The Northeast Kansas Card Show takes its Thanksgiving weekend date on Saturday, November 28, 2026 at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds in Lawrence, giving eastern Kansas collectors somewhere to go on the busiest shopping Saturday of the year that is not a shopping center. Small Business Saturday and a card show pair naturally: every dealer in the room is a small business, and money spent on a 1968 Topps star card does considerably more good here than it would at a big-box register.
The fairgrounds format is what separates this show from the metro's hotel circuit. Dealers get real table depth and bring the bulk inventory that ballroom vendors leave at home - monster boxes, commons bins, and unsorted material worth digging through. For set builders this is the most productive room within an hour of Kansas City. Vintage baseball runs back through the 1950s, football and basketball cover every decade from the 1960s forward, and hockey, boxing and UFC tables appear regularly.
Regional inventory is deep. Kansas City Chiefs material is at peak seasonal demand with the NFL season in its final third, alongside Kansas City Royals, Kansas Jayhawks basketball and football, Kansas State Wildcats and Missouri Tigers. Graded slabs from PSA, SGC and BGS are available, along with unopened wax spanning the 1980s through today, autographed baseballs and helmets, game-used equipment, programs and pennants. Trading card game dealers bring Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!, with occasional One Piece and Disney Lorcana tables. Holiday weekend usually means noticeably more sealed product than a typical month.
Doors open at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 28 and the show runs through the afternoon. Thanksgiving weekend draws a strong crowd from open, including out-of-town visitors who collect and are looking for something to do, so expect the room busier than a normal November Saturday.
Admission is a small door fee paid on arrival, with no advance ticketing, no VIP tier and no early entry. Children are admitted free with a paying adult, and dealers routinely keep dollar boxes stocked for younger collectors.
Parking at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds is free and abundant, with ground-level entry and no stairs between the lot and the tables. Restrooms are on site and concessions are usually operating. The building is heated. From the Kansas City metro the drive is forty to fifty minutes on K-10 or I-70, with no city driving at the far end.
This show fits vintage collectors, set builders, football collectors, families looking for a Thanksgiving-weekend outing, and dealers restocking commons ahead of December. It is a comfortable first show - nobody here is in a hurry and the dealers are genuinely happy to explain what you are looking at rather than push a sale.
Bring cash in mixed denominations, a want list broken out by set and year, penny sleeves and toploaders, and a tote for volume. A folding stool is worth packing if you plan to dig boxes seriously. Arrive early for the best raw vintage, and stay into the afternoon if you are working toward a deal on something larger, because dealers would rather sell than reload the truck.
VERIFY: the source listing records this date under South Lawrence; it is recorded here as Lawrence, Kansas, and the exact building had not been confirmed. Check the event listing before making the drive.
