This year’s fair kicks off Tuesday when forecasts are calling for a high of 98 degrees, according to weather.com.

Temperatures will remain in the upper 90s throughout the week, with that number hitting 100 degrees Aug. 1 a couple days after the first day.

The opening ceremony for this year’s fair will be noon Tuesday. The Leavenworth High School ROTC will present the colors at the flagpole near the Administration Building’s east entrance at the fairgrounds in Tonganoxie. The Tonganoxie High School band also will perform the National Anthem as part of the opening ceremony.

It’s an election year, so the fair parade likely will have many entries. This year’s fair parade will be 6:30 p.m. Tuesday with the theme being “Everything at a Fair Price.”

Helicopter rides at the nearby Tonganoxie Recreation Commission ball fields and carnival games and rides at the fairgrounds again will be offered each day and evening.

FFA, 4-H and open class events will take place daily, while other activities are planned for the afternoons and evenings.

The URA/MRCA High Stakes Rodeo will be 7 p.m. Aug. 1, while Mutton Busting and Mini Bull Riding will be 6 p.m. Aug. 2, while the annual 4-H/FFA Livestock Auction will be 7 p.m. Aug. 2 at the Livestock Show Arena.

Earlier in the day on Aug. 2 the fair will feature Senior Day at the Fair from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. under the big top tent. Senior citizens will get to experience the fair in a special way during this time. There also will be music from Josh Bounds.

That’s also the day for the Ag Challenge of Champions in the 4-H office from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and the pie baking contest for noon-1 p.m. in the Administration Building in the domestic arts section.

On the final day of this year’s fair on Aug. 3, there will be Ag Olympics at 10 a.m. under the big top tent, turtles races at 1 p.m. in the same location and the youth tractor pull at 3 p.m. at the show arena (registration at 2 p.m.).

The Bull Riding and Mutton Busting finals will be 8 p.m. Aug. 3.

The tradition-rich fair dates back nearly 100 years.

The first year, 1926, was a celebration of a bumper crop of corn in downtown Tonganoxie, and the next year it was corn and apples. The event officially was known as the Leavenworth County Fair in 1928 and in 1938 moved from downtown to its current site along Kansas Highway 16 at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds.

For more information about this year’s fair schedule and more, readers can visit leavenworthcounty fair.com.