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58
PUBLISHER
Chris Walker E D I TO R
Ashley Walker A DV E RT I S I N G
Bri Julo A RT D I R E C TO R & D E S I G N E D I TO R
Gisela Swift Mark Swift CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Ryann Brooks Zach DeLoach Jill Dutton P H OTO G R A P H Y
Jason Dailey Tim Mohn A DV E RT I S I N G D E S I G N
Dan Ferrell Margie McHaley C OV E R D E S I G N
Shawn Honea ONLINE
facebook.com/emporialiving For more information, please contact: 517 Merchant Street Emporia, KS 66801 620-342-4800 Emporia Living Magazine is a publication of
TABLE OF CONTENTS
7 Welcome to Emporia Living 63 Destination 10 Sign of the Times Emporia couple revives art of hand-painted signs.
22 Emporia’s Big Dill
North Lyon County
66
Destination Chase County
22
Get in the swing of Emporia’s fastest growing sport.
34
Advertorial Business Spotlight Dynamic Year for Dynamic Discs
36 A Master’s Craft Engraving through the eyes of James Ehlers.
46 Chi Em Eats
Serving a taste of Vietnam in the heart of beef country.
53 Destination Madison 58 Snapshot
A 2020 photo essay by Tim Mohn.
On the Cover: Dumplings from Chi Em Eats [Photo by Jason dailey]
4 | Emporia Living
10
36
46
ADVERTISERS INDEX Ad Astra Food & Drink. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Advanced Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Bluestem Farm & Ranch Supply. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Brown-Bennett-Alexander Funeral . . . . . . . . . . 66 Carpet Plus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Chase County Chamber of Commerce. . . 66 Clint Bowyer Autoplex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Coldwell Banker Emporia Real Estate. . . . . . . . 28 Community National Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Cotton O’Neil Foot & Ankle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Crosswinds Counseling & Wellness. . . . . . . . . . . 15 Dr. Thomas Kriss, DDA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Dynamic Discs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34, 35 Emporia Main Street. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Emporia Police Department. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Emporia Senior Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Emporia State Federal Credit Union. . . . . . . . . 32 Emporia State University. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 ESB Financial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Front Cover Farm & Home Real Estate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 First Start Pool & Patio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Flint Hills Community Health Center. . . . . . . . . . 43 Flint Hills Technical College. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Floyd’s INC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Geotech Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Grand Central Hotel & Grill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Griffin Real Estate & Auction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Guardian Construction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Haag Pharmacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Hannah Orthodontics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Herford Coworking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Hill’s Pet Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Hopkins Manufacturing Corporation. . . . . . . . . 45 Joseph Laudie Dental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Kansas Maid Frozen Pastries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 King Liquor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Longbine Autoplaza. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Lore & Hagemann, INC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Lyon County History Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Lyon County State Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover Lyon County Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Mark II Lumber. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 McKinzie Pest Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Modern Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Moon Title & Escrow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Newman Regional Health. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Newman Regional Health Medical Partners. . 3 Nex-Tech Wireless. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Norfolk Irong & Metal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Pizza Ranch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Planet Sub. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Plumbing by Spellman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Prairie PastTimes Arts & Crafts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Prairieland Partners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Regional Development Association. . . . . . . . . . . 9
Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home. . . . . . . . . 21 Rolling Hills Bar & Gri. .ll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 RV Doc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 S&A Telephone Company. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Schankie Well Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Shelter Insurance - Dave Watts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Skin Studio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Sommers Auto Plaza. . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover State Farm - Pete Euler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Sutherlands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Sweet Granada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Symmonds & Symmonds LLC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 The City of Emporia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 The City of Madison. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 The City of Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 The Lark Inn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 The Lighthouse of Emporia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 The Miracle Cafe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 The National Teachers Hall of Fame. . . . . . . . 65 Thomas Transfer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Thompson Family Dental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Topeka Landscape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Tyson Fresh Meats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 USD 251. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Vektek Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Waters Hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Williams Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
EDITOR’S NOTE Welcome to the newest edition of Emporia Living Magazine. When the last issue of Emporia Living came out we were at the height of the pandemic and our community was dealing with toilet paper shortages, depleted grocery store shelves, business shut downs, mask mandates, school disruptions, social distancing, infection rates and hospitalizations. With no clear roadmap on how to live through a pandemic of this proportion, our community, faced some significant challenges. But with each passing month now, our town is showing signs of life again and the “year of all years” is slowly fading into our memories. The city and county mandates have been dropped, many of our keystone community events have started taking place again, and there is definitely a sense that life is returning to normal. Working on this issue of Emporia Living, after the year that we’ve had, was a good reminder that, despite the challenges of the past year, the vitality, ingenuity and vision of this town has not been extinguished. In fact, the stories on the following pages tell of a community that is coming back stronger. We hope you enjoy this issue of Emporia Living and are proud as we are to call this town home.
Chris Walker Editor and Publisher
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SIGN OF THE
TIMES
In an age of computer graphics and technology, one company is standing out in Emporia by offering businesses signage options from a by-gone era. At A&A Signs, Alex and Andrea Polzin bring a handson artistic approach to hand-painted signs, murals, window paintings, advertisements, graphic design, banners, and more. If this husband and wife creative team can paint it, any business can have a one-of-a-kind, artistic, and durable message to customers. The Polzins believe that traditional, hand-painted signs and designs stand the test of time and lend an artistic fusion to signage that lasts longer than vinyl or plastic signs. BY JILL DUTTON PHOTOS BY JASON DAILEY
10 | Emporia Living
SUMMER 2021 | 11
TIM MOHN
Andrea is a natural artist and graphic designer who was inspired by working alongside her father, also a sign painter, during her teen years. In addition to painting, Alex brings attention to management and design to the business model. After a friend asked them to design a sign, that job snowballed into a series
of custom jobs. The majority of their jobs now consist of commercial business signage that is painted onto a wall of a building or onto glass. Andrea’s artistic talents lend well to murals as well so they’ve started booking more murals. “Andrea is an incredible artist and incredible designer and we really wanted to transition into murals; we have a couple in the works right now,” Alex says. A great illustration of the creativity and artistry of their work can be seen in the signage at Old Rum’s Liquor. Alex says it’s, “like a little mural,” with a painting of a pirate above the door to the liquor store. The couple created their sign as well. One unique aspect of handpainted designs is that the artist can include fun touches to the images. In the Old Rum’s pirate drawing, Alex says Andrea created the pirate with Alex as
12 | Emporia Living
a model since he had a beard at the time. Fun and personalized touches are what set their signs apart from some digitally created signage. Bourbon Cowboy is another satisfied client. In addition to original artwork both within and on the exterior of the building including clever restroom signage and a public notice bulletin board, the Polzin’s created and painted a mural spanning the full plate glass front of the structure. “They have these huge, beautiful windows. but it being a bar, they wanted to kind of block it out. So we helped them design something that fits their style, and their vibe, and energy there,” Alex says. Susan Brinkman, the owner of Bourbon Cowboy, says she chose A&A Signs because of their local status and quality work, but also because they offer a “unique take on commercial signage.” “I love each of the works that Alex and Andrea have created. They are unique pieces of art and advertising. The ‘old town’ mural across our front windows is an old west main street with building references to Emporia's history,” Brinkman says. “I chose hand-painted signage and storefront artwork because it was unique and environmentally friendly. Someday, this building may not be the Bourbon Cowboy and this is one less piece of plastic signage in the landfill.” At L&L Pets, Alex says the store had a “really cool, old hand-painted sign that was there for probably 25-to-30 years.”
SUMMER 2021 | 13
An important part of the partnership is, Andrea says, “We challenge each other to do our best and we enjoy ourselves.”
He says part of the joy that comes with creating these signs is how personalized it becomes. “It's cool because I grew up in Emporia, and I love this place. I've looked at that sign, not really knowing what it was as a kid, and then we were the ones that scraped it off and put a new one on for the new owners. It felt
14 | Emporia Living
like a little piece of me was put into it…and we get to help beautify the city while we work. “We’re passionate about hand-painted signs,” Alex says. “It’s like giving a customer’s message life and soul versus a computer-generated sign.” Although Andrea is primarily the designer who
fleshes out the ideas for the artwork, working with the customer until the idea is perfected, the duo tag teams on the painting process. Still, everything the team puts out has gone through both of them, Alex focuses on technical details such as letter spacing, making it a “good working partnership.”
Hand-painted Signs While Alex says sign materials are improving all the time, he does mention there are signs in nearly every town that he calls “ghost signs.” They’ve been up for 40 or more years and are starting to fade, but they’re still up and readable. “So they do have some longevity,” Alex says. How long a sign lasts can depend on placement. In the sun, for example, vinyl will crack and a sign will fade. Hand-painted signs have their challenges as well. While the couple says a hand-painted sign will last from 10 to 15 years, they’ve learned along the way certain factors that help with longevity. “For some reason, the color red will fade much faster than other colors,” Alex says. Andrea adds, “Where colors like green and blue will last much longer.” They’ve learned tricks to give customers the best product possible. “We’ve learned to adapt,” Andrea says. “For example, if we have to use red, we can add black to it, so that when it fades out you still see
Who We Are TIM MOHN
CrossWinds is dedicated to providing individuals with the tools they need to better cope with and manage the circumstances of everyday life. We are committed to helping improve mental wellness as a crucial part of overall wellness through a variety of services including: • Counseling (Individual, Family, Couples & Group) • Animal-Assisted Therapy • Substance Abuse Services • Medication Services • Evaluations and Testing • After-Hours Counseling • Emergency Services • Community Services • Mental Health First Aid Courses
Office Locations
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Quienes Somos
Crosswinds se dedica a proporcionar a individuos las herramientas que necesitan para acoplarse y manejar las circunstancias de la vida cotidiana. Nosotros estamos comprometidos en ayudar a mejorar el bienestar mental como una parte crucial del bienestar general por medio de una variedad de servicios incluyendo: • Asesoramiento (Individual, Familiar, Parejas y Grupos) • Terapia asistida por animales • Servicios de abuso de sustancias • Servicios de medicamento • Evaluaciones y Exámenes • Asesoramiento fuera • Servicios de emergencia • Servicios comunitarios • Cursos de primeros auxilios en salud mental
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• Alma - Wabaunsee County • Burlington - Coffey County • Cottonwood Falls - Chase County • Council Grove - Morris County • Emporia - Lyon County • Eureka - Greenwood County • Osage City - Osage County
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620.343.2211 • 1000 Lincoln St. • Emporia, KS 66801
some color. They're not completely burnt out like when you see a handpainted sign from 20 years ago that they used red and it turns dusty and burnt off and is nearly non-existent.” Even so, Alex adds that, “We like to say that old signs age gracefully. Hand-painted signs kind of weather and fade, and you start to see the brushstrokes come through. That’s a beautiful thing to us.” Personalized Designs The Bourbon Cowboy signs and murals included a lot of research beforehand. “The owner wanted a town scene that was would have been historical to
16 | Emporia Living
Emporia. We have a couple of guys that we can talk to that know a lot about history, and we had somebody help us design it. We looked at the history of different businesses that were here during that timeframe like the Midway Hotel, and you'll see the hotel is actually in the Bourbon Cowboy mural that we did,” Alex says. For Maud’s Tattoo Company, Alex and Andrea utilized gold leaf to bring in “shine and more class than you might see in a traditional sign.” It's kind of cool because you know tattoo people are very creative and they let us have a little bit of free rein and room to spread our wings to create a cool sign.” John and April Armstrong own Maud’s Tattoo Company. Of the work completed by A&A Signs, they said
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they’ve watched as the couple has grown as people as well as a business. “They are always looking to do and be better. And that's exactly what you get when you hire them for a job. Not only do they provide quality work, but they have their client's best interests in mind. Mr. Rogers always said, ‘look for the helpers.’ And we certainly found some in the Polzins!” About the creative freedom they gave the Polzins in creating their signs, April says, “John and I gave them artistic freedom. We wanted them to show Emporia really what they could do, what they enjoy doing. As you know when someone hires you to do a job, most people usually have an idea of what they want or they want a certain design. We gave them total control of what they were doing. And they probably made us look cooler than we are. We couldn't have asked for a better job. They used our logo and business hours "ish" for the front door and then added "tattoo flash" to the south window. And they framed each window with variegated gold leaf and wrote TATTOO big down the North window. Everything just turned out exceptional!” April added that hand-painted signs are a lost art that she appreciates for its longevity as well as creativity. “I hope people pick handpainted signs because they’re going to last a long time,” Andrea says. “But also because they’re going to have something that really gives personality to the outside of the business and puts their best foot forward for a first impression.” —EL
18 | Emporia Living
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22 | Emporia Living
Emporia’s
BIG : L L I D How one local woman started the pickleball craze in Emporia By Zach DeLoach PHOTOS BY TIM MOHN
next to nothing to The word “pickleball” meant vited to try playing in as w e sh n he w t ot Sc v Be t community. it at her Arizona retiremen ay, a decade later, she’s
to give it a shot and tod The Emporia resident agreed more, she helped fling named sport. And what’s lly ica ims wh t tha on d hooke to the game that has porians, introducing them open the door for other Em meant so much to her. inescapable hysteria over index case for a seemingly In some sense, she was the ere in Emporia without hard to go much of anywh it’s , eed Ind n. tow in l bal pickle n building official ne’s playing it. The city is eve ryo Eve it. ut abo ing eth hearing som courts for public use.
SUMMER 2021 | 23
But that wasn’t what she had planned to do when she returned to Emporia from Arizona. Not really. “I came up here and I decided there was no way I’m going nine months without playing pickleball, so I asked the rec center and they said, ‘Well, we’ve been trying to get seniors in here, so we’ll give you a slot, we’ll get you some nets,’” she said. And that’s how it all got started in Emporia, at least. But the pickleball craze is not just here in our small Kansas town. Many believe it is
24 | Emporia Living
the fastest-growing sport in the United States, and people of all ages are flocking to it. Despite its name, pickleball is serious business for many. If you’re good enough, you can play it professionally and win stacks of cash. And if you’re not? Well, perhaps an addictive fitness habit and new friends are just as good. Pickleball was born in the 1960s when some golfing friends in Washington improvised a game for their families using badminton racquets, a lowered badminton net and a Wiffle ball. One of those golfers then began producing starter kits that could be sold so others could try out this new game. “It got to be where grandkids were playing, middle-aged kids were playing,
SUMMER 2021 | 25
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geotech.emporia@gmail.com 26 | Emporia Living
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grandparents were playing,” Scott said. “ … It’s just blown up since then, but it really, really got rolling probably back in the 90s. In 1990, there was pickleball in all 50 states, even Alaska.” But why, of all things, was the nascent sport called pickleball? “There’s rumors that pickleball got started because the guy’s dog’s name was Pickles, but really it didn’t develop from that,” Scott said. She doesn’t know for sure why it has that name. The USA Pickleball website claims that the origin of the name could have also been because the wife of one of the creators said that “the combination of different sports reminded me of the pickle boat in crew where oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats.” Regardless of how the name came to be, it stuck, and so did pickleball itself. Because of the nature of the sport, it took firm root in retirement communities in the American southwest, where the climate allowed it to be played year-round. Pickleball is somewhat of an amalgam of tennis, table tennis and badminton, but there are key differences that make it more accessible to a wider range of people. It is played with paddles and a hollow ball with holes in it — similar to a Wiffle ball — and therefore places less stress on the arms as other racquet sports. Also, one pickleball court is a quarter of the size of a doubles tennis court and the game is often played in a doubles format,
SUMMER 2021 | 27
meaning that the space a player needs to cover is nowhere near as vast as, say, tennis. Rather than relying heavily on speed and athleticism, pickleball success often depends on strategy and consistency. “It’s not just hitting the ball,” said Perry Kiser, another Emporia pickleballer. “It’s setting the opponent up, and that right there is a lot of the fun and the challenge, to hit to a spot where [the opponent] only has one place to go and then you’re sitting three shots ahead.” Pickleball was a perfect fit for retirement communities. However, it didn’t stay there. “I have grandkids that are playing it and now they’ve
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actually come out with halfsized paddles for little kids,” Kiser said. According to NBC News, the most rapidly-growing subset of pickleball players is trending younger. In fact, in some areas, schools are starting to offer it in their physical education activities,
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universities are forming intercollegiate club teams and parks and rec departments are creating municipal leagues. In Emporia, the central hub right now is Scott’s group at the Emporia Rec Center, which plays every weekday from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. inside ERC’s gymnasium. A decade ago, her
group had just a handful of players. Today, it has ballooned to more than 60, and some people — such as those who are more competitive — have formed more niched groups so that players with similar goals can play together. And yes, those with prior experience playing tennis,
badminton, racquetball or table tennis might have an easier time picking up pickleball. For those folks, perhaps they’d like to try playing at Hammond Park with the more zealous players. But absolute beginners are also welcome to join the fun, and many have. Plenty of Emporians play pickleball just for the fun of it and don’t have an interest in becoming particularly competitive. Because of that, Scott said that pickleball is great for new players and her group is always inclusive of them, helping them learn the game in a comfortable environment. “We don’t hurry anybody,” she said. “Everybody helps new players out.” You don’t even have to have any of your own equipment. You can just show up to the ERC during Scott’s group’s time slot,
pay your $2 if you don’t have an ERC membership and begin your pickleball adventure. “Usually there’s someone who has a spare paddle,” Scott said. “The only equipment that the rec center furnishes are the nets. We have our own balls so [new players] don’t have to have those. The only paddles [the ERC has] are wooden [which is not ideal]. But I don’t encourage people to go out and buy a $50 paddle or a $60 paddle until they’re really sure that that’s what they want to do.” If you do decide you want to invest in your own pickleball equipment, it tends to be fairly inexpensive, which is just another access point for the sport. And, once the city completes the pickleball courts near the Emporia
Country Club, Kiser said it would be a fun activity for the whole family, regardless of age and athletic ability. “It’s so easy. It’s a family activity too, so we have 80-yearold ladies and we have young kids play,” he said. “When these courts are built outside, then you could take your family and go play, four of you, from little to big, and actually little ones could be competitive. It’s such a wide encasing age limit and skill level. There’s definitely the pros. There’s definitely the older ladies and men that just want to hit across and have fun like that. And there’s the whole group in the middle.” Pickleball has something for everyone. Soon — as early as July 2021 — it will be free for everyone in Emporia as well. What are you waiting for? —EL
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Dear Community, Dynamic Discs wants to say thank you for 16 years of partnership with the Emporia community. We started from selling one disc golf disc a week out of a Ford Explorer in 2005 to now one of the largest disc golf manufacturers in the world. That growth and opportunity has not come easy but being in Emporia has given us advantages and to that we are appreciative and thankful. This last year was not easy navigating the pandemic for almost every business and business owner. Thankfully, we never had to implement any reductions and through the course of the pandemic we even saw substantial growth after the popularity of disc golf exploded as new players rushed out to the course for the first time. This year we accomplished a significant milestone by acquiring the Detroit Remanufacturing facility. While we are sad to see them leave our community the timing could not have been more perfect to help facilitate the growth of Dynamic Discs. For years we have been looking for a larger facility both in town and out of town. However, through the help of the City of Emporia, our local bank (ESB Financial) and the Regional Development Association, we were able to navigate some of the challenges that could have prevented us from being able to support the purchase of this new facility and remain in Emporia. When the pandemic hit, the Dynamic Discs organization was just under 50 employees. Today, we have surpassed 70 and continue to look for more employees as we continue to grow. Our office buildout and renovation of the entrance and break/lobby space is nearing completion and we are so excited to bring a more Dynamic work environment to this warehouse facility. If you are reading this and need a job or
know of someone that needs a job, send them our way because our growth can only continue with good employees. I know that most everyone in the Emporia community supports our growth and we are very fortunate to be located in such a supportive community. The Dynamic Discs Open is arguably the single largest economic impact for the Emporia community (for a single event) and we really appreciate how this community rallies around all of the disc golfers that come to town to enjoy this special community. Other communities are investing significantly more in hopes that their community could become the next Emporia. For the coming decade, we need to continue to improve our parks and improve what our community has to offer as we continue to grow Emporia as the #1 Disc Golf Town & Disc Golf Destination in the world. In closing, I’d just like to say thank you again! We have a really special thing going on here at Dynamic Discs and it is something that isn’t easy to replicate. Our community is full of passionate enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and business owners, and it seems that we constantly strive to be better than others in all that we do. As we continue to grow and venture into other business avenues to give back to this community, I hope to continue to have your support along the way. My favorite part about growing and maturing as a business is that it allows us to give back more to the Emporia community. I look forward to providing more support to organizations and those in need over the coming years. If you haven’t tried disc golf, what are you waiting for? We have the best disc golf retail store at 912 Commercial Street and are waiting to help you “Get Out, Get Active, & Play Disc Golf ”. At Dynamic Discs we are#AlwaysWorkingOnSomething and we’d like to help you become a better disc golfer.
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Master’s Craft BY RYANN BROOKS PHOTOS BY TIM MOHN
36 | Emporia Living
T
he delicate curl of a filigree begins to appear on a plate of copper beneath the steady, patient hand of the artist pushing the graver against the metal sheet. As the engraver works, he slowly spins the metal to create the smooth unending line. It’s a long, painstaking process. »
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And the end result is nothing short of breathtaking. The engraver is James Ehlers, a Lake Charles, Louisiana native who landed in Emporia almost 14 years ago to teach at Emporia State University. A master engraver and professor of art, Ehlers would take over the university’s fledgling, oneof-a-kind engraving program in Aug. 2007 — just one year after it started. But Ehlers says it was by chance while a student at McNeese State University in Lake Charles that he discovered a love for the engraving arts, and sheer luck that he found an academic position devoted to the craft. “Initially, I had no idea what I wanted to major in like so many people and went through being a business major, a Spanish major, and then I got talked into taking an art class — a drawing class,” Ehlers says. “The drawing teacher for my basic drawing class was also the printmaking teacher, so he saw that I could draw. I had drawn my whole life. I just kinda did that as a kid, and then I took a printmaking class with him later. I decided I hated it.” Halfway into the semester, Ehlers noticed a print of the wall. It was detailed, delicate and ornate. “I asked him, ‘How did you do that?’ And he told me it was engraved, and the way he presented it had this kind of mystique to it because there was no one at the school that engraved other than him,” Ehlers says. “So I demanded he show me how to do it, and I couldn’t do it to save my life,
38 | Emporia Living
Ehlers says it was by chance while a student at McNeese State University in Lake Charles that he discovered a love for the engraving arts, and sheer luck that he found an academic position devoted to the craft.
because it’s carving directly into a piece of metal with another piece of metal. Even though I disliked printmaking, I kind of became obsessed with being able to do it.” Working at a movie theater while completing his undergraduate degree, Ehlers would practice his engraving between selling tickets at the box office. With ample downtime, he had plenty of time to develop the skills and “muscle memory” by making marks with his graver.
“And I took printmaking, the class I swore I would never take again, I took that the following semester so I could do engraving,” he said. “In the second print class, he let us do, for the most part, whatever we wanted technically to pursue. I wanted to do engraving and that’s all I did that whole semester.” But McNeese didn’t have a metal engraving program. No one did. Ehlers went on to Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois where he could work closely with another engraver, earning a masters of arts degree. From there, he earned a masters of fine arts degree at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He returned to Louisiana and began the long,
frustrating process of finding a job in academia. “I was applying to about 40 jobs a year, all over the country. Getting an academic job is really hard; I don’t think a lot of people know that it’s extraordinarily difficult. The rejection rate is super high,” he said. “The burnout rate is when people give up after they’re done with grad school, and I was at that point — and then I saw this job posting for an engraving position at this place called Emporia State. I’d never been to Kansas before and I had to reread the job description a lot to process it, because this doesn’t exist anywhere. I had no frame of reference for it.” Ehlers isn’t kidding. Emporia State is the only university offering a four-year
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degree in the engraving arts in the U.S. Launched during the fall 2006 semester, the program was made possible thanks to a partnership with Emporia’s Glendo Corp. In 2014, the internationally renowned company gifted the university with $100,000 toward new equipment and technology to enhance the program. “It’s kind of amazing; that place in Emporia is truly a hidden treasure,” Ehlers says of Glendo. “I don’t think people know that there are European masters that go there to teach, so their reach is global. I don’t think that all people know that they sponsored this program. They made all these tools.” Ehlers himself has taken classes at Glendo to enhance his craft and continues to better his skills through classes, practice and study. Coming to Emporia as primarily a printmaking engraver, he realized quickly that many of his students had interests in firearms and knives engraving. That prompted him to pursue certification with the Firearms Engravers Guild of America. “I took a sabbatical in 2015 and a lot of my sabbatical was based on getting that certification,” he says. “I made a bunch of work for it. You go through the guidelines of what they’re looking for, and then you make the work and bring the work to Las Vegas to this inperson juried convention.” While many candidates do not pass their certifications on their first attempts, Ehlers made the cut that year.
40 | Emporia Living
Other students want to learn jewelry engraving. Some of the patterns can be applied to jewelry, but there are unique techniques as well. It’s a never ending learning process, both for him and for his students. “It’s never ending, which is exciting and frustrating at the same time. Students, they make you learn because they are always going to ask you something, come up with something you don’t know that they’re curious about,” Ehlers says. “As an instructor, coming up with 10 ways to explain the same thing, because everyone processes information differently? I’m training them, but they’re training me as well. I would not be at the same level I am right now if it wasn’t for them.”
James Ehlers
JASON DAILEY
Thinking outside the box Ehlers’s dedication to his students didn’t waver when faced with an unprecedented global event, online classes and staggered class times. He created take-home engraving kits for his students which included gravers, metal sheets, patterns and a resin turntable designed by one of his students. For students stuck at home without access to the airpowered equipment in the engraving lab that helps hand engravers save time, the kits were an important way to keep building skills. “That semester was awful emotionally,” Ehlers said of the spring 2020 semester. “I had a little breakdown at the end of it. The next year, not that it wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t as hard. Still super hard, but I wasn’t as
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blindsided by anything. You knew what it was.” Knowing students in his hybrid classes would face challenges, Ehlers created demonstration videos for his students and uploaded them to his YouTube channel. He had to cut his class times to accommodate for social distancing guidelines, essentially cutting down lab time for his students. In some ways, the pandemic helped Ehlers identify some ways he could make changes in his curriculum to help his students become more self-sufficient. “I feel like that was a bonus, actually, for all the bad stuff that happened,” he says. “That was a good thing, because it exposed the need for something like that.” Engraving Unbound Between constant learning, practice and curriculum-building, Ehlers still makes time for commission projects. One gratifying project over the years has been working with the nowUnbound Gravel team on prints for cyclists who make it into the “Race the Sun” club — or those who finish the race before sunset. Ehlers says the first engraving began with a single sunflower and scrollwork and he’s added new elements each year. When the race underwent its name change in 2021, he wanted to change the design. So, he went back to the single sunflower, making it larger with a frame. “None of them said ‘Emporia’ on them and I was like, ‘Oh, I have the opportunity to change the design and I want to do something that’s more a tribute to where their race is,’” he said. The newest print features Emporia, the home of Unbound Gravel, prominently. Ehlers plans to add more elements of local life
42 | Emporia Living
Knowing students in his hybrid classes would face challenges, Ehlers created demonstration videos for his students and uploaded them to his YouTube channel.
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When Ehlers isn’t at the university, at the lab tucked away in the northeast corner of King Hall, he’s likely to be found sampling whiskeys at Mulready’s with his wife, Fran, or “obsessively” watching combat sports as time allows.
JASON DAILEY
44 | Emporia Living
that cyclists will recognize each year. The centerpiece for the 2021 print? The meadowlark — references of which he used from the Emporia State University Schmidt Museum of Natural History. “I liked that idea of using campus resources and collaborating and they were cool enough to … open [the display] and let me move it so I could get a better photo of it as a study,” Ehlers says. “Moving forward, each year the print will be something specific to Emporia.” When Ehlers isn’t at the university, at the lab tucked away in the northeast corner of King Hall, he’s likely to be found sampling whiskeys at Mulready’s with his wife, Fran, or “obsessively” watching
combat sports as time allows. “My wife and I fancy ourselves as whiskey snobs,” he says with a laugh. “I do a little cycling, but not very much anymore. I might do it again since they’re something about the race that brings that spirit back into people.” And, he’s always learning. Practicing. Mastering the trade. “I took a class on English scroll work, some people call it filigree, and that was my intro to scroll work because I hadn't done that before,” Ehlers said. “I would have considered myself, at that point, a fairly seasoned engraver, but that was new to me. It took years to get to where I was like, ‘Oh, I feel like I’m good enough.’ But I feel like I’m pretty good at this point.” —EL
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By Jill Dutton PHOTOS BY JASON DAILEY
Chi Em Eats One might consider it a risk opening a Vietnamese restaurant in the heart of what is hailed as Beef Country. Still, it was a gamble Mai Fields, her husband, Steve Fields, and her sisters, Nguyet Pham and Trinh Vu took on with enthusiasm, ready to build the perfect menu at Chi Em Eats and educate diners about the nuances of Vietnamese food, all while sharing a passion for food, culture, and cooking.
A Family Tradition Raised in a family of nine children, Mai says her parents taught her how to cook, with her and her older sisters as primarily the family’s cooks. Although the meals were Vietnamese, they were exposed to a variety of dishes – both everyday family meals as well as more elaborate weekend and celebratory meals. A typical weekday meal consisted of rice, braised pork with eggs, and a vegetable dish such as broccoli, green beans cooked with pork or chicken, or Asian spinach. The meals focused on fresh foods and this tradition carried over when she opened Chi Em Eats. Fresh fruit and vegetables were prepared alongside meats purchased from the butcher. “Meals consisted of fresh meat, fresh food, so everything was fresh. And then, we grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, so we got fresh seafood as well. My parents grew
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The meals focused on fresh foods and this tradition carried over when she opened Chi Em Eats. 48 | Emporia Living
up in Vietnam, so they had a lot of fresh seafood and that's one of the reasons why they moved to New Orleans was the fishing industry,” Mai says. Weekends and celebrations involved more variety than weeknight meals. Multiple dishes were made, intended to be passed around and shared. A goat might be butchered and prepared. One dish was called Blood Pizza, where the blood from a goat or rabbit was allowed to coagulate. The meat was ground and cooked, along with different types of basil and mint, then the blood was poured over this mixture and topped with squeezed limes. Another dish was similar to sushi in that it utilized raw fish, vegetables, sesame seeds, and sauce. “You just eat and you dip. It’s a family-style way of eating.” Platters of fish, vegetables, and meats are passed around as, “conversation flows and there’s a lot of camaraderie as everyone passes dishes and eats together.” “Weekend meals were when a lot of the older generation came over and ate. And the men would eat together and the women would eat separately and then the children were in a different area,” Mai says. A favorite dish was similar to the spring rolls served at Chi Em Eats, but made family-style using a griddle. Fresh meats such as beef, shrimp, and tuna were sliced alongside mushrooms and onions. These were then grilled in butter. Rice noodles and sauces were prepared and everyone at the
table created their rolls using the prepared ingredients. “You grab what you want, roll it in rice paper, and you eat. We still prepare this when my parents come up to visit. It’s a lot of fun and you sit there for hours.”
Vietnamese Food
While Chinese and Vietnamese foods have similarities, many are confused about the differences. Rice is the staple of most Vietnamese meals. Whereas American meals center around the meat with rice or potatoes as an accompaniment, Vietnamese meat and vegetable dishes are “there to add flavor to the rice,” Mai says, “They are considered side dishes to the main dish of rice.”
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Although she started as a food truck business, she came across her current building, and “I fell in love with it. I’m like, this is what I want.”” Cooking duties while growing up were shared. On weekends, when their mother was home, she would prepare eggrolls, which they didn’t eat during the week because of the time needed to prepare. The sisters learned from watching both of their parents prepare traditional Vietnamese meals.
Brick and Mortar Mai and two of her sisters discussed opening a food venue for nearly 12 years. They started planning, and knew it would involve food, but were unsure in what format. It started with catering different events. She wanted to test out the market and
50 | Emporia Living
see how people responded to the flavors. When the family moved to Emporia, the timing and location felt perfect. “There are a lot of international events here; there’s a lot of diversity. And so we're like, okay, let's either look for a brick and mortar or a food truck.” A food truck, Mai said, felt like less work and less overhead as a way to start. Although she started as a food truck business, she came across her current building, and “I fell in love with it. I'm like, this is what I want.” The switch to brick and mortar included several large leaps that included hiring employees and additional prep work.
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“There's a lot of prep because we do everything from scratch. At first, I was thinking I just wanted a place that people can come in, pick up their food, and eat it somewhere else. Because we were also looking at a smaller space. But I like having this restaurant because I get to talk to people. I love meeting new people, I love meeting and knowing their stories, I love going out there and interacting with them. And just seeing the look on their face, you know, the smiles, especially during this pandemic, because it's been hard.”
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Long hardwood tables lend to a sense of communal dining. First, though, was the challenge of introducing Midwestern diners to Vietnamese food. “A lot of people were afraid to try our food because they don't understand it,” Mai says. “And at the same time, they think we're another Chinese restaurant, right? So we pretty much have to overcome that. “So if someone comes in, and we know that they're new, and they're kind of, like, scared, we would tell them, ‘Try the skewers.’ It's just meat on a stick and the vegetables are on the side.”
Eggrolls and dumplings are other suggestions she makes to help diners acclimate to the tastes since they’re more common foods. Not everyone is afraid to taste something new. Mai says one couple in their 70s became regular customers. Every time they would visit they would go down the menu and try something new. A childhood favorite that’s not listed on the menu, but is available as a special on occasion, is the braised pork and eggs that Mai grew up enjoying. She still cooks it for
54 | Emporia Living
To create the menu, Mai and her sisters spend a lot of time collaborating and testing recipes. her children and says that whenever she visits home that it’s a dish she looks forward to. To create the menu, Mai and her sisters spend a lot of time collaborating and testing recipes. They’ll create
something together and then call the family and cook for them, making different flavors for each dish. For example, if it was a beef dish, they’ll create three different flavors for the family to try. They repeat this process to get the green light of approval for recipes. Mai says they’re continually testing even existing menu items to make improvements. She says, “We have to make sure that the salt content isn’t too high, or it’s not too sugary, because we want to make the food healthier.”
Moving Through COVID The restaurant wasn’t open for a full year before the pandemic and its effects on restaurants took effect. Chi Em Eats opened in May 2019. The restaurant shut down for about three weeks in late March of 2020, then opened back up for one day a week of curbside takeout and delivery. They decided to start there and see how it goes. After a month or so they started to add additional days of takeout and delivery. It wasn’t until
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“We’ve transitioned back to full-service dining but we still have a lot more takeout than dine-in service.” this year that they started allowing indoor dining. “We still have our tables pretty much set for social distancing. So we had communal dining before COVID, where our tables were long and people could eat together even if they don't know each other. But once the pandemic started, we separated the tables,” Mai says. “We’ve transitioned back to fullservice dining but we still have a lot more takeout than dine-in service.” To keep the menu interesting as the restaurant moves on from a rough year, the chef has started creating specials to draw people in, as well as creating a new dessert each week.
56 | Emporia Living
These vegan desserts vary but one week the chef created Taro Buns, a custard-filled sweet bread. Other weekly favorites are cupcakes that utilize fresh fruits such as a mango swirl. Moving forward, Mai says she hopes to increase the menu, introducing even more food items to hopefully add to the regular menu – and continue to introduce Emporia diners to Vietnamese flavors. And Mai will continue to greet and converse with her diners, “I have a lot of regulars who make eye contact and say ‘Hi.’ So that makes me feel good about it. And just knowing that they enjoy our food. That’s very satisfying to us.” —EL
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Community Capturing
COVID made last year like none other for our community. From schools, to business, health care, to community events everyone had to adjust to new ways of doing things. We reflect on the events in our community over the last year in photo essay by Gazette photographer Tim Mohn. PHOTOS BY TIM MOHN
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