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LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: GRACIE HUNT CROWNED MISS KANSAS USA
Pageants provide competitive outlet for SMU grad who works for dad’s NFL team
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By Maddie Spera
Special Contributor
Even from Kansas, Gracie Hunt is doing the Park Cities proud.
Hunt, 22, was crowned Miss Kansas USA 2021 in April, but her Dallas ties run deep.
The SMU graduate is granddaughter of Lamar and Norma Hunt, and daughter of Kansas City Chiefs part-owner and CEO Clark Hunt, of Highland Park.
Gracie, who has competed for five years, was first exposed to the pageant world by her mother, Tavia Hunt.
“And what’s so funny is Miss Kansas USA was the first pageant I ever watched,” Gracie said. “My mom asked if I wanted to go watch it with her, because she was Miss Kansas USA 1993, and former title holders go and sometimes watch the pageant.”
Before getting involved in pageantry, Hunt played soccer but had to quit after four concussions. Competing in pageants provided a competitive outlet for her, and she enjoys its social aspect, too.
“You make such amazing friends, and I think that’s truly the greatest blessing of it all,” Hunt said. “I’ve actually been a bridesmaid in two of my best friends’ FROM LEFT: Ava Hunt, Clark Hunt, Gracie Hunt, Tavia Hunt, and Knobel Hunt. Gracie Hunt is Miss Kansas USA. (PHOTOS: WILL PATTERSON)
weddings who I met through pageants. You end up meeting a lot of people who have similar interests, and most girls who compete in pageants are really driven.”
Hunt is grateful the pageant was able to take place in-person and followed social distancing guidelines to make competitors feel safe.
She will never forget the moment she was crowned.
“There were so many emotions going through my head,” Hunt said. “I could see my mom in the audience, and she was crying, and I was trying not to cry. It was just very sweet and I really am grateful for what an amazing experience it was for everyone.”
The moment was just as significant for Gracie’s mother who is excited to see what her daughter will do during her reign.
“She has worked tirelessly pursuing this dream and it’s extremely rewarding to see her hard work pay off,” Tavia said. “I’m overwhelmed with the joy of sharing this journey with her 28 years after I was crowned Miss Kansas USA. I know she will take every opportunity to serve others and spread her message of respect and inclusion this year.”
Gracie works in marketing and brand development for the Chiefs, while pursuing her master’s degree in sport management at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
She serves on the Special Olympics Texas board, works with anti-human trafficking nonprofit New Friends, New Life, and promotes respect and inclusion with her nonprofit, Breaking Barriers Through Sports.
“I’m going to make the most of this year to really spotlight different organizations people can get involved with,” Hunt said. “I think it’s a great way to use this platform to lift up other people because there’s so much need in this world and no one person can do it all. But we can all do something to make a difference.”
$2.5M Needed to Preserve Historic Central Christian Church Westside Drive campus houses school, several ministries, busy dog park
By Rachel Snyder
rachel.snyder@peoplenewspapers.com
A Park Cities Presbyterian church staff member is working to save the historic Central Christian Church at 4711 Westside Drive.
The congregation started in 1863 on the second floor of a downtown blacksmith’s shop and moved to its Westside Drive location in 1952.
“It’s a really strategic location for building bridges between people from a wide range of backgrounds,” said the church’s last pastor, Ken Crawford. “That’s what I love about the campus.”
Blake Schwarz, who serves as the director of faith and work at Park Cities Presbyterian Church, is leading an effort to raise an additional $2.5 million by June 15 to preserve the Westside Drive campus.
Schwarz had raised about $1 million as of early May for saving what he calls “an estuary.”
“It is one of the few locations where people can walk without crossing a freeway
Fundraising is underway to preserve the Central Christian Church campus at 4711 Westside Drive.
(PHOTO: RACHEL SNYDER)
from HP, Oak Lawn, a historically Black community to the north, and a historically Hispanic community to the west,” Schwarz said. “Genuine relationships can form (have formed) which is so desperately needed in our current cultural moment of division.”
Crawford said discussions about the future of the campus began before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Dallas last year.
“Like a lot of churches, this congregation had been declining in numbers and financial resources for decades,” he said. “There was an agreement that it wasn’t sustainable.”
The town of Highland Park proposed buying the property for $7 million to potentially develop the land into a park.
“The neighbors did say the preference would be for Blake to raise the money and all the life-changing work (on the campus to) continue,” Crawford said.
WHAT’S THERE?
• The Central Christian Church campus houses several ministries: • Ethiopian Evangelical Fellowship; • The Gathering, an African American Church; • Connecting Point Park Cities day program for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities; • 12-step groups; • Seedschool for children ages 3 to 8; • And a dog park serving more than 500 people weekly. Visit centralcommons.org.
Bitcoin Birthday
June is such a great month. It’s never too hot in Dallas, the evenings linger, and people are out and about, many with smiles as masks are coming off.
Plus, it’s my birthday month. I’m a Gemini, the astrological sign for LEN BOURLAND the dualistic twins. Or the name given by the Winklevoss twins, the ones bested by Zuckerberg for Facebook, for their relatively new cryptocurrency trading platform.
Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin, but also Ethereum, Litecoin, Doge, and a dozen other of those mysterious currencies backed by, well, I’m not sure what, but it’s all the buzz.
When my hairdresser and everybody under the age of 45 has a bit of bitcoin since Elon Musk drove it into outer orbit, I felt like I was already late to the party.
Yes, I understood that it’s the equivalent of betting on a horse, but that’s the markets.
Coinbase, the easiest exchange on which to create an account, I did in the hair salon by downloading an app and linking my bank account, etc., and voila: I hold a tiny fraction of a bitcoin. Can I spend it? Nope. What can I ever do with it? Not sure.
Beware! I was warned. Use Gemini, much less hackable, more secure. So I downloaded the app and began the process. Three weeks and 52 emails to support@gemini. com, I have some money in their account.
Still, despite everything from resending photo IDs, creating new passwords, closing out my tiny bank checking, and opening a small Bank of America account already tied into cryptocurrency, I can look at my funds in Gemini but not trade. My account is “restricted.”
The support people, well actually there are no people just this email address which sends back reams of articles to read, cannot tell me why. Even trying to close the account has not yet panned out, but I’m trying.
What’s next? Well, there’s an even more arcane, more “secure” site called Kraken which takes two weeks to get verified, but I’m on the trail of a young cryptocurrency trader who might be able to walk me through. A person.
First, I’m to get a pricey stick on which to download and lock every password on my phone so that it is unhackable. Phew. Sounds like a project.
Thank heavens we Gemini have twin personalities and can turn off the serious one, smile, and take a walk.
Reach columnist Len Bourland at lenbourland@gmail.com.
SELLING PREMIER URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS
Meet the experts in Park Cities & Preston Hollow.
FOR SALE
3601 Springbrook Street 3 Bed | 3.2 Bath | 4,555 SqFt Listed At $ 1,499,000 5506 Waneta Drive 3 Bed | 6 bath | 5,753 SqFt Offered for: $2,445,000
PENDING
4618 Crooked Lane 5 Bed | 5.1 Bath | 6,675 SqFt Offered for: $3,298,000 5335 Meaders Lane 6 Bed | 6.2 Bath | 12,612 SqFt Offered for $10,250,000
PENDING
SOLD
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FOR SALE
Not intended as solicitation of properties currently listed with another broker. Information contained herein is believed to be correct but not guaranteed. O ering made subject to errors, omissions, change of price, prior sale or withdrawal without notice.
16 June 2021 | parkcitiespeople.com The Pandemic’s Missing Piece … Jigsaw puzzles provided ‘sense of purpose, skill, and conversation’ this past year
By Carolyn Tillery
Special Contributor
The time spent homebound with our families during the pandemic gave us an unexpected puzzle to solve: a newfound love of jigsaws.
And no one was more surprised than owners of toy stores and bookshops.
Pam May, owner of Toys Unique in Inwood Village, saw the regular inventory of puzzles, including everything from 1,500-pieces to toddler floor puzzles, evaporate.
“As soon as we got shut down, we were getting calls from people saying that they needed something to do,” she said. “Vendors were out of stock, and there were waiting lists. I’ve never ordered so many in my life. We were carrying between 50 and 60 different kinds. People would take what they could get. It was a frenzy.”
If you love jigsaws, then you may be a dissectologist – before and during the 19th century, jigsaw puzzles were called “dissected maps.”
The most common strategy used by puzzlers is to construct the edges first, then sort the remaining pieces by color. The average 1,000-piece jigsaw takes three people 10 hours to complete.
The most difficult jigsaw puzzle is considered to be the 500-piece, double-sided image of penguins by Royce McClure. The reverse is rotated 90 degrees and die cut from both sides to make front and back indistinguishable. The Guinness World Records rates the biggest jigsaw puzzle as the 40,000-plus pieces Memorable Disney Moments.
I wonder if this might be one of the things that continues to bring people together… It’s better than any computer game. Dr. Sandra Chapman
Londoner John Spilsbury is credited with creating the multipiece challenges in 1760 using a marquetry saw. The jigsaw became associated with the puzzle in about 1880 when fretsaws became the tool of choice for cutting shapes.
Challenge and fun aside, there
Retailers such as Toys Unique in Inwood Village saw their regular inventories of puzzles, including everything from 1,500-pieces to toddler
floor puzzles, evaporate during the pandemic. (PHOTO: CAROLYN TILLERY)
are health advantages to the activity. Experts say assembling the puzzles exercises both the left and right sides of the brain. They’re also proven to relieve stress and decrease anxiety.
According to Dr. Sandra Chapman, founder and chief executive of the Center for Brain Health in Dallas, “Jigsaws are good for you … It’s rare that you have a situation that causes you to concentrate on minute detail but requires reasoning to see how it fits in the big picture.”
In addition to puzzles available in every conceivable subject matter, they can also be customized to feature personal photographs, maps, and even newspaper front pages. There are various shapes – oblong, square, round, with pieces in the shapes of states, countries, plants, animals, or clouds. There are clear acrylic, gradient rainbow, and 3-D puzzles.
Of course, 1,000 puzzle pieces on the dining room table can prove problematic at dinner. However, there are roll-up mats and puzzle holders that allow for the pieces’ removal without incident. Or a trusty tablecloth draped over your masterpiece will do.
The rebirth of the puzzle’s popularity during the pandemic may have been just what the doctor ordered.
“The puzzles give us sense of purpose, skill, and conversation,” Dr. Chapman said. “We’ll see if after the pandemic is over if that continues. I wonder if this might be one of the things that continues to bring people together … It’s better than any computer game.”
ROTARY CLUB OF PARK CITIES
presents Park Cities 4th of July Parade
BENEFITTING:
PARADE DEDICATED TO: The Park Cities’ municipal workers who tirelessly assisted the community during the February freeze and to all the health care providers for their service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
HONORING 2021 GRAND MARSHALS: Laurie &Jim Hitzelberger
PARADE DETAILS: Saturday, July 3rd 9:00 a.m. start 7:30 a.m. lineup at the HP Town Hall
