Topeka Magazine summer 2013

Topeka Magazine

Summer’ 13 | sunflowerpub.com | $5

Summer ’13

Vol. VII / No. III

from the editor Editor Nathan Pettengill designer/Art Director

Shelly Bryant

chief Photographer

Jason Dailey

COPY EDITOR

Christy Little

advertising Kathy Lafferty representative (785) 224-9992

Ad Designer

contributing Photographer

Jenni Leiste Bill Stephens

Contributing Writers Melinda Briscoe 2013 James Carothers

Meredith Fry

Jeffrey Ann Goudie

Kim Gronniger

Cecilia Harris

Carolyn Kaberline

Susan Kraus

Vern McFalls

Eric McHenry

Anita Miller-Fry

Cheryl Nelsen

Karen Ridder

Christine Steinkuehler

Debra Guiou Stufflebean

Barbara Waterman-Peters GENERAL MANAGER

This edition’s cover image shows Topeka artist Sunyoung Cheong holding a handwritten recipe that is part of her project (described briefly in our interview with her for our new “In the Studio With ...” series) exploring the meaning and taste of family recipes.

The recipes that Cheong gathered are genuine heirlooms from homes across Topeka.

And they also are all works of art, in spite of (or perhaps precisely because of) being often crumpled or spotted with stains, presumably evidence of frequent consultation.

As Cheong showed these recipes, I thought of the ones that I knew. At all the houses I have lived in, we have kept a few recipe books, but the most important recipes have always been stored on small cards. These cards have been transcribed, borrowed and sometimes inherited. As I thought of these cards, I was struck by how similar they are to postcards, the subject of our extended feature in this summer edition. After all, both are personalized, selected specifically with a person or people in mind, and exchanged.

And the very best postcards are like the most treasured recipes—they are a mixture of words (or ingredients) that are all known and tasted, but perhaps never before arranged in such an exciting or needed combination.

They are more than a correspondence (or a meal). They are what love looks like when it is scribbled hurriedly and compactly, so that nothing important is accidently left out and nothing extra distracts from its taste.

And, fortunately for all of us, they are meant for sharing.

Bert Hull

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TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

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features TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ‘13

50 Best’s Show in Town In helping people to “get art,” gallery director Sherry Best draws on personal explorations of photographing nature and light

57 Greetings from Topeka Souvenir mailings provide a visual summary of the city’s past

TOPEKAMAGAZINE Artichoke #9 by Sherry Best

Summer ’ 13

5

departments TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’13 Lifeguard Matthew Chenoweth talks with swimmers from an exercise class at the North YMCA.

notables 12 The Budler System Kansas State Librarian Jo Budler is a builder

Meet & Greet Topeka Lifeguards

travel

28 29 30

Vacation in Your Own Backyard …

A simple three-day road trip can be a low-stress, memorable summer vacation for Topeka families

44

John Sanders Jason Coffman Matthew Chenoweth

16 Moonbeam Me Bounced calls are a good thing … if you’re a ham aiming for the moon

20 Pulled to Perfection Rory Bahadur blends Caribbean and Midwest ingredients for a signature smoked taste

24 Urban Fishing It’s dinner, entertainment and a bit of nature for Topekans fishing in city lakes and watersheds

what’s happening?

in the studio with ...

35

48

Events around Topeka for June-August

Sunyoung Cheong

home life 41 Re: Possibilities ReStore provides raw furnishings for décor discoveries

on the cover

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TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

Topeka Magazine

Topeka artist Sunyoung Cheong holds a recipe from Debra Withey that is part of Cheong’s documentary art project on family recipes, memories and connections to loved ones through the food we prepare and eat.

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departments TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’13

You are wearing your floral prints and sunglasses, right?

No? Well, that’s OK. The stories in this section have you covered for summer themes: long days of fishing, cookouts, road trips (or a short blast to the moon and back), heroic lifeguards, simple home projects and the Topeka librarian who put the “e” in summer e-reading. And if that doesn’t inspire you, our calendar entries highlight some of the top events in Topeka this summer.

We hope you enjoy this lineup of stories for our summer edition.

12

The budler system

16 Moonbeam me 20

pulled to perfection

24

urban fishing

28 Meet & Greet

Bill Glynn synchronizes his laptop computer and transmission antenna before carrying out a rare ham radio transmission known as “moonbouncing.”

Topeka Lifeguards

35

What’s Happening?

41

re: possibilities

44

vacation in your own backyard

48

in the studio with ...

TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

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Photography by Jason Dailey Story by Jeffrey Ann Goudie

about the

12

writer TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

Jeffrey Ann Goudie, former newspaper columnist, is a freelance writer and book reviewer whose work has appeared in the Huffington Post and the Kansas City Star. For Topeka Magazine she profiles Topekans who are making a positive difference in their community.

Let your SmiLe refLeCt the beauty of your SouL.

The Budler System Kansas State Librarian Jo Budler is a builder

S

he has built consortia, networks and partnerships. But, when necessary, she can also make the tough decision to withdraw from a partnership. This is what Jo Budler did to earn the honor of 2013 Librarian of the Year as selected by the editors of Library Journal magazine.

Budler, the Kansas state librarian, was appointed to her post in 2010 by then-governor Mark Parkinson. A veteran of state libraries, she had previously been Ohio’s state librarian for six years.

Shortly after she began work in Topeka, Budler received a contract for renewal of services from OverDrive, a vendor that provides a platform for ebooks. It requested $75,000, a whopping 700 percent increase, by 2014 for administrative costs. It also stipulated that all previously purchased ebook content would be lost if the State Library of Kansas chose to move to a new vendor.

Budler says she combed through the document and asked Jeff Chanay, Kansas deputy attorney general, to look it over. He shared her concerns about the new provisions. She asked whether she could write publishers for permission to move to a new platform. But, Budler says, there was no other platform at the time. So switching vendors meant prodding other vendors to get into the platform business.

And that meant there was an uncomfortable period of time when Kansas library patrons did not have access to ebooks. But Budler won her battle—the State Library of Kansas actually has multiple vendors now—and retained the ebook content previously purchased over several years.

In a January 31 event at the newly renovated State Library, housed in the State Capitol, Budler was recognized by Governor Sam Brownback and First Lady Mary Brownback for the Library Journal honor. In remarks made at the ceremony, Budler downplayed the idea that she had done “anything special,” insisting she was just doing her job.

“It’s all about equity of access and being good stewards of state dollars,” she said at that ceremony.

Ann Joslin, the state librarian of Idaho, says she heard Budler talk about the ebook dustup at a packed session of the American

Opposite Kansas State Librarian Jo Budler was recently honored with a cover shoot for Library Journal, which can be seen at the bottom left of photo.

Budler now spends much of her time at the recently renovated Kansas State Library, shown here, located inside the Kansas Capitol and open to the public.

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Jo Budler

Library Association conference. She says Budler “made it seem like what she’d done wasn’t out of the ordinary when many of us thought it was extraordinary.”

The director of the Northeast Kansas Library System, Jim Minges, worked with Budler in Nebraska before each relocated to Kansas. He characterizes Budler as “forward-thinking” and “dynamic,” and he says she is “really interested in partnerships.”

Budler was born in 1949 on the island of Manhattan and raised in Queens. Her mother died shortly after she was born, and her father died when she was not quite 6.

“I love cataloguing. It’s like you bring order to a world.” — Jo Budler “So I was raised by aunts and uncles,” she says. “They were wonderful.”

Her guardian was an aunt who never married and lived to be 102 years old, and who kept her mental faculties, Budler says, until she was 100. This extended family lived together in a large house. As a child, Budler loved to write. A fan of Bonanza, which ran on NBC from 1959 until 1973, she would pen her own episodes for the western, featuring herself as a character.

“Because you’ll remember they always had an orphan or some little waif,” she says. “I wrote myself into the script.”

Graduating from John Adams High School in Queens in 1967, she went to Syracuse University, the first in her family to attend college. Following her early love of creative writing, Budler entered the writing sequence there and studied with Donald Justice, a recipient

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Now eNrolliNg studeNts of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. After earning a Bachelor of Arts in English Composition, she was admitted to the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where serendipitously she was again able to study with Justice, who had joined the faculty there. After receiving her MFA from the Writers’ Workshop, she considered her options.

She did not want to teach writing but favored “reading and books and service to people.” So she applied to Iowa’s Library School.

“That was the best year I had in all my education,” she says. “It was so much fun. First of all, I love cataloguing. It’s like you bring order to a world. And reference was great.”

With a library science degree in hand, she and her family moved to Colorado Springs, where she worked as a substitute librarian at the public library and catalogued the extensive private library of a minister, lugging books to her house to make cards.

In Lincoln, Nebraska, she was curator of the Heritage Room, a special collection of Nebraska authors, illustrators and histories.

After working for the Legislative Reference Library for Nebraska’s legislature, she was in charge of statewide programs for the state library of Nebraska. She then moved to Lansing, Michigan, where she worked as deputy state librarian, before moving to Columbus as Ohio State Librarian.

Budler says she was drawn to the State Library directorship in Topeka because her husband, a Nebraskan, loves the lower Midwest, and one of her two grown daughters, a psychologist, lives here. Her other daughter, a pharmacist, lives in Denver.

Budler says she finds Kansas librarians “really cooperative and supportive of the State Library.”

Budler uses the words “cooperate” and “collaborate” frequently. This native New Yorker is the quintessential librarian’s librarian, dedicated to putting patrons in touch with information, services and books they need, but also building coalitions of people to work together.

15

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Moonbeam Me

Story and Photography by Bill Stephens

Art by Lana Grove

Bounced calls are a good thing … if you’re a ham aiming for the moon

M

When that signal reaches the moon, two seconds later, it has dispersed over thousands of miles and is only a few thousand ths of a watt.

any of us enjoy our hobbies so much that we say they are “out of this world.” Topekan Bill Glynn goes one step beyond that. His pursuit of amateur radio involves aiming his antennas at the moon, bouncing signals off the lunar surface and back to other ham radio operators on Earth. It is one of the latest innovations of a century-old hobby rooted in Morse Code, or CW. “We still use CW and voice modes of communication, but with the dawning of the digital age, we have had a whole new realm of technologies open to us for exploration,” says Glynn.

“Moonbounce is a specialized mode that is being used by over 700 hams worldwide, including about 270 in the United States.” Licensed since 2009, Glynn is one of only a handful of hams in Kansas with the equipment and know-how to make a moonbounce happen.

While Glynn is a relative newcomer to the hobby, his experience in electronics and digital communications goes back decades. His father was a ham and got him hooked at an early age.

Moonbouncing, or EME (Earth-MoonEarth), was known when Glynn was a child. In fact, it was first conceived in 1940 by the British and was in use toward the end of that decade by the U.S. military. They had big budgets and lots of manpower to assemble and maintain the necessary antenna arrays used to relay teletype signals between the mainland and Pearl Harbor.

The first amateur radio EME contacts began a few years later in 1953.

Glynn has modeled his moonbounce antenna and equipment after one of the original EME pioneers in Topeka, Al Tyler, who went by the ham handle of WØDRL. “I assembled both the tower and the EME antenna array exactly as Al first built them,” explains Glynn. “Initially, I motorized the array then upgraded the support frame design to improve range of motion and scalability,” Glynn says. “Scalability” often tends to be ham-speak for “I can always add on to it and make it bigger next year!”

Glynn’s equipment generates a signal at 160 watts of power, which his antenna magnifies by a factor of 100. When that signal reaches the moon, two seconds later, it has dispersed over thousands of miles and is only a few thousandths of a watt. Bounced back to Earth, it loses even more power. In order for a ham operator to receive it on the other end, that opera-

tor must have an antenna that can magnify the signal at least 100 times, or even 1,000 times, its strength to process and decode it.

The broadcast and the reception are strictly choreographed procedures, with synchronized to the National Institute of Standards and Technology time clock. A ham wanting to establish contact begins calling at the top of the minute and continues for 50 seconds, then ceases. The next 10 seconds allow for the listening stations to process the data they have collected. At the top of the second minute, the answering stations respond with their callsign, as well as with the callsign of the calling station, plus a few other bits of information. The third minute is for the first station to acknowledge the response. Sometimes a fourth or fifth minute is needed to clear up any missing parts of the exchange.

This is all done from either a keyboard or via Morse code. If you were to listen to the digital sound signal, it would sound more like static with a few faint “deedle-deedle” tones mixed in. Moonbounce using voice is very rare and requires great amounts of power and extremely large antenna rays.

Glynn has made EME contacts in Germany, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Russia, England and Finland. Stateside, he has connected with receivers in New Jersey, Idaho, Georgia and Virginia. During a recent EME contest held each winter, Glynn added several more stations to his list.

Of course, not all ham license operators spend their time moonbouncing, but most keep up with the hobby’s technical changes. Lee Hoffman has had his ham license since the late 1960s and has experienced the transition from radios with “knobs and dials and switches” to the current state-of-the-art equipment.

“Today you buy a black box that connects to your antenna and is responsible for generating and receiving the radio signals. All of the audio processing and signal enhancements are done using a desktop computer,” he says. “As simple as it sounds, you can do a dozen things more efficiently and with greater accuracy than when we used to spin dials and adjust antennas all of the time.”

Software Defined Radio (SDR) uses all of the options available to hams including Morse code, voice, digital, teletype plus a few more.

“Instead of endless tuning up and down the

about the

writer

Bill Stephens, also known by his radio call sign as “NUØY,” has been a ham operator since the late 1960s and regularly contributes as a photographer for Topeka Magazine.

TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

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bands to find your contacts, you just scan the computer screen, find the signal of interest and click and pounce,” Hoffman says.

The displays on his computer screen show the entire band from edge to edge and all of the stations who are currently transmitting.

The operator just clicks on the strongest spike and immediately his equipment is tuned to that signal for receiving or transmitting.

One of the reasons ham radio came into existence was to train a civilian pool of qualified communications operators to aid in emergency communications should the need arise. Hams assist with health and welfare communications during hurricanes, floods, tornados and other natural disasters when cell phone towers or other lines of communication might be down. During severe weather watches, dozens of the local amateurs become the eyes of the weather bureau and feed storm information back to the National Weather Service from their vehicles strategically positioned throughout the adjacent counties.

Bill Kuhn, a ham since the 1980s, shares his hobby with his 13-yearold son, Michael, who passed his technician and general class license tests a year ago. Michael and his peers have many electronic diversions to compete with ham radio, including iPads, cellphones, Xbox stations and Wii consoles to name a few. Michael uses those devices for entertainment and his ham radio equipment for communications. “I think communicating with ham radio is more casual than using a cell phone for text messaging,” he says. Michael says he may try for the extra class license just so he can have the bragging rights.

Approximately 60 ham license tests are given each year in Topeka according to Terry Hoss, a volunteer exam coordinator. The licenses are issued by the Federal Communications Commission and require varying degree of electronic, safety and regulatory knowledge to obtain. There are three levels of licenses: technician, general and extra. Topeka’s Kaw Valley Amateur Radio Club offers free license preparation classes. Progressing up through the chain of licenses makes available additional operating frequencies and modes of operation. The requirement to be proficient in Morse code was dropped several years ago, although it is still used by hams who enjoy a connection to the hobby’s roots.

Bill Glynn, top, stands next to the antennas he uses for mounbouncing. Glynn shows the identity calling cards, middle, of some of the ham radio operators who have exchanged moonbounce transmissions with him. Leo Hoffman, bottom, is a veteran Topeka ham radio operator who has seen the transformation of his hobby from “knobs and dials and switches” to digital-based transmissions.

TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

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Photography by Bill Stephens Story by Meredith Fry

about the

20

writer TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

When Meredith Fry isn’t studying at Washburn University School of Law, she can be found in the garden growing her own food, testing out healthy recipes or peddling her bike through Topeka.

Pulled to Perfection Rory Bahadur blends Caribbean and Midwest ingredients for a signature smoked taste

O

n any given day, Rory Bahadur’s neighbors might catch wafts of barbecue aroma coming from his driveway smoker in southwest Topeka. Bahadur, a professor at Washburn University School of Law, is also a certified Kansas City Barbeque Society judge and meat enthusiast who explains his art is flavoring the meat itself, from the inside out, rather than loading it with sauce.

Bahadur’s reputation for smoking meat is well-known among family, friends and colleagues. As if his enthusiastic teaching style were not enough for his students, the professor is famous for enticing his law students to attend a special Saturday class by serving pulled pork sandwiches. He also prepares and serves his smoked meat for his children’s sports team dinners and occasionally helps out friends with the meat dish at special occasions.

From his childhood years in the Caribbean, Bahadur says, “my whole family lives around food.” Bahadur merges the spices from his home of Trinidad with meat found in the Midwest. Bahadur follows a systematic approach in making his delectable smoked pulled pork. It starts at the local meat counter, where he selects one to two 10-pound raw pork roasts. Bahadur prefers the Boston butt roast shoulder cut. He then places all of the dry rub ingredients for his pulled pork into a dutch oven and then seasons the raw pork by kneading the mix into the meat. When he comes across a fatty crevice, Bahadur fills the cavity with more seasoning to flavor the meat.

Bahadur, who smokes meat 2-3 times a week, says the process “is a good hobby, and it’s not terribly expensive.” An added benefit is that it will feed his family for two to three days. While there are a variety of ways to serve the meat dish, Bahadur prefers to eat pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw on top of the pork. He has several choices when it comes to sauces. He prepares a hot pepper sauce made from homegrown Trinidad Scorpion peppers, but cautions a drop of this potent sauce can make you cry. Another favorite is made from roasted garlic and shado beni, a Caribbean herb that can usually be found at Asian markets.

Opposite Rory Bahadur—law professor, kissing Klingon and master of the pulled-pork dish—smokes meat at his home and regularly prepares it for family and students at his kitchen.

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recipe:

Rory Bahadur’s Pulled Pork Preparation time 10-12 hours Feeds Approximately 20 adults Ingredients: One 10-pound roast Rub

¼ cup paprika

¼ cup curry powder

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons black pepper

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons dry mustard instructions: 1) Blend together the ingredients for the dry pork rub mixture.

2) Set aside proper-sized pans. For each 10-pound roast, the final pulled pork product will fill three lasagna-sized aluminum disposable pans.

3) Get the coals hot in the smoker. Bahadur layers his smoker with a base of charcoal briquettes topped with hickory logs.

The pork will smoke for 10 to 12 hours, depending on the wind. He uses his smokers “when it’s raining, snowing, the only thing that’s a problem is the wind.” To get the most out of his smokers, Bahadur arranges his cars in the driveway to make sure the microclimate around his smokers is optimal.

4) Rub the meat with the pork rub mixture, making sure to stuff the seasoning in the natural fatty openings in the roast.

The spice that is on the outside of the meat will burn off in the smoking process. Place the roast in the smoker and smoke for six hours.

5) After six hours, check to see the roast has an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Once the roast has reached this temperature, take the meat out of the smoker and wrap in aluminum foil. Bahadur has a prep table set up on his driveway where he has aluminum foil ready to receive the hot roast. He uses metal meat lifters to get the roast out of his Weber smoker.

Bahadur places the aluminum-foil-wrapped roast back in the smoke where it will stay for an additional four hours to finish.

6) Allow the meat to cool for at least one hour, then pull apart the pork and place into the pans.

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TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

Santa Express Midland Railway Historical Association

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• Thomas the Tank Engine • Haunted Halloween Train • Santa Express • Easter Bunny Train

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The Midland Railway operates excursion trains on a line originally constructed in 1867. Train rides feature an over 20mile round trip from Baldwin City via “Norwood, Kansas” to Ottawa Junction, Kansas, traveling through scenic Eastern Kansas farmland and woods via vintage railway equipment. The Midland Railway is a completely volunteer-staffed, non-profit 501c3, common carrier railroad operated to preserve and display transportation history as an educational demonstration railroad. Join us for a train ride – bring the whole family! We are in easy reach of Kansas City, Overland Park, Olathe, Ottawa and Lawrence, Topeka, and nearby communities.

Normal excurions trains June-October every year.

Special Events Include; Easter Bunny Train Thomas the Tank Engine Haunted Halloween Train Santa Express

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Tallgrass_5x7_postcard.indd 1

11:37 AM 2 blocks west of 6th & 4/8/13 Wanamaker

Photography by Bill Stephens Story by Anita Miller Fry

Urban Fishing It’s dinner, entertainment and a bit of nature for Topekans fishing in city lakes and watersheds

about the

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writer TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

Anita Miller Fry is no stranger to Topeka and Topekans. She has been writing about them for many years. Even so, she still finds there is much to discover about her hometown.

I

f you’re looking for big waters, visit the oceans.

If you’re looking for a respectable lake, head to the 416 surface acres of Lake Shawnee.

If you’re looking for a relaxation and community, for a place where neighbors fish together, grandparents bring their grandchildren for an afternoon of fun, and home is just a short walk away—then that’s urban fishing.

Michael Rogers, 16, is spending his Sunday casting for fish at the Central Park Lake. He is joined on a wooden dock by two younger children who are fishing with homemade poles made from sticks, and fishing line and hooks provided by Rogers.

The youngsters had caught three small fish on these make-shift poles.

Rogers has hooked two nice-sized catfish, using hot dogs for bait and traditional fishing skills: a watchful eye, a line taut—but not too taut—and a swift jerk on his pole once he realized he had company on the other end.

“They’ve been biting like crazy,” Rogers says. After just a few minutes, the fishing line pulses again, and Rogers quickly pulls back. “Oh, it just took my hot dog,” he says with disappointment as he puts on more bait and casts again across a lake that has supplied food and entertainment to central Topeka for many years.

Topeka’s urban lakes are among more than 200 in the state that participate in the state’s Community Fisheries Assistance Program that leases fishing rights so the public can fish at them. Many of the urban fishing lakes in Topeka have channel catfish, crappie, flathead catfish, largemouth bass, wiper, bluegill and green sunfish.

They are stocked through the state’s Urban Fishing Program, which was developed to improve fishing opportunities in urban areas where the demand for fish exceeds

urban fishing’s

Regulations and Advice Residents of Kansas who are ages 16 to 74 must have a Kansas fishing license to fish.

Nonresidents 16 and older need a nonresident license, unless fishing on a private pond that is not leased for public fishing.

Fishing licenses may be purchased online through the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism at https://www2.ks.wildlifelicense.com/start.php, through a licensed agent or at any Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism office.

The state of Kansas also provides advisories on any potential health risks of eating fish. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment advises sensitive populations, such as pregnant women and children under 17, to consider restricting their total mercury intake, which can be reduced by limiting consumption of large, predatory fish, or larger and older fish of all types that likely have higher concentrations of mercury. Those consuming fish are also advised to only eat fillets, especially when eating bottom-feeding fish such as catfish, and avoid consumption of other fish parts that may have harmful contaminants.

These websites have more information about the health of fish from bodies of water in Kansas: http://www.kdheks.gov/befs/fish_tissue_monitoring.htm www.kdwpt.state.ks.us/news/Fishing

An urban fisherman drives into Gage Park, opposite, for summer fishing. Orlando Burnett, above, shows off catfish that he has caught at Gage Park.

TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

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the supply. The program, through the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, stocks 77 lakes across the state with 3/4- to 1 1/2-pound channel catfish, hybrid sunfish, and wipers as often as every two weeks from April through September. The lakes have daily creel and length limits that are posted at each location. Residents of Kansas ages 16 to 74 must have a Kansas fishing license to fish.

Rogers says the Central Park Lake, located just east of the Central Park Community Center, attracts many people from the bordering residential areas, with most fishing from 7:30 a.m. to noon and 5:30 to 8 p.m. He likes to fish after school and on weekends.

At Westlake in Gage Park, a sunny day draws lots of families to the curve-shaped pond with grassy areas and picnic tables around the shores. Matt Williams is one of them. He typically uses minnows to catch crappie and chicken liver to attract catfish. This afternoon, there isn’t much biting going on.

“This is fished a lot. You can tell because there are so many people out here,” he says.

Williams also occasionally goes to the lakes at Cedar Crest, the governor’s residence west of Topeka, when he wants to fish in the city.

The park surrounding Cedar Crest, MacLennan Park, has three fishing lakes, two that are

located down the hill south of the mansion and have paved walking trails around them. The third is located west of the mansion in a wooded area that can be reached by trails from the parking area just to the west of Cedar Crest.

Barbara Ream has found a comfortable spot on a fishing dock at one of the MacLennan Park lakes. Her two grandchildren are fishing farther out on the dock.

“When I get bored at home, I love to come fish,” says Ream, who estimates she is out on the lake once or twice each week.

“I get relaxed when I come here. Sometimes they’re biting and sometimes they eat the bait off the hook. That one just took it right off the hook. They’re getting smart.”

Corey Latham has been fishing his whole life. “My dad forced me to do it as a child,” he says, smiling. He usually fishes at Lake Perry, but he likes the closeness of the lakes at Cedar Crest and Gage Park for in-town fishing. “I’m not here to eat. I’m here for the entertainment.”

Even with the buzz of nearby traffic and the view of industrial plants in the distance, Latham’s fishing place has quietness about it.

It’s the heart of the city, but time slows down here for the urban fishers looking forward to the catch of the day.

urban fishing SPOTS

in Topeka

Governor’s Ponds East & West North of I-70 on Fairlawn Road in MacLennan Park Surface Acres: 5 acres Karl’s Lake 1/2 mile east of Cedar Crest parking lot Surface Acres: 1 acre Central Park Lake Bottom of Form 1534 S.W. Clay Surface Acres: 4 acres

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Clarion Lake 37th & Fairlawn Surface Acres: 4 acres Westlake in Gage Park 6th Street & Gage Blvd.

Surface Acres: 6 acres Freedom Valley Lake 14th and Illinois Surface Acres: 1 Auburndale Park Stream East of MacVicar and south of I-70

Horseshoe Bend Park Pond Horseshoe Bend Drive and S.E. 43rd Terrace Surface Acres: 1 acre Lake Shawnee 3139 S.E. 29th St. Surface Acres: 416 acres In addition to a regular fishing license, a trout permit is required to fish for trout during the trout season.

Lake Shawnee Jr. Located on the west side of Lake Shawnee Surface Acres: 2 acres

Rivers The public can also fish along the Kansas River with access through Kaw River State Park, just west of Cedar Crest and with an entrance off of S.W. Sixth Street. Another waterway that flows into the river and provides anglers with an opportunity for channel and flathead catfish and possibly some spotted bass is at Auburndale Park, just east of MacVicar and south of I-70. There the twists and turns of the water almost have the appearance of a riparian area of a mountain valley, with lush green grasses and the sparkling water.

Kent Hall, top, fishes at MacLennan Park, near the governor’s residence of Cedar Crest. Allen Kisler and his daughter, Dalaynee, spent last year’s Father’s Day fishing at Topeka’s Central Park lake.

meet&greet

John Sanders

Summer’s Heroes—The Lifeguards

Topeka Dive Shop John Sanders, owner of Topeka Dive Shop, does his lifeguarding underwater. As a scuba instructor with rescue certification from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, he’s an advocate for helping people prepare for life-threatening situations in water. The former Marine says scuba classes offer participants “with a moderate level of fitness and no major health issues” an opportunity to master skills through various drills before they earn their certification in a large body of water, typically at an Ozark lake, under Sanders’ supervision.

“It’s an activity that individuals or families can do together to learn about discipline and also ecology,” he says. “It makes you aware of our impact on aquatic life and their environment and how we are harming the planet and ecosystems.”

As a rescue diver, Sanders has not yet had to pull anyone out of the water.

He focuses on prevention by monitoring for potential distress signals and learning about the divers in his care before they go underwater. Sanders says most of the incidents he has responded to are divers experiencing discomfort from breathing compressed gas under pressure, which builds up nitrogen in their systems. Sanders strives to prevent and/or alleviate these symptoms with snack and water breaks between dives to make sure participants are well-hydrated and well-nourished.

Drawn to the weightlessness and stress relief that scuba diving provides, Sanders says, “It’s a new experience every time even if you’re diving at the same destination again. It’s an activity that really excites the senses.”

sanders’

top

3 Summer Lifeguard Essentials

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one.

First-aid kit two.

Snacks and water three.

Camera

Hail the heroes of summer with their sunscreen and sunglasses, their watchfulness and whistles, their responsiveness and rescues etched in their minds forever.

Story by Kim Gronniger Photography by Jason Dailey

Jason Coffman

meet&greet Summer’s Heroes—The Lifeguards

Blaisdell Family Aquatic Center Jason Coffman, a sophomore psychology major at Washburn University, has spent the past five summers lifeguarding at Blaisdell. In that time, 28 emergencies have pulled Coffman off the stand at the city’s large, well-attended public pool. Coffman’s interventions have included saving kids who ventured into areas where their feet couldn’t touch the bottom of the pool and rushing to the aid of an individual who slipped at the top of diving board steps and fell backward.

“I thank God every day she came out OK, just scrapes, after a 15-foot fall,” says Coffman.

Coffman remembers his first save, which came only three days into his first year of lifeguarding. “A little girl came out of the tube slide and got caught in the current and couldn’t get back to the ladder,” he says. “I recognized the situation quickly, and she thanked me every day she came to swimming lessons after that.”

The Seaman High School graduate underscores the importance of watchfulness in the staff he mentors as assistant manager. “What other job can a 16-year-old person have with responsibility for saving a life? It’s something you have to be conscious of on the stand.”

Having spent a lot of time playing outside and going to the pool several days a week as a child, Coffman is glad to see younger generations enjoying old-fashioned, fresh-air fun. And he’s there to keep them safe, including encouraging them to wear sunscreen, stay hydrated and remain in areas where they are safe.

If something does go awry, Coffman and his colleagues are prepared. “Knowing you saved someone’s life is the best part of the job,” he says.

Coffman’s

top

3 Summer Lifeguard Essentials

Story by Kim Gronniger Photography by Jason Dailey

one.

Gallons of unsweetened tea often mixed with lemonade two.

Spray-on sunscreen three.

Four or more swimsuits

TOPEKAMAGAZINE

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meet&greet

Matthew Chenoweth

Summer’s Heroes—The Lifeguards

North YMCA (Kuehne Branch) Matthew Chenoweth, aquatics manager at the North YMCA and former member of the Topeka High School swim team, has been lifeguarding since the age of 16 in a variety of venues, earning a recreation degree from Emporia State University along the way.

Chenoweth notes his work at the YMCA pools allows him to meet people of all ages. “I now have 47 new grandmas and grandpas who love to talk to me and tell me stories and know when my birthday is,” says Chenoweth. “They’ve made me an integral part of their lives.”

As a “pool rat” growing up, he knows first-hand how kids look up to lifeguards as role models and understands the hero aspect that comes with the job.

Chenoweth has 15 saves, ranging from jumping in a pool to helping a child regain his balance to assisting a swimmer with a suspected spinal injury. Off-duty, he has also assisted a person severely injured in a car accident and rendered CPR and rescue breathing to a man struck by lightning during a lake outing.

“Being calm in a crisis, thinking on your feet and recognizing possibilities for an emergency” are essential attributes for a lifeguard, says Chenoweth.

The best part of the job, however, is “the relationships and connections you make with the regulars and the people you give care to, even if it’s a 4-year-old who needs a Band-Aid.”

Chenoweth’s

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3 Summer Lifeguard Essentials

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Summer ’ 13

one.

Water, water, water two.

Pocket mask three.

Whistle and loud windpipes

Story by Kim Gronniger Photography by Jason Dailey

Pull-Out Guide

Arts Connect of Topeka

Sunyoung Cheong premieres A Taste of Memories on June 7 at Warehouse 414 as part of the June First Friday ArtWalk events. With contributions from J. Carlson, M. Reilly, K. Slattery, E. Munns, M. Murray, D. Withey and S. Wood-Eden, the installation/performance explores the meaning of treasured family recipes. Doors close at 6:30 p.m. for the show and postevent food sampling.

Official First Friday ArtWalk Map and List of Participants

June-September

(785) 249-6329 Hours: Sunday - Tuesday by appointment Wednesday - Friday 10:00 - 6:00 Saturday - 9:00 to 5:00

Six Auto Sales proud sponsor of

RiveRfRont Station GalleRy & lounGe

the newest gallery in NOTO!

Riverfront Station 802 N. Kansas Open Friday and Saturdays at 4pm

785.221.6666

Follow us on Facebook

S.W. Gage Blvd

S.W. Fairlawn Rd S.W. Huntoon St

60

54

48 49 S.W 46 50 S.W. 59

S.W.Oakley

S.W. 17th St

West Ridge Mall

47

63

SW 21st St 61

S.

44

64

Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center

42

S.W. 29th St

S.W.Oakley St

837 N. Kansas 785.220.4129 Find us on Facebook

Sports Center Golf Complex

S.W. 10th Ave

S.W. Gage Blvd

826 N. Kansas 785.221.0167 www.rustyhaggles.com

4 giRls’ gaRage

S.W.

S.W. Fairlawn Rd

Rusty Haggles antiques

W

S.W.Wanamaker Rd

June 7 | July 5 | August 2 | September 6

ARTSConnect First Friday ArtWalk

pull-ouT Guide Join us for first fridays! July 7 • July 5 • aug 2 • sept 6

N

S.W. 37th St

Provided By:

Sherwood Lake

Berkshire Country Club

n o RT h To p e k A ( n oTo ) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Riverfront Station 802 ......................... 802 N Kansas Ave Rumba Club ........................................ 816 N Kansas Ave Serendipity .......................................... 820 N Kansas Ave Gravity Gallery & Shops ..................... 820 N Kansas Ave Megan Rogers Photographie ......822 1/2 N Kansas Ave Two Days Market ................................ 824 N Kansas Ave Rusty Haggles/Stonewall Art Gallery 826 N Kansas Ave 4 Girls’ Garage .................................... 837 N Kansas Ave Southwest Traders .............................. 830 N Kansas Ave Studio 831 ........................................... 831 N Kansas Ave Kaw River Mercantile .......................... 833 N Kansas Ave Foole’s Dream Studio ...................833 1/2 N Kansas Ave Second Chance Antiques .................. 840 N Kansas Ave REWIND Antiques ..................................... 840 N KS Ave Robuck Jewelers ................................ 845 N. Kansas Ave Eclective .............................................. 900 N Kansas Ave Scarlet Window................................... 902 N Kansas Ave Yeldarb Gallery, Inc. ............................ 909 N Kansas Ave J&J Gallery & Bar ............................... 917 N Kansas Ave Vintage Vibe ....................................... 920 N Kansas Ave NOTO Community Arts Center ........ 922 N Kansas Ave

Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS Topeka, KS

66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608 66608

doWnToWn TopekA 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Blue Planet Café .................................................. 110 SE 8th Ave Topeka, KS Bottega 235............................................ 7th & Quincy, 3rd Floor Topeka, KS Constitution Hall.................................. 429 S Kansas Ave Topeka, KS 66603 Brown Vs. Board of Education ..................... 1515 SE Monroe St Topeka, KS Break Room...................................................... 911 S Kansas Ave Topeka, KS Boho Mojo ........................................... 728 S Kansas Ave Topeka, KS 66603 Celtic Fox ............................................................118 SW 8th Ave Topeka, KS First Presbyterian Church ................................. 817 SW Harrison Topeka, KS Cloister Gallery @ Grace Cathedral ......701 SW 8th Ave Topeka, KS 66603 Hazel Hill Chocolate ........................................ 724 S Kansas Ave Topeka, KS Black Door Gallery.............................. 913 S Kansas Ave, 2nd Fl Topeka, KS

S.W

21

18 20

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1 22

Phillip Billard Municipal Airport

3 4 5

37 29 24 S.W. th 6 Av e 32 34 23 31 38 56 28 33 S.W. 30 41 39 10th 27 36 26 Ave 35

45

N.E. Seward Ave

40

57 58

S.E. 6th St

Capitol Building

S.E.Q uincy S t

Huntoon St

S.W. Lane St

W. 12th St

25

S.E. 21st St

S.E. Adams St

S.W. Washburn Ave

51

Topeka Country Club

S.E. California Ave

Kansas Expocentre

53

S.E. 29th St

For Great Fine Art

S.E. Adams St

Shawnee Golf Club

S. Kansas Ave

S.W. Topeka Blvd

S.W .B url ing am eR d

W. 29th St

62

Art Restoration & Repair Lake Shawnee

S.E. California Ave

.W. 21st St

55

16 19

Pull-Out Guide

W. 6th Ave

2

13 14 7 9 6

S.E. Bran ner S t

10 8

S.E. nd 2 A ve

11

N.W. Tope ka Blv d N. Ka nsa sA ve

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17 15

3113 SW Huntoon (In the Westboro Mart)

785-233-0300

Lake Shawnee Golf Course

beauchampsart@cox.net

The Collective Art Gallery Fine Art Since 1987 Join us on the First Friday Art Walk! (and during our regular business hours)

Wednesday-Friday 12-5 Saturday 10-3 We’re On Facebook!

3121 SW Huntoon, Topeka, KS 66604 785-234-4254 www.thecollectiveartgallery.com

43

33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

Merchant .......................................................... 913 S Kansas Ave Topeka, KS NexLynx ...............................................................123 SW 6th Ave Topeka, KS Prairie Glass Studio ............................................. 110 SE 8th Ave Topeka, KS Upstage Gallery/Jayhawk Theatre .................. 720 Jackson Ave Topeka, KS Warehouse 414 ...................................................... 414 SE 2nd St Topeka, KS Lupita’s ............................................................ 723 S Kansas Ave Topeka, KS Topeka Ramada ....................................... 420 SE 6th Ave Topeka, KS 66607 Swinnen & Associates ....................921 SW Topeka Blvd Topeka, KS 66612 H&R Block ............................................ 726 S Kansas Ave Topeka, KS 66603

westbOrO / midtOwn 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Alice C. Sabatini Gallery (TSCPL) .........1515 SW 10th St Topeka, KS 66604 Beauchamp’s Frameshop & Gallery ..............3113 SW Huntoon Topeka, KS Collective Art Gallery .........................3121 SW Huntoon Topeka, KS 66604 Edward Jones ..................... 3100 SW Huntoon, Ste 101 Topeka, KS 66604 Firestation #7 .........................................1215 SW Oakley Topeka, KS 66604 Glass Expressions ..................................1250 SW Oakley Topeka, KS 66604 Great Mural Wall................................................. 20th & Western Topeka, KS Legacy Community Arts Center ................ 1315 SW 6th St, Ste D Topeka, KS Mulvane Art Museum & ArtLab...............1700 SW College Ave Topeka, KS SoHo Interiors .....................................3129 SW Huntoon Topeka, KS 66604 Topeka Fiber Arts District ..................... 400 S Washburn Topeka, KS 66606 Topeka High School .................................... 800 SW 10th Topeka, KS 66612 Burger Stand @ College Hill ........................... 1601 Lane Topeka, KS 66604 PT’s Coffee (Flying Monkey) ............... 17th & Washburn Topeka, KS 66604 Westboro Window Fashions..............3119 SW Huntoon Topeka, KS 66604 Whitehall Fine Gifts & Collectibles ...............3401 SW 10th Ave Topeka, KS

sOuth, west & east 61 42 43 44 62 63 64

Topeka Art Guild ............................ 5331 SW 22nd Place Topeka, KS 66614 Southwind Gallery .................................3074 SW 29th St Topeka, KS 66614 Colorfields ..................................... 6825 SE Stubbs Road Topeka, KS 66409 Paint Therapy Uncorked ............5130 SW 29th St, Ste B Topeka, KS 66614 House 2 Home Lighting & Décor ...........5612 SW Topeka Blvd Topeka, KS The Toy Store ..................................................... 5300 SW 21st St Topeka, KS Offices That Work .................................................. 3615 SW 29th Topeka, KS

ToPeKa arT Guild and Gallery

Serving Our Artists and Supporting the Local Arts Community

SWINNEN & ASSOCIATES Attorneys at Law

921 SW Topeka Boulevard Topeka, Kansas 66612

Open 11 am-5 pm Wed. - Sat.

(785) 272-4878 (HURT)

Upcoming Show Theme: Seasons

Join us every First Friday from 5 pm-8 pm for 10% off 5331 SW 22nd Place Fairlawn Plaza | Topeka, KS 66614

Pull-Out Guide

A GreAt MArketinG tool for your Business

to advertise contact

Kathy Lafferty klafferty@sunflowerpub.com 785.224.9992

What’s Happening in

june Tee off for a good cause Get out your clubs and take a day to participate in one of this summer’s charity golf tournaments. On Monday, June 3, at the Lake Shawnee Golf Course, you can tee off to help an organization called The First Tee, which teaches character development through the game of golf.

This youth development organization introduced the sport to more than 3,000 local kids last year through in school curriculum and summer programs. The First Tee uses the fundamentals of golf to guide players ages 7 to 18 through nine core values and nine healthy habits. Site Coordinator Elmer Robinson says golf can go a long way toward creating kids with positive attitudes who get along with others. “It is the perfect tool because it’s all about self- accountability, perseverance and sportsmanship,” says Robinson.

The money raised goes to help the program teach golf at low or no-cost as well as to support scholarships offered by the organization.

Other charity golf tournaments this summer include:

June 15

June 1-2 | Mulvane Mountain Plains Art Fair | Washburn University Campus

June 14 | Music of the Americas concert | Grace Cathedral

June 1 | Auburn Community Center book sale and community party featuring live entertainment and music | Heritage Park - free

June 15 | Wheatstock Concert featuring acoustic and bluegrass music | Old Prairie Town

June 2 | Santa Fe Band performance | Gage Park Amphitheater - free June 5 | Sal Cruz & Cruz Line: Drumline performances | Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library - free June 7 | UnEarthed Art Exhibit opening with art bugs and other creepy crawlies | Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, Sabatini Gallery - free June 7 | Downtown Topeka First Friday Concert series, Band and Beer Garden | Eighth Street between Kansas and Jackson - free

June 15 | Topeka Tinman Triathlon | Lake Shawnee June 15 | Dover Heritage Days including a pancake feed, parade and other activities | Dover June 16 | Santa Fe Band performance | Gage Park Amphitheater, free June 19 | Topeka Gives, communitywide giving event to celebrate the Topeka Community Foundation’s 30th anniversary | Fairlawn Plaza Mall June 19 | Topeka Blues Society performance | Gage Park Amphitheater - free

TARC’s Annual Benefit Golf Tournament Lake Shawnee Golf Course

June 7 | Twilight guided tours featuring the evening activities of zoo animals | Topeka Zoo

June 22 | Opening of Tools in Motion exhibit featuring tools as inspiration for art | Mulvane Art Museum

June 24

June 7-15 | Sunflower Music Festival series of orchestra concerts and chamber music | Washburn University’s White Concert Hall - free

June 22 | Rita Hosking country folk performer at the Last Minute Folk Series | 4775 SW 21st Street

The Topeka South Rotary Golf Tournament Cypress Ridge Golf Course; to benefit Breakthrough House

Boy Scout Golf Classic Topeka Country Club

June 8 | Heartland Military Day featuring World War II battle re-enactments and Big Band concerts | Museum of the Kansas National Guard - free

Text by Karen Ridder

June 9, 30 | Marshall’s Civic Band Concert | Gage Park Amphitheater - free

July 15

Photograph courtesy from left: A trombone in the Santa Fe Band reflects members of the Topeka-based ensemble. (Photograph by Jason Dailey for Topeka Magazine). The Mulvane Mountain Plains Art Fair will include works from several Topeka artists, such as Cally Krallman, whose work Flatlander Storm is seen above right. (Photo courtesy Cally Krallman.)

June 22 | Corks & Forks Artisan Chefs & Spirits Festival to benefit the American Cancer Society | Shawnee Country Club June 23 | Topeka Jazz Workshop Band performance | Gage Park Amphitheater - free

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What’s Happening in

july Shrine Bowl comes to Topeka The 40th-annual Kansas Shrine Bowl comes to Washburn University on July 27. The event, which raises money to support Shriners Hospitals for Children throughout the country, brings about 500 of the top Kansas high school athletes and musicians together for a week of clinics and camps. The week culminates in an East vs. West football game featuring the top 68 graduated senior players in the state as selected by coaches and the media. The game also features an honor band as well as cheerleaders and dancers. Janette Mize, with the Shrine Bowl organizers explains, “We involve virtually every community in the state in one way or another through the kids.”

The Shriners hope to raise between $50,000 and $70,000 for the 22 hospitals in the Shrine Hospital system and the organization’s mission of providing quality medical care for kids regardless of their ability to pay.

Topekans can enjoy the event with a free parade in downtown Topeka on Saturday at 10 a.m. and a motorcycle show from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Shrine Bowl Game starts at 7 p.m. at Washburn’s Yager Stadium.

Text by Karen Ridder

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Summer ’ 13

July 4 | Spirit of Kansas Celebration and Blues Festival including music, vendors, arts & craft, a car show and large fireworks display | Lake Shawnee July 5 | Downtown Topeka First Friday Concert series, Band and Beer Garden | Eighth St. between Kansas and Jackson - free

July 17 | Arty Awards to benefit ARTSConnect | Topeka Civic Theatre July 17 | Yo-Yo champion Brent Dellinger trick yo-yo demonstrations for Blockbuster Wednesday performances | Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library

July 7 | Santa Fe Band performance | Gage Park Amphitheater, free

July 18 | Pianists from KU’s International Institute for Young Musicians | Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library - free

July 8 | The Cover Girl Concert featuring pop and country tunes | Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library’s The Edge stage - free

July 21 | Marshall’s Civic Band | Gage Park Amphitheater - free

July 9-13 | Fiesta Mexicana festival carnival, art show, festival entertainment and parade | Our Lady of Guadalupe Church July 12 | Kansas Choral Directors Associations Convention Concert | Grace Cathedral - free

July 27 | Summer Sunset Concert | Old Prairie Town July 28 | Laughing Matters Senior Class improvisational comedy show featuring actors 55 and older | Topeka Civic Theater July 30 | America’s Favorite Storyteller Mark Twain performance | Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library - free

July 14 | Topeka Jazz Workshop Band performance | Gage Park Amphitheater - free

Photograph courtesy from left: Kansas Shrine Bowl, The 2012 Fiesta Queen Michelle Garcia Hubbard will hand her title and obligations to this year’s royalty as part of the traditional Fiesta Mexicana celebrations.

(Photograph Jason Dailey for Topeka Magazine.) That’s a sketch of the real Samuel Clemens, but impersonator Dave Ehlert will present his version of Mark Twain at the library. (rook76 / Shutterstock.com)

What’s Happening in

august Have a Night Out with Neighbors The National Night Out Against Crime events, which encourages neighborhoods to plan parties to get to know one another, is scheduled for Saturday, August 10. Last year, nearly 50 Topeka neighborhoods and almost 6,000 people participated in the events planned by neighbors and sponsored by the organization SafeStreets and local law enforcement. Parties ranged from backyard cookouts and ice cream socials with games to parades and carnivals.

“It does help the neighbors to understand who should be in their neighborhood and who should not and also to look for crime that might occur,” says coordinator Judy Wilson with SafeStreets.

To find or plan an event in your neighborhood, contact Safe Streets at (785) 266-4606.

Text by Karen Ridder

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August 1-4 | Warbirds and Legends Aviation event featuring static displays and flights by vintage World War II aircraft | Topeka Regional Airport, free airplane rides for World War II vets and families can be scheduled in advance August 2 | End of Summer Bash with dancing, painting and marshmallow fight | Garfield Community Center August 2 | The Grape Escape wine tasting event, sample more than 160 wines and food from local restaurants | Topeka Performing Arts Center August 2 | Downtown Topeka First Friday Concert series, Band and Beer Garden | Eighth Street between Kansas and Jackson - free August 3 | Cosmos Karaoke | The Break Room August 4 | The WTCT players, readings of classic radio shows in live performance | Topeka Civic Theatre August 9-18 | Tom Sawyer youth production | Topeka Civic Theater August 10 | Cruisin’ the Capital Car Show | downtown Topeka - free August 10 | Sports Trivia Night | Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library - free August 10 | Movie night under the stars | Bettis Family Sports Complex - free

August 16 & 17 | Laugh Lines improvisational comedy for adults | Topeka Civic Theater August 17 | Topeka Railroad Festival featuring railroad history, entertainment and activities for kids | Great Overland Station August 17 | Positive Connections annual gala featuring entertainment by Irie Tribal Belly Dance Co. | Ramada Inn Regency Ballroom.

August 21 | Topeka Blues Society performance | Gage Park Amphitheater free August 24 | Family Night on the Ranch with hayrack rides, storytelling and a country style hotdog cookout | Dancing Star Ranch, Tecumseh August 24 | Paws in the Park Helping Hands Humane Society event with pet contests, vendors, entertainment and prizes | Gage Park August 28 | YWCA’s Women’s Night Out evening of fun, information and entertainment | Capital Plaza Hotel Sunflower Ballroom.

August 30 to September 1 | Shawnee County Allied Tribes 23rd Annual Traditional Pow Wow with Native American dancing, education, crafts, food vendors and a Sunday morning church service | Lake Shawnee

Photograph courtesy from left: Dancers from the Irie Tribal Belly Dance Co. will perform for the Positive Connections gala. Formerly known as Topeka AIDS Project, Positive Connections provides services for lives impacted by HIV/AIDS. (Photograph Jason Dailey for Topeka Magazine.) The Gathering of Warbirds and Legends Aviation event features aircraft from the 1930s and 1940s. (Shutterstock)

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Re: Possibilities

W

Wendy Pearson displays projects and materials at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

endy Pearson, a lifelong fan of thrift stores and garage sales, recently furnished her daughter’s nursery with second-hand finds, including an antique buffet she refinished to serve as a changing table and dresser, a floor lamp that just needed a new globe and a rocking chair.

For Pearson, these furnishings are now sentimental home décor that also underline her mission as Topeka Habitat for Humanity’s development manager. Recently, she has also coordinated do-it-yourself project classes focusing on repurposed materials often found at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, the nonprofit’s warehouse for new or gently used home products.

ReStore offers a climate-controlled, year-round flea market experience with attentive volunteers, including prospective Habitat for Humanity homeowners eager to point out deals on construction supplies and working appliances to fulfill their own 300 hours of sweat equity.

Opened in June 2011, ReStore is the local agency’s primary fund-raising source. “We are a community receptacle when people clean out their garages or remodel or buy too much of an item,” says Pearson. “People who donate items save landfill space, get tax credit if they itemize and help low-income families receive affordable housing.” The agency makes donating easy to accommodate customers, whether they drop off items at the dock or request pick-up service.

The store draws “shoppers across all socioeconomic classes and from all parts of the region who might be looking for a high-quality bargain for a budget renovation or craft project,” says Pearson. “Everything is cleaned up and priced at least 50 percent less than its retail value.”

With the popularity of online picture-sharing sites such as Pinterest, Pearson has had several customers send her pictures of their salvage handiwork, including a painted chandelier, a window turned into a table, a headboard fashioned from an intricately carved door and a

Story by Kim Gronniger

ReStore provides raw furnishings for décor discoveries

about the

writer

Kim Gronniger, inspired by the reuse trend, uses her childhood craft table and grandmother’s step stool as porch plant stands and is painting the 1904 World’s Fair piano she used to practice Carole King songs on red, much to her mother’s delight and her father’s dismay.

TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

41

coffee table topped with mosaic tiles. Last year, Habitat sponsored free two-hour Do-It-Yourself craft classes at the store on Saturday mornings. One simple project with dramatic results involved making a cabinet door into an attractive serving tray by repositioning the handles.

Pearson hopes to offer additional classes in 2013 if another community artist steps forward.

“There’s so much potential in anything that has been discarded by someone else,” asserts Pearson. And “discarded” does not mean “wellused.” Local hardware and big-box stores also seek out ReStore when they have surplus merchandise. When Home Depot needed to move three semi-trucks of ceramic tiles, Pearson worked with ReStores in Lawrence and Kansas City to share the wealth.

Serendipitous finds happen often, Pearson notes, including sinks and toilets still in their original boxes, pristine windows that didn’t fit, even 24 pallets of brand new roofing materials.

“A woman came in needing a roof just when we were trying to figure out how to store one,” says Pearson. “Fortunately we were able to deliver all 24 pallets directly to her home.”

Pearson notes that she and the agency’s executive director are the only paid staff. They rely extensively on “a wonderful group of people” to make the store successful, including a cadre of “knowledgeable retired guys” who painstakingly cull through items in historical buildings, basements and closing businesses.

Using trucks and trailers, they triumphantly haul back tool collections, architectural finds and other treasures to benefit customers and finance the American Dream for local families.

“We have great partnerships with our contributors, our volunteers and our vendors,” says Pearson. “We remind each other daily that we’re all here to put people in their own homes.”

More Information Topeka Habitat for Humanity Restore 2907a Southwest Blvd.

9 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday

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TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

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Vacation in Your Own Backyard ‌ A simple 3-day road trip can be a low-stress, memorable summer vacation for Topeka families

Story by Susan Kraus

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TOPEKAMAGAZINE

Summer ’ 13

A statue at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum commemorates the famous photo of a sailor and nurse kissing on Times Square in celebration of the United States military defeat of Japan in World War II. The museum also features photos and personal artifacts from the life of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower, inset. (Photographs Lisa Eastman for Sunflower Publishing.)

T

he key to “Are we there yet?” is to not go far.

Avoid the wear-and-tear of multiday drives or the hassle of delayed flights and lost luggage.

Keep it simple.

Here is a handy-dandy three-day itinerary for a family mini-vacation leaving from Topeka. Break it down and do one night at a time, or expand to include side trips.

Day One: Get on I-70.

Drive 75 minutes west.

Arrive in

Abilene.

Abilene has just been listed in the April 2013 Smithsonian magazine as one “The 20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2013.” With a population of less than 7,000, Abilene packs a punch when it comes to history.

First stop is the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. See how a small-town Kansas boy became a general and president, as well as coverage of the Cold War, desegregation and the initial impact of television on politics.

Opening June 1 is a special exhibit, World War II Remembered: Leaders, Battles and Heroes, with a focus on the personal stories of Native American code talkers, Tuskegee Airmen, Ritchie Boys, women at war, the home-front, and more.

Just down the street is the Greyhound Hall of Fame, which celebrates a breed and a sport. You’ll be greeted at the door by two retired greyhounds.

(Yes, you can pet the dogs.) A quick walk-through takes about 30 minutes.

Four Simple Guidelines for

Vacationing in Your Own Backyard No chain restaurants. This alone will make you feel away from the familiar. Ask locals where they go and why. Look for specials (like the Friday Night Catfish that has locals lining up.)

Check out local calendars of destinations for special events as they could determine your choice of dates, like the Wild West Fest in Hays on July 4 weekend.

Salina’s Stiefel Theatre has some hot acts that can be worth scheduling around (Joan Baez, June 4; Boz Scaggs, July 26; Rick Springfield, July 28, etc.)

Order tourist guides from the local Visitor’s Center of each destination.

They provide maps, descriptions of attractions, special events, contact info and, often, discount coupons. There may also be discounts available online. Kids love to look at guides. Just look up the city and order one.

Attitude Matters: Rolf Potts is an internationally acclaimed travel writer whose home base is in Gypsum, a small farming community south of Salina. He contends that it isn’t location that makes a vacation rewarding, but rather the ability to “cultivate an attitude of curiosity.” Slowing down is essential. “Be open to where you are,” he says, “because what you see as ordinary may really be awesome. There are amazing differences within 100 miles of almost anywhere in Kansas.”

about the

writer

Susan Kraus is a therapist and award-winning travel writer who believes that travel can be the best therapy. She enjoys helping people create their own “travel therapy” by writing about journeys that anyone can replicate.

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Stroll the saloons and log cabins of Old Abilene Town, then grab some lunch at the Hitching Post, where the daily specials always please.

Then visit the 1887 Rock Island Depot and the Dickinson County Heritage Center, which houses the C.W. Parker 1901 Carousel (the wood platform goes up and down, kids love it.) In an age of incessant tweeting and texting, the Museum of Independent Telephony, at the same location, provides perspective and laughs.

Thirsty for a Coke or malt? Hit the soda fountain in Banke’s Drug Store with its seven stools and original Formica countertop.

By now you’re ready to cool off. Check into your hotel and take a dip in the pool. Or grab your suit and head for the City Pool to soak up more local ambiance.

Some other options: Abilene has an abundance of antique stores, several located downtown; the Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad provides a 90-minute trip to Enterprise and back; if you like historic mansions, the Seelye Mansion is a gem.

For supper, try Ike’s Place (their photo gallery features Ike at various sports) or Mr. K’s Farmhouse, where Ike went whenever he returned to Abilene.

While no longer in its original historic location, the Brookville Hotel, now visible from I-70, remains popular. Be advised: You don’t go because the food is gourmet, but because family-style platters of fried chicken, slaw, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, biscuits and ice cream will induce a carb-overload of vacation proportions.

And because you’re in Abilene, that’s what tourists do here.

After dinner, since you checked out the schedule for the Great Plains Theatre, you (maybe) have tickets lined up for live theater: Almost Heaven (June), The Odd Couple (July) or The Fantasticks (August).

Day Two: Get on I-70. Drive approximately 90 minutes west.

Arrive in

hays.

After free breakfast in the hotel (when traveling with kids, always pick a place with free breakfasts), hop in the car and head for Hays.

You should be able to make it before an “Are we there yet?” moment.

First stop is the Sternberg Museum of Natural History. Set in a four-story dome, it blends the “natural” with life-size, semi-automated dinosaurs. (Honestly, they freaked me out, but kids seemed to love them.) The Sternberg is easily worth a half-day to a day depending on attention span. Their Discovery Room has traveling exhibits, so there is always something new.

Ellis County Historical Museum covers history and culture of the area, while the Historic Fort Hays Museum features the military fort and some original houses. The Fort Hays State University campus is quite lovely for a stroll.

For something unique, schedule a visit to the Blue Sky Miniature Horse Farm, where kids can practically cuddle an itty-bitty horse.

By mid-afternoon, it’s time for a dip at the Hays Aquatic Park, with a WPA Bathhouse, lazy river, two slides and more.

Dine at Gella’s Diner and Lb Brewing Company, or ask your new friends at the pool about their favorites.

Day Three: Get on I-70. But turn around and drive 75 minutes east.

Arrive in

salina.

Salina has a thriving downtown district with shops and restaurants. The Smoky Hill Museum, located in a 1938 art deco former post office, is stuffed with artifacts and history of this area of the state. The living-history Yesteryear Museum has an agricultural focus (1860s to 1950s) plus a one-room schoolhouse, a church and two display halls.

Check out the Salina Art Center galleries as well as their theater for foreign and independent films.

A must-see for families is the Rolling Hills Zoo. If you’re there on a weekend, grab the schedule of “Keeper Talks” as they can be a highlight of a visit: up-close and personal talks with zoo-keepers about the animals they nurture. Be sure to feed the giraffes.

You should be able to make it before an “Are we there yet ?” moment.

But it’s the 65,000-sqare-foot Wildlife Museum, included in the zoo admission, that will surprise, with immersive dioramas you walk through, seven ecosystems and water features. The animals are more real than “real,” so much so that little kids can get scared. This summer they also have a traveling exhibit of live penguins, “Penguin Landing,” featuring African, black-footed penguins.

For a quick lunch, swing by The Cozy Inn. It will redefine the word “cozy” with its lunch counter and six stools. (Really, that’s it.) They’ve been turning out small, square burgers (grilled onions essential) since 1920, long before the word “sliders” entered our vocabulary.

Now it’s time for some real fun: the Kenwood Cove Water Park.

Almost as cool as Oceans of Fun, but on a scale (and cost: $3.50 for kids, $5.50 for adults, and, lucky me, $2.50 for seniors) that will make your budget smile. There are seven different slides, a wave pool, lazy river, lap pool, water games and more. Rent a cabana or find a lounge chair because this will take awhile.

For dinner, try Martinelli’s downtown for Italian or Hickory Hut B-B-Que. There are also several family-owned Mexican restaurants, each with its own loyal fan base.

Surprise the kids by scheduling a Rolling Hills Family Overnight Expedition. You camp (bring your own sleeping bag) in the zoo, with flashlight hikes in the dark, tram rides, activities, snacks and breakfast, at a cost for four that is about the same as a motel room.

Or, better yet, lose the kids: Collect a group of friends or cousins (10 minimum) and you can drop them off ($35 a kid) for the night and head for a local motel.

Or, you can slide onto I-70 east and be home in your own bed in only 90 minutes.

That’s how easy it can be when you vacation in your own backyard.

Lb. Brewing Co., top left, is a restaurant that capitalizes on Hays’ Volga-German heritage. According to the restaurant’s owners, Lb. stands for “liquid bread”—in other words, beer. Photograph courtesy Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau. Left, an order of cozy burgers is served up at Salina’s Cozy Inn, a small restaurant with a large regional following. Photograph Larry Harwood for Sunflower Publishing.

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47

In the studio with ...

Sunyoung Cheong The paper I am holding is Debra Withey’s chicken adobo recipe from her grandmother. It is part of my project funded by a University of Kansas grant on Topeka women’s experiences with food and memory. To do this, I talked to women, invited them into my house, explained my project and listened to what they said about their families and their memories of food. I visited their homes, and we prepared their recipes and I am preparing an installation/performance based on the recipes that each woman shared. All of the recipes in the project are very personal recipes with intimate stories about their families or their mothers.

Some of these are recipes from the women’s mothers, and some are their recipes they share with their children.

I think each person has a different taste of the same food. For me, I have my mother’s recipe, but I have a memory, and I think that memory changes the taste. It isn’t actually the taste on your tongue—it is different, a little bit more emotional. But when we gather to share food and stories, it actually becomes a collective memory, and those collective memories become very powerful.

My thoughts on food and memory started about seven years ago when I moved to Topeka. I’m originally from Seoul, Korea, and it was kind of a culture shock. I had two little children and didn’t speak much English. And even though I had never had any experience in art, I decided to study art at Washburn. So, I had to find the balance between home and school, and it was very challenging.

I would become very tired—physically and mentally—and I would have these cravings for my mother’s food, the ones she prepared for me when I was a kid in Korea, especially her seaweed soup and rice porridge.

In Korean culture, the mother is the one who takes care of the chil-

Photograph by Jason Dailey

dren and makes the house beautiful. We have to make home-cooked meals. That’s what I remember from my mother. In Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, a woman’s place was in the home. And my mother made clothes for me. We didn’t have a sewing machine, so she hand-stitched clothes for me. We didn’t have an electric oven, but she still made steamed cakes for me. There are several of her foods that I ate when I was 7 or 8 years old that I still remember.

When I was younger, I didn’t talk to my mother too much. My life was hectic, and I didn’t pay attention to her food or her life. We just talked occasionally, but we didn’t talk about her emotions, worries or things like that.

But then I began studying art, and the best thing about doing art is you start to pay attention to the details of life.

After I began practicing art, I tried to talk to my mother about her thoughts, and we became very close.

In fact, my mother was very helpful when I started school. Everyone else, except my husband, doubted me and said it was not a good idea since I was 35 and had never studied art and I had two little kids, one of them still in diapers. But my mother was very supportive. She encouraged me to go for it. Because she couldn’t do it when she was my age, her situation was different, she supported it. I think that because she could not pursue her own dreams, she wanted me to do what I wanted to do—for her.

I haven’t talked to my mother about this project yet, but she is coming from Korea for the show’s opening. I am a little bit nervous, because this project is kind of a dedication to my mother. She is my constant inspiration. I am actually doing this whole thing for her, but I have never told her that fact.

Interview condensed and edited

by Topeka Magazine

Best’s Show in town In helping people to “get art,” gallery director Sherry Best draws on personal explorations of photographing nature and light

story by Barbara Waterman-Peters photography by Jason Dailey

“I love looking at nature, going out to a nature trail to see what I can discover and then going back to see what’s different.”

— Sherry Best

S

ince becoming director of the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library in 2003, Sherry Best has proven her ability in bringing interesting and thoughtprovoking exhibits to a community format time after time. Under Best, the educational component of each Sabatini exhibition has provided a richer understanding of displays, whether they are an object from the permanent collection of the library or a loaned treasure such as in the recent “Most Valued Possession” show.

Best attributes her gallery’s run of success to the educational skills and backgrounds of her talented staff, who she says “support each other in a marvelous way.” And she shares credit with the public, whose queries and comments her staff members track in effort to anticipate what future shows might strike a chord with them. But certainly some, if not much, of the credit must go to the gallery director herself.

Sherry Best has always been surrounded with art. As a high school student in Raytown, Missouri, her skill in drawing and painting won her three summers of scholarships to the prestigious Kansas City Art Institute. As a college student at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, Best learned invaluable lessons about structure and the human figure from acclaimed artist Eric Bransby. After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and Art History, she went on to earn an Masters of Art in art history and an Masters of Fine Art in photography at the University of Michigan. Best then taught art to others over a number of years, in three states and several institutions such as UMKC, Clarion University, The University of Michigan and Rockhurst University, focusing primarily on photography, photojournalism, art history, humanities and drawing.

Though she most frequently photographs in black and white, Best does tap color photography to emphasize rich colors of nature such as in this work, Artichoke #6, opposite. Sherry Best has promoted an interactive approach to art since becoming the director of one of the city’s most visited galleries, the Alice C. Sabatini gallery located inside the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.

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Best then began teaching outside the classroom, taking a position as gallery director of the Greenlease Gallery at Rockhurst University. This proved to be a learning experience for her, as well. With no paid staff, Best had to rely either on a group of work study students or herself—a situation which meant Best mostly did it all from creating labels to hammering in the structure for a new installation.

With educational and support staff at the Sabatini, Best is able to allow her hammering muscles to relax somewhat.

But her continuing work as an artist undoubtedly informs her perspective as a gallery director.

Since studying photography under John Gutowski at UMKC, Best has made this her primary focus as an artist.

When asked what had prompted that switch to photography Best hesitates only a moment before replying. “When you’re drawing you can’t capture everything that’s happening.” Photography, she says, provides “options” for “watching.” And watching is something she does. “I love looking at nature, going out to a nature trail to see what I can discover and then going back to see what’s different.”

Because of her attraction to structure, reinforced by her early training in drawing, natural forms and their growth patterns hold a deep fascination for Best. Some years ago she watched a television documentary which related the six ways matter forms: spheres, branches, waves, spirals and two crystals. “It changed the way I look at things,” she explains. Scale, for example, doesn’t make any difference. A leaf is as fascinating as the whole tree. And by focusing on structure, Best’s images become sensitive, elegant studies of natural forms and light.

“When you are working with photography, light is your medium,” Best explains. But light and its many properties are elusive. Luminosity is a challenge technically and compositionally. For these reasons, Best prefers film to digital, particularly in working with black and white images on standard film paper coated with a gelatin emulsion, which

Best spends most of her working days at her gallery office, opposite and top, preparing and planning exhibits. But parallel to her post as gallery director, Best continues to develop her art as a photographer specializing in black-andwhite film photography portraits of nature. From left: Log Island, Triangular Shadows, Knotted Root and Reaching.

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The benefits of Best’s job?

Being surrounded by the art that you share with the public, such as Eddie Dominguez’s Sangre de Cristo, above, included in a recent exhibition of artwork curated by area high school students.

contains silver. “I love the look of silver on paper,” she says.

“Nothing else looks like it—it sparkles.”

Sometimes Best works through a historic process called palladium printing, in which she coats her own paper to provide tones that she describes as “velvety.” Her interest in past techniques calls to mind her influences: Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Eliot Porter and a contemporary, Graciela Iturbide.

Digital does have its uses, says Beth, especially for color images, whose processing by traditional means relies on hazardous chemicals. However, Beth describes turning to digital technology as being similar to “learning a whole new language.” With traditional film, color filters could be applied for effect, but “numbers do not work the same as light.” And then digital images skip over the excitement of watching an image emerge on paper in a darkroom—a process that fascinates Best and her husband, Will Valk, a sculptor. Two artists in the same household can be wonderful or not, but the couple have found a balance. Best explains that they collaborate on work and provide helpful feedback. And to celebrate their upcoming anniversary, they are giving each other studio vent fans.

With this support and her own talent, Sherry Best’s award-winning photographs have been shown around North America. Occasionally, she still draws, but she says she mostly does this in “sketching out ideas for the exhibits.”

For Best, putting together a show is much like “creating an artwork.” The core art exists—and it has enhanced with social media, art history and educational resources presented alongside it. Working along with her very talented staff, she watches the excitement build as opportunities for learning are gathered and disseminated in creative ways. “Excitement about learning is magic,” says Best.

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hink of them as windows to the past. Popularized as a souvenir for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, postcards were purchased to send but also to collect. In the evenings, in the days before everyone had technology, even radios, visitors would stop by on their strolls and look over their neighbors’ postcard albums to share, reminisce and dream.

Now, decades and sometimes generations later, postcards are frozen images of the past. The ones included on these

pages are only a few of the hundreds of images about Topeka circulating in private collections. Topeka postcards include private photos and categories of pictures from tourism destinations to natural disasters. They are images about Topeka that someone at some time in the city’s history wanted to share with others—introductions to the city that were carried across the nation, or the world, and delivered with a stamp, and note and oftentimes loving wishes.

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Postcards of … Topekans

The darling of amateur photographers, postcards were often one-ofa-kind portraits taken, developed and printed in the makeshift darkrooms of someone’s carriage house. Marion Zercher and his son, Theodore, became the premier professional postcard producers in Topeka to augment their downtown stationery store business. Their postcards can be found inexpensively in antique shops, used bookstores and on the internet.

Clockwise from top left

The Bugler—Oct. 8, 1918 This photo of a front-yard trumpeter, perhaps a member of Marshall’s Band, is possibly the same lovesick author who wrote on the back of the card. Sent from Topeka to Lawton, Kansas, on October 8, 1918, it reads: “Hello Dearie, I am fine. It still hurts. Why don’t you write me anymore?

You are my ideal gal. And you and I aren’t yet. Sure would like to see your people, but I can’t. I am at my [illegible] as a guest. I don’t know yet. You are my destiny. And I am trying to … please. I am yours.”

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Three kids on a mule The text on this card reads: “Hiya, John, look at what we have been doing this summer! Our new address is 631 Lawrence Street, Topeka.” Sept. 2, 1909

The Shack - This card, with Topeka postmark, reads simply: “Hello, Vera: Here is the “shack.” Frog.

Stevens.”

The Mutual Ice and Cold Storage Company - This card was sent on January 17, 1908, to notify stockholders of a dividend payment.

The text reads: “There is due you $2. Account dividend on your stock in this Co. payable at our office after Feb. 1st. If not convenient for you to call, will mail check on request.”

Firestation candid - The text on this card reads: “Dutch and Marie at firestation #1, at the foot of the bridge in North Topeka.”

Postcards of … hotels Clover Leaf Court - The nation hit the highways after the 1950s, and Clover Leaf Court owners produced this card to entice those traveling through Topeka. The text on the back reads: “All modern, steam-heated cabins at the intersection of 75 and 24, every convenience to make your stay pleasant and comfortable.”

Nod-a-way Motel - After the invention of the interstate, motor hotels sprang up to serve millions of newly minted American tourists. The back of the card touts the motel’s “wall to wall carpeting, combination tub and shower in each unit, spring air mattresses and plenty of hot air at all times… rest with the best with Nod-A-Way, AAA hotel.”

Now, decades and sometimes generations later, postcards are frozen images of the past.

Postcards of … Downtown Topeka Kansas Avenue - A street trolley is seen looking north on Kansas Avenue. The red-roofed tower in the postcard was the downtown post office until the current one was built in the 1930s.

Kansas Avenue North from Ninth Street - Electric lights and trolley cars made downtown sparkle in the evenings.

View of downtown - Looking south, down Kansas Ave from Sixth, the First National and the Capital Federal banks easily stand out as prominent landmarks. Both of the buildings have since been razed.

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Postcard from Topeka’s past …

Topeka Magazine has recently begun a daily update on our social media sites of events—historic or interesting—that occurred on that day in Topeka’s history.

Compiled by Christine Steinkuehler, they are posted each day on our online accounts: www.twitter.com/topekamagazine or www.facebook.com/topekamag.

Christine answered these questions about creating the daily listings.

How did you select the events for each date?

I began by trying to get all the big events that I felt really shaped the community. Then I went through all of the Topeka history books to find more.

Finally, I went through old newspapers on microfilm at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library and selected interesting articles for all the dates that didn’t have a major event.

What stories repeated throughout Topeka’s history?

And what has changed?

North Topeka has had a lot of floods.

There were terrible diseases that we don’t even think about now.

And Topeka, for much of its history, seems to have been the state’s leading city. And at the same time, it was also much more of a small town. People were interested in what people from different neighborhoods were doing. There were many civic improvement clubs. One of my favorites was the West Side Forestry club, which according to legend was created by the women of Potwin Presbyterian to do something about a nearby dump and pig farm which is now Willow Park. These

women had bake sales, sold embroidered linens and raised money to buy the land.

And all because they did not like the smell that wafted in during Sunday church services. In many ways, I don’t know if we are that pro-active anymore.

What surprised you the most as you reviewed past events?

The early newspapers were almost completely local. For example, one story was basically about a boy who crashed his bike—and it merited a 2-inch-long story.

It was very sweet, and naïve … but lovely.

People, through the newspaper, really did know everyone in town on a much more intimate level than we do today. It was socially acceptable for the paper to announce the details of people’s lives.

In fact, people apparently welcomed it.

There are lots of short pieces on birthday parties, baby showers and visiting relatives—things that are similar to what people now post on Facebook.

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Postcards of … Topeka parks Garfield Park - A cow grazing in Garfield Park keeps the grass down at the turn of the century.

Originally owned by the Marshall Band, who played concerts here for several years, Garfield Park also hosted circus troupes who lived here in the winter.

Vinewood - At the turn of the century, the Vinewood, east of 29th and California, was the city’s premier amusement park with trolley car service, a penny arcade, rides, electric lights and boat races on the “Lagoon.”

Buffalo at Gage Park - Bison graze on the south end of Gage Park on 10th Street. This postcard was produced in 1912, when the city was given a buffalo herd. Gage and Garfield Park fought over which park would hold them. Gage won, saying that they had more visitors. This exhibit along with others, including deer and a black bear, were the beginnings of the Topeka Zoo.

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Postcards of … Washburn University Entrance to Washburn College, Topeka, Kansas - A 1914 Sunday drive through the north entrance, on 17th Street.

“All Washburn Men” Portraits of what are believed to be the Washburn Teachers faculty in the early 1900s. The academic world has never again looked this sexy.

Fire at Rice Hall— Washburn—December 6, 1907 - Rice Hall sustained $31,000 in damages from this fire, was rebuilt, and damaged again in the 1966 tornado. It was then razed.

Postcards of … homes From one home to another—A Happy New Year, the Landons - While campaigning for the presidency, Alf Landon promised his wife that she would live in the White House. He delivered on this promise by building a home he called the white house in Topeka. This postcard was sent in 1937, when the Landons were moving from their old house to their Topeka white house.

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Home of American Home Life (the Dillon House) Built by Hiram P. Dillon in 1915 for $80,000, this opulent Italian Renaissance Revival Home had such extravagances as a “gold” room for entertaining where all the furniture, molding and even the piano was gold-leafed.

Church Raising - The text on this postcard sent from Topeka reads: “The new building of our new Sunday School classrooms. Excelsior, is the name of the class, for young married people. No carpenter was paid to build it.

Topeka 1911.”