County Fair

County Fairs

One of the most popular events is the Sheridan County Fair and Carnival held each July in Hoxie. The week begins with competitions for the 4-H club. Thrill-seekers can spend the end of the week at the carnival and rodeo. Thousands of people come from all over the area to enjoy the three day, home-owned carnival which has been volunteer-run for more than 40 years! It is a grand reunion for the town and county as many of the kids that grew up and attended school In Hoxie come home to see friends and family. Classmates are able to catch up with one another and enjoy a great visit and the festivities. All of their children can enjoy the fair in a safe environment.

“Life is like a Ferris wheel: sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down, but the view is always great.”

Our daughter came home with three of her children and we had a great time at the fair. Grandma has never been very good with rides but now she just can’t even ride the Ferris Wheel. The last time she rode on it, it wasn’t good. That old motion sickness just kicks in. Grandpa rode the Ferris Wheel with the grandkids and enjoyed every minute.

It was sure a sweet treat to have three of the grandkids here for the weekend. It brought back all of the memories of previous county fairs when our children were involved in 4-H and they showed the lambs they had been raising, we worked in the food stand making pies and sloppy joes, and we worked on the booth to show the value of our 4H group. Then came the sale of the lambs they had raised and the tears. And then the cleaning of the stalls and the counting of the money they now had from the sale. After the fair was over there were some very tired parents and children. But, oh the things that 4H taught our children were immeasurable.

July 4th, 2026

Drag races! We woke up on the morning of July 4^th, the 250^th anniversary of the United States of America with no plans for the day. I told my Farmer husband that I was taking him to the drag races. We are in our 70’s and we hadn’t been to drag races since we were in our 20’s. You know what they say about that second childhood. The races were an hour and a half away but our son and some grandkids were there so I hoped we could do a quick lunch with them.

The Farmer was a little concerned about the heat but I assured him that it would be fine and we just needed to do something a little bit crazy. So off we went to the races. We were able to have a quick lunch with our son, daughter in law and their three kids who were home for the holidays. Even our granddaughter’s fiancé joined us for lunch. They weren’t engaged yet but soon would be.

Then we drove to the race track for the races. It was very LOUD and the Farmer did not need his hearing aids in so we put them in my purse. There were some really cool looking cars and some that were quite strange. Some of them went 200 mph! Yikes! Those were the loudest.

If you’ve got everything under control, you are not moving fast enough. – Mario Andretti

The Farmer was right about one thing, it was HOT! Our black umbrella helped to shade us some. After a couple of hours our adventure was wearing a little thin. We got back in our air conditioned pickup and headed back to the ranch. We did stop on the way home and had some ice cream.

All in all we had fun and we did enjoy just doing something completely off of our radar for the day. It was a great way to celebrate the 250^th Anniversary of our nation.

The next day we drove an hour the other direction to see another son and family and went to church with them. Grandparent’s have vehicle and grandchildren and will travel.

Happy New Year! 2026 is Here!

Is There Room in Your Heart?

Conrad and I have had a good year this 2025. We are thankful every day for good health and for each other. Graduations filled up our May. Our sweet Anna graduated from KU and is teaching high school art in Great Bend. Willow graduated from Flower Mound High and is going to Boston University in a few weeks. Asa graduated from Rawlins County High and is now at KSU in computer science. We now have two grandsons at KSU with another planning to join them next fall.

A new knee was in store for grandpa in May. He tried physical therapy and decided to go ahead with a new knee. He has done very well with his new knee and was very faithful to do all of the physical therapy carefully. This did put a crimp in Pam’s plans this summer. Travel was curtailed for a bit and Pam had to mow and trim this whole place. Wouldn’t you know this would be the year it would rain and the grass would keep growing until frost! I love green grass and rain so no real complaints from this girl.

We were unable to go on a SOWER mission this year due to the knee replacement. This mission was missed very much by both of us. We are hopeful to return to this ministry soon. We miss our friends and the couples we have worked with.

I-70 has been a well-traveled road for us this fall. With two grandsons in Manhattan and four grandchildren in Olathe, we have seen a lot of this road. We also made it to St. Paul, Minnesota to watch Josh play football there with UNW. Our grandchildren are growing up quickly now and the realization has hit that they are on their own pursuits all over the USA right now and it will be more so in the future. I wonder if we will make it to Boston University?

Conrad and I are enjoying retirement. We are not retired we are refired! We’ve been really enjoying our church and we have had many opportunities to teach Bible studies in the last few years. We rejoice in our Savior and His goodness to us.

Will we make room for God to write His story in our lives?

God bless you all dear friends! HAPPY 2026 Conrad and Pam Popp

It’s a Wrap – Cousin Camp 2025

Well, it’s a wrap. Cousin camp 2025 is in the books. I have 12 grandchildren and I had three that were able to come this year. Some of them are growing up and have jobs and are having to be adults now. That’s so sad for grandma . Some are involved in all kinds of activities and have jobs too for the summer.

I am so thankful for the three that were able to come. We were able to meet up with one other grandson for an evening meal as he was home from college for a couple of weeks. Grandpa and Grandma are very blessed to be able to spend this time with these precious kids as we see our grandchildren are growing up.

” Some family trees bear an enormous crop of nuts!” -Wayne Huizenga

We had a great time and Grandpa helped them in the woodshop to make some beautiful bookends and Grandma kept them busy with all kinds of crafts. We painted with our toes (this was a special request from a couple of years ago) and got some masterpieces! They did a turtle, penguin and a star fish. They did better with their toes than this Grammy can do with her fingers! We did some beading pictures with beads and double stick tape. This was an idea from my niece and was a real hit! This group is a talented bunch. I was amazed at their creativity as they came up with some really neat projects.

Time with a few additional cousins.

We played some games, went swimming at the pool and enjoyed the waterslides at the pool here in Quinter. We also went to a trampoline park in Salina and we played putt putt golf in Hays so all in all, it was a successful time. I think the kids and grandpa and grandma were tired at the end of the time together, but it was a blessing to be able to have these cousins here.

We shared some great devotions in the morning and some prayer times. Nothing no nothing could make us richer than be able to spend this time with these kids and our Lord. We’re going to keep declaring Isaiah 59:21. “The Lord says that my spirit is upon you and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants or from the mouth of your descendants, descendants Says the Lord forevermore.”

“Family. A snug kind of word.” Fannie Hurst

What a precious friend we have in Jesus. And what a precious time with this group. Just this last weekend we were blessed to spend time with six of our grandkids. We ate lunch for Grandparents Day at Addie’s school. She is the only grandchild we have still in elementary school. We got to watch her brother’s run in Cross Country. Luke took first in the fifth grade boys’ race. Judah and Jake ran very well in their races also. Then we drove to Kansas State University to have lunch with two grandsons majoring in Computer Science. It was a delightful lunch just hearing them talk about their classes and their time there on campus.