Editing Hays, Kansas (section)

==Arts and culture==
===Arts and music===
An established arts community supports several galleries in the city. The Hays Arts Council operates the Hays Arts Center Gallery, which displays the work of Kansas artists and sponsors exhibitions and competitions throughout the year. FHSU's Moss-Thorns Gallery of Art, affiliated with the university's Art Department, displays student and faculty works as well as traveling exhibits.  In addition, a number of local artists manage their own galleries around the city.<ref name=Arts>{{cite web | title = The Arts | publisher = City of Hays, Kansas | url = http://www.haysusa.com/html/the_arts.html | access-date = April 10, 2011 | archive-date = April 5, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120405153904/http://www.haysusa.com/html/the_arts.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>

The Hays Symphony, established in 1914, is an ensemble of university, regional, and community musicians that performs in FHSU's Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center. The center also hosts the university's Encore Series, a performing arts series that consists of dramatic and musical performances throughout the year.<ref name=Arts/><ref>{{cite web | title = FHSU Encore Series | publisher = [[Fort Hays State University]] | url = http://www.fhsu.edu/encore/ | access-date = August 15, 2013}}</ref>

===Events===
Hays is a regional center of [[German American#Culture|German American culture]] due to the number of [[German people|German]] immigrants who settled the area in the 1870s and 1880s.<ref name=HaysCity/> As of 2010, 56.5% of the city population claimed German ancestry.<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=January 31, 2008|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref> The city hosts several events throughout the year that celebrate this heritage including two [[Oktoberfest celebrations|Oktoberfests]]. The Midwest Deutsche Oktoberfest takes place the third week of September. The Volga German Centennial Association host an Oktoberfest celebration in late September or early October in conjunction with the Fort Hays State University homecoming activities.

To celebrate [[Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day]] and to mark its early history as an [[American Old West|Old West]] frontier town, the city hosts the annual Wild West Festival during the first week of July. The festival includes country and rock music concerts, a parade and a fireworks display. On the first weekend in December, the [[Kansas Historical Society]] holds Christmas Past at Historic Fort Hays, showcasing history programs and tours of the fort with it decorated for [[Christmas]] as it was in the late 1800s.<ref name=FrontierHistory>{{cite web | title = Frontier History | publisher = City of Hays, Kansas | url = http://www.haysusa.com/html/frontier_history.html | access-date = November 1, 2011 | archive-date = October 17, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111017091809/http://www.haysusa.com/html/frontier_history.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>

Each April [https://www.audubonofkansas.org/ Audubon of Kansas] holds their annual [[Tympanuchus|Prairie-Chicken]] Festival in Hays.<ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome to Kansas Lek Treks |url=https://www.kansaslektreks.org/ |website=Kansas Lek Treks |access-date=4 April 2025}}</ref>

===Points of interest===
[[File:Ellis County Historical Society.jpg|thumb|left|Ellis County Historical Society Museum]]
There are several museums and sites in Hays dedicated to aspects of area history. FHSU's [[Fort Hays State University#Sternberg Museum of Natural History|Sternberg Museum of Natural History]] features extensive collections and exhibits of fossil specimens, including an interactive diorama of life in the region during the [[Cretaceous]] period. Affiliated with the university's Departments of Geosciences and Biology, the museum also hosts educational programs on fossil preparation and ongoing scientific research.<ref>{{cite web | title = About Sternberg Museum | publisher = [[Fort Hays State University]] | url = http://sternberg.fhsu.edu/about/index.php | access-date = April 9, 2011 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110719193954/http://sternberg.fhsu.edu/about/index.php | archive-date = July 19, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Discover Sternberg Museum's Exhibits | publisher = [[Fort Hays State University]] | url = http://sternberg.fhsu.edu/exhibits/index.php | access-date = April 9, 2011 | archive-date = July 19, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110719193326/http://sternberg.fhsu.edu/exhibits/index.php | url-status = dead }}</ref> The Ellis County Historical Society Museum, located downtown, maintains exhibits of artifacts from the area's Old West period through its settlement by Volga and Bukovina Germans. Included in the museum complex are the Volga German Haus, a reproduction of an early Volga German settler home, and a stone chapel constructed in 1879. Southwest of Hays, the Kansas Historical Society maintains the [[Fort Hays|Fort Hays State Historic Site]]. It consists of four of the fort's original structures and a visitor's center. Other sites related to the area's frontier period include Boot Hill, the city's earliest cemetery, and a historical marker at the site of the ill-fated town of Rome.<ref name=FrontierHistory/>

Downtown Hays features the historic Chestnut Street District. Local businesses offer dining, shopping, and entertainment, and visitors can tour designated historical sites in the district via a self-guided walking tour.<ref name=FrontierHistory/>

===Religion===
[[File:St Josephs Church and Parochial School.JPG|right|thumb|[[St. Joseph's Church and Parochial School|St. Joseph's Church]] in Hays is listed on the National Register of Historical Places]]
There are 27 [[Christianity|Christian]] churches in Hays, the majority of which are [[Protestant]]. That number also includes four [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] churches,  a [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] congregation, and a meetinghouse of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]. Hays is also home to a community of the [[Baháʼí Faith]] community.<ref>{{cite web | title = Churches | publisher = City of Hays, Kansas | url = http://www.haysusa.com/html/churches.html | access-date = August 25, 2010 | archive-date = December 2, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101202145518/http://haysusa.com/html/churches.html | url-status = dead }}</ref> The Hays District of the [[United Methodist Church]], which consists of 21 counties in northwestern Kansas, is headquartered in the city.<ref>{{cite web | title = Hays District | publisher = The Hays District of the United Methodist Church | url = http://www.kswestumc.org/districts/detail/3 | access-date = November 1, 2011 | archive-date = June 24, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110624081121/http://kswestumc.org/districts/detail/3 | url-status = dead }}</ref>