09/14/2025
The thing about goodbyes is they're really just pauses in a longer story.
This morning we are watching our friends & family pour the last cups of coffee at our fair booth, and I'm thinking about how stories work.
How they have chapters.
How the best ones always leave you wanting more.
For nine days, strangers became regulars.
Regulars became friends.
And friends became part of something bigger than breakfast wraps and the star of the show, The Outlaw!
You know what I learned this week?
Community isn't built in boardrooms or strategy meetings.
It's built across counters, one conversation at a time.
One refill at a time.
One story shared while waiting for pancakes.
The fair is really just a stage where ordinary people get to be part of an extraordinary story together.
And for nine days, we all had starring roles.
My mom and grandma Mary were here, wiping tables and shuttling kids, doing behind the scene stuff. Sisters and their families were here helping.
Watching them, I realized legacy isn't always something you leave behind, it's something you live out loud, in real time, with the people you love.
My dad , the O.G. Pop, isn't here anymore, but his fingerprints are all over this place.
In the way we serve people.
In the way we show up.
In the way we believe food is just an excuse to love people better.
So this isn't goodbye.
This is just the end of Chapter 2025 State Fair
The story continues. It always continues.
See you next year, Kansas.
Thank you fair-goers for your support, friends & family who helped get us through this week, and family afar sending us encouragement to go for one more day!
Food. Family. Fair. Always.
Our hearts are full as we finish this Sunday at the Fair!
P.S. Happy Grandparents Day to all of you in that club! We are blessed by you!