Aaron Franklin attended his first concert at the Allen County Fair when he was about 12 years old in 1995. He watched in awe as rising country music star Wade Hayes, wearing a white cowboy hat and a 90s mullet, took the stage to sing his No. 1 hit, Old Enough to Know Better.
Immediately after the show, Franklin bought a white baseball cap with a suede bill and stood in a long line to ask Hayes to autograph his hat.
He still has that hat, kept safe in his grandmothers closet. He plans to dig it out and ask Hayes to sign it again Saturday when the musician returns to Iola for the inaugural Farm City Days Summer Concert Series, along with the band Ricochet and headlining act Frankie Ballard.
