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Organizers with the Bonner Springs-Edwardsville Area Chamber of Commerce have been busy for the past year preparing for the annual Tiblow Days festival.

The fruits of their labors are about to come to fruition when the 31st anniversary of Tiblow Days takes place Aug. 26-28.

The weekend of fun in Bonner Springs kicks off Thursday, Aug. 26, with Annual Mayor’s Banquet. In addition to Bonner Springs Mayor Clausie Smith, the night’s featured speaker will be Chris Biggs, Kansas secretary of state.

Also at the banquet, the annual Marion-Vaughn Community Service Award will be presented. This year’s recipients are Don and Vicky Wheeler.

“Don has served on the chamber for many years and Vicky was very active with the library board,” said Marcia Ashford, chamber president, about just some of the reasons the Wheelers are being honored.

The banquet begins at 6 p.m. with social time and the dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Bonner Springs High School cafeteria. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at City Hall, the chamber office or from any Rotary Club member.

The festival’s annual carnival also opens Thursday evening.

The next events of the weekend happen Friday with the continuation of the carnival and a night of music in downtown Bonner Springs.

The Bonner Springs City Band will present a concert from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in Kelly Murphy Park and will be followed by the bands Edge of Forever, a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band, and Revelation, a Journey tribute band, in Centennial Park.

The big day of activities will take place Saturday. In the morning, the Biscuits and Gravy Breakfast will take place from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. at First Christian Church. Part of the proceeds will go to the community Thanksgiving dinner, in honor of Edna Kloepper, who died July 16 and was a contributor each year to the dinner.

The day continues with the Rotary Club’s Tiblow Trot and the Parade, which starts at Nettleton and Morse and continues south to Oak Street.

Ashford said the more parade floats the merrier when it comes to organizations and individuals wishing to join in on the fun. Floats will meet between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. at Lions Park to line up for the parade. Ashford said anyone is welcome to join the parade, but calling the chamber to inform someone of the entry will insure the most organized event.

Also taking place in the morning, the Smokin’ on Oak BBQ competitors will put the final touches on their entries that will be judged that afternoon.

This year’s competition is filled with 35 teams, which Ashford said if the maximum number the contest’s location could accommodate.

“We actually have a waiting list this year,” Ashford said.

Throughout the day as well, there will be craft, food and vendor booths, of which Ashford said there is expected to be more than 100 this year. The car show filling Oak Street will continue and dancers from Sarah’s Studio of Dance and Legacy School of Dance will perform in Centennial Park.

The carnival will continue through Saturday, and Ashford said this year’s carnival is expanding to take up more area in that large parking lot at Second and Elm streets.

“We wanted to make that even bigger this year,” Ashford said.

Wristbands will be sold this year for $20 for four hours. This will get the wristband wearer unlimited access to rides from either 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, noon to 4 p.m. Saturday or 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday. For those not wanting to buy wristbands, the cost of rides will vary.

Saturday will wrap up with a night of entertainment by three bands — Siva Addiction, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Crooked X, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.; and Rev Theory, 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. All the bands will play at the Centennial Park main stage.

Following the live music, a fireworks show will be shot off across the Kansas River. Ashford said the concert’s audience will be able to see the fireworks show from their spots in Centennial Park.

So far Ashford said planning for this year’s Tiblow Days is moving along smoothly.

“We usually are not this far ahead,” Ashford said. “My goal this year was to get everything finalized three weeks out so we could get fliers distributed.”

Ashford said excitement is growing from all Tiblow Days committee members. She said the family-friendly three-day event should not disappoint.

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