Sierra Club urges Douglas County Fair Board to cancel turtle race

The Sierra Club Kansas Chapter is pressing the Douglas County Fair Board to cancel a planned turtle race at the 2026 Douglas County Fair and remove it from future schedules, arguing that ornate box turtles are facing declining numbers. The group is also urging residents to send letters to board members opposing the event.

The fair’s published 2026 book still lists a turtle race among the events, alongside the pedal tractor pull. The board is appointed by the Douglas County Commissioners to organize and operate the annual fair.

The push in Douglas County is part of a broader Kansas campaign. Sierra Club Kansas held a turtle-race rally at a Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Commission meeting in Lindsborg on June 18, 2026, and has also been petitioning state wildlife officials. Ornate box turtle populations are falling because of habitat loss, poaching and activities such as county fair turtle races. Ornate box turtles were named Kansas’ official state reptile in 1986 after a sixth-grade class in Caldwell lobbied for the bill.

The race was held in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and the 2025 event drew children and families on the fair’s final day. That year, 4-year-old Grace Laird won first place with her turtle, Pink Pony Girl, and 6-year-old Grant Laird placed third with Dr. Otis the Turtle.

Conservationist Alex Heeb said turtle races date to the 1920s, spread from Oklahoma across the Midwest and numbered more than 140 in Kansas alone. Risks for raced turtles included illness, shell rot, respiratory disease, heat stress, paint exposure and disorientation when the animals are returned outside their home range.