People, not cattle, flocked to the Flint Hills on Saturday, braving the threat of scattered thunderstorms to hear the Kansas City Symphony play.

Grammy award-winning musician Lyle Lovett warms up Saturday afternoon before the 10th annual Symphony in the Flint Hills. Lovett performed his songs at the event with orchestral accompaniment.

The 10th annual Symphony in the Flint Hills went on uninterrupted by Kansas weather at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Chase County.

“This year the symphony is at an international historic landmark, and so it is even more imperative than usual to protect the prairie,” said Christy Davis, Symphony in the Flint Hills executive director.

This year’s event theme, “Grasslands of the World,” focused on fostering new partnerships locally and around the world to raise awareness about prairie conservation worldwide. A symposium Friday in Manhattan featured speakers from native grasslands around the world.

Davis and her team of seven full-time employees plan all year to create a full day of education, music and art events for about 8,000 attendees with the help of nearly 800 volunteers.

Mary Ellen Kriegh, a volunteer from Lawrence, looks forward to the event each year. In order to find her car after the event, Kreigh marked her car with a colorful pinwheel before she started checking in volunteers.

“We have been volunteering for a number of years, so we kind of got the hang of a few little tricks,” Kriegh said.

In 2005, the inaugural Symphony in the Flint Hills was held at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, making this the first time the event has returned to a previous location. George Terbovich, a Symphony in the Flint Hills board member from Kansas City, Kan., has attended all 10 symphonies.

“The beauty of this organization is that everybody does more than is expected of them,” Terbovich said.

He said part of the organization’s mission is to educate the public about the Flint Hills resource.

“We’re only custodians of this land,” Terbovich said. “It was here millions of years prior, and our mission is to sustain it and be as respectful of it as we can be.”

The rain threat called for extra preparation to protect the land during the days before the event. Volunteers laid down mesh and plywood on the truck and wagon paths to minimize risk created by heavy machinery.

After a slight drizzle, the rain stayed at bay as loyal attendees started coming in from every direction, inching up the highway, looking at the sky in anticipation.

“Every year when we first pull in and see the sight, it’s like an outpost on another planet,” said Steve Johnston from Leawood.

The concert featured returning guest artist Lyle Lovett, performing his songs with original orchestral parts to match this year’s theme. Lovett played for the event five years ago and is an activist for the conservation of the Tallgrass Prairie.

“There’s definitely something to be said for keeping the (Flint Hills) the way it is; not a whole lot of people know about it,” Lovett said.

— Chandler Williams works with the Flint Hills Media Project at Wichita State University.