On Thursday visitors will have a chance to tour the museum complex and view some of the improvements and new exhibits. Check out our new Historical Society Digital Archives Center located in the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum and learn how your photos and histories can be preserved for generations to come.
This year we have something new in store - karaoke with a twist (a barbed wire twist).
Enjoy great food and free entertainment. After you eat, you have a chance to share your talent in song with “Barbed Wire's Got Talent”. If you don't want to sing, be a part of the audience and enjoy the show. Prizes will be awarded and everyone who is willing to perform before the mike wins a prize.
Proceeds will be used for upcoming education programming by the museums and to support the annual “Old Fashioned Christmas” co-sponsored by the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum, Rush County Historical Society, and La Crosse Fire District No. 4.
Join us for our spectacular Midnight Masquerade Banquet (actually a few hours before midnight), a special dinner in a special setting. Enjoy your meal, some live music and fun entertainment. The evening begins at 6:30 and dinner will be served following the unmasking ceremony. This year's banquet will again be held in the Walnut Valley Senior Center in Rush Center. Go 4 miles south to the K96 intersection, then one block west, and two blocks south to Washington Street.
Following the banquet will be a short program, announcement of the splicing winners, Wireshow Awards Ceremony, and more.
A limited number of tickets are available. Tickets may be reserved by registering on-line or by calling 785-222-2808.
This will be the 59th year for the World Champion Barbed Wire Splicing Contest™. The competition will be held on Saturday from 10:00 am until 11:00 am and is open to anyone.
Prizes will be awarded in three catagories: Men's, Ladies', and Youth division. This year, we will have some great prizes for the winners in each category.
This splicing contest has been a part of the festival since the beginning. In 1967, Rush County Agricultural Extension Agent E. L. VanMeter developed rules for the competition with assistance from Kansas State University Extension Service, Manhattan, sponsors of 4H programs in Kansas.
Splicing Contest rules and details available here.
Did you know...
On November 24, 1874, the United States Patent Office awarded Joseph Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois, U. S. Patent No. 157,124 for “An Improvement in Wire Fences”. His invention
revolutionized fencing, and launched an industry that created a lasting environmental, economic, educational, social, and political impact on our country. Had it not been for Glidden's invention,
our museum and annual festival would never have existed.
