While the town isn’t the Emerald City and there is no yellow brick road, for one day each year, Wamego transforms itself to embrace all things “Wizard of Oz.”

The city will host its 14th annual OZtoberFest from 10 a.m. to about 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, across downtown Wamego.

Before the festivities, the Oz Museum, 511 Lincoln St., will unveil its flying monkey statue.

Lydia Lierz, a marketing assistant for the museum, said the statue will be installed above the awning of the museum so the monkey will appear to be flying away from the building.

It will be unveiled at 5:15 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5.

Also new this year are the 15 Toto statues decorating downtown Wamego. Earlier this year, the statues were designed by Wabaunsee Junior High School students and adopted by local businesses to be installed around town.

“We’ll be having a scavenger hunt for kids to go around town taking pictures with the statues and submit them for prizes, and also have artists showing off their miniature Totos,” Lierz said.

The mini Totos were created by the Columbian Artist Group and will be available for sale in the Swogger Gallery inside the Columbian Theatre.

Special guests at this year’s event are Jane Albright, current president of The International Wizard of Oz Club; Johnpaul Cafiero, whose family’s Oz collection makes up a large percentage of the Oz Museum’s featured items; John Fricke, an Emmy Award-winning television producer, historian and author who focuses on “The Wizard of Oz” and Judy Garland; Gabriel Gale, the conceptualizer and coauthor of “Ages of Oz,” a book trilogy for young adults; and Paul Miles Schneider, author of “Silver Shoes” and “The Powder of Life,” contemporary Oz novels for students and young adults.

Fricke is the OZ Museum Master of Ceremonies at this year’s event, and Albright will entertain children throughout the day with puppet shows on the hour, Lierz said.

Other events include a Toto lookalike contest for dogs, Professor Marvel’s backyard BBQ Cook-Off, a flying monkey banana bread contest, wicked witches dunk tank, yellow brick road sale and more.

Children's activities include a poppy play field, Oz story time at the Wamego Library and a little monkey hay maze. Kids can also enjoy a bounce house all day with the purchase of an $8 wristband.

In addition to food vendors, Oz Winery will again offer four free samples of its wines per customer, and Toto’s Tacoz will be open to serve its signature dishes, including Yellow Brick Burro’d, Tin Man Black Bean Burrito and Munchkin Tacoz.

OZtoberFest is free to attend, but there is an admission fee to the Oz Museum for its activities and the various speakers. Prices are $9 for children and $11 for adults. There is a $2 discount for military and children who already have an inflatables wristband.

For more information, visit visitwamego.com.