-morning smell of coffee.But the Kansas State Fair RV Park has no perking pots over open fires. Instead, Louis Lindeman sips his morning brew at the kitchen counter of his fifth-wheel camper just outside the gates of the fairgrounds.
Lindeman and his wife, Alice, from Oakley, reserved one of the 211 full hook-ups that provide electricity, water and sewage through the duration of the Kansas State Fair.
They booked early last spring, a must for this popular campground, which brings in almost $80,000 annually to the fair.
For $375, campers stay at the park for 12 days, plus receive two gate passes every day of the fair, said Hutchinson resident Nancy Crook, who with her husband, Sonny, has been managing the park for the past nine years.
"If you subtract gate fees, it makes camping pretty cheap," Crook said.
As phones ring inside the small office, Crook informs a caller that only one space remains. After today, though, campers can rent any available space for $30 a night, plus gate passes.
"Those who want full time at the fair take preference," she said.
But no one is turned away. Instead, they are sent to dry camp - where RVs must depend on their own generators and holding tanks.
SOURCE: Hutch News