Cosplay | Topeka Magazine Fall 2016 by Sunflower Publishing

Top-Secret no mores of, the archive Bill Riphahn!

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the magnificent backstory of

o T Denizens of TopCity! It’s our “Bam! Pow!” fall issue!

Naomi’s amazing ducks

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Kansas wines!

“Hark!” David & Lee’sible incred cottage hideout!

FALL ‘16 | SUNFLOWERPUB.COM | $5

FALL

2016 VOL 10 NO. 4

FROM THE

EDITOR

OUR MISSION

EDITOR Nathan Pettengill DESIGNER/ART DIRECTOR

Jenni Leiste

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COPY EDITOR

ADVERTISING Peterson Publications, Inc. REPRESENTATIVE publish@petersonpublications.com (785) 271-5801 (785) 220-0957

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CONTRIBUTING Katie Moore PHOTOGRAPHERS Bill Stephens CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

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We’re always grateful when our friends, neighbors and strangers welcome us into their lives to profile their home, their hobby or simply themselves. It is a trust and a hospitality that we have enjoyed for nearly ten years now, and one that we hope is reflected in these pages and that we will continue the honor of earning. This fall edition marks the first release of Topeka Magazine under the ownership of Ogden Publications, a national magazine company with titles such as Mother Earth News and Utne Reader. And it also a Topeka-based company. We are excited our publication has developed even closer ties to the community. This strengthened connection to Topeka will enable us to expand our central mission of being a publication that reflects what we see as the city’s character—a genuinely diverse, vibrant and interesting town with a rich history, world-class arts scene and strong commitment from businesses, religious groups and civic organizations to bettering the community. In covering Topeka, we believe in presenting only authentic images and authentic stories. We know readers are smart enough to recognize the difference between sponsored text and real stories. We don’t insult readers, contributors, our advertisers or ourselves by blurring those distinctions. We follow the highest standards to get our information correct before we share it. We’re grateful to the Topekans who trust us with their words and images that we choose to print … and we strive to honor that trust and to deserve the name “Topeka Magazine.” If we ever fall short of those goals, please let us know. If we are achieving those goals, please let us know what else we might do to improve our coverage. - NATHAN PETTENGILL EDITOR

Holy

Topeka, Denizens of TopCity!

incredible cottage hideout!

PRSRT STD

It’s our “Bam! Pow!” fall issue!

the amazing backstory of

“Hark!” David & Lee’s

Naomi’s amazing ducks

(who needs Robin, ! anyway?)

US POSTAGE PAID

the archives of Bill Riphhan!

SUNFLOWER PUBLISHING

Top-Secret no more,

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WHAT'S INSIDE

ON THE COVER

A photo collage of images and stories appearing in this issue by Jenni Leiste with photographs by Bill Stephens and Katie Moore.

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FALL 2016

the super-powered taste of

Kansas wines!

FEATURES

46 TOPEKA’S SUPERHERO SQUAD

Cosplay enthusiasts bring powered-up legends (and a few dastardly minds) to life

54 THEIR COTTAGE

In settling for less-thanperfect, a couple finds a home amenable to perfecting

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

TOPEKANS

LOCALE

A recap of our most recent picks to honor the city’s art community

A simple act of charity has grown into a new Topeka tradition with food, music, dance and plenty of air mattresses

ARTIST OF THE MONTH

RIPHAHN’S UPCLOSE HISTORY

Bill Riphahn expands the role of a public parks project manager with his interest in the quirks of local history

HAYDEN HIGH’S HARK!

ON THE WINE ROAD

A local couple joins with regional wineries to create more grape encounters on the vine, in your glass or at the end of your drive

LIBRARY HONORS

It’s official, Top City is home to the nation’s Top Library

I N EV E RY IS S U E :

WHAT’S HAPPENING

TOPEKA TALK

r e l e a s e d

i n

t h e

w i n t e r

o f

2 0 1 5

a . d .

A Topek a Almanac c

d a i ly n o t i c e s i m p o r ta n t, amusing , unusual

of history history of

poignant events from our c i t y ’ s pa s t.

Ranging across the years from time immemorial to the present,

@ particular emphasis on the mid-1800s * the early 2000s,

featuring railroads, floods, educators, agitators, business leaders, doctors, bicyclists, immigrants, preachers, politicians, public servants, suffragettes, soldiers, builders, developers, dreamers, schemers, dandies, athletes, an axe-wielding teetotaler,

a russian prince, the King …

s all all of of Topeka Topeka s

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w l ava i l a b l e f r o m p u r v e yo r s o f f i n e r e a d i n g

PiKAWchu n wdow MPIO A H

Sho

WHO ARE WE?

This issue marks the first issue that Topeka Magazine releases under the ownership of Topekabased Ogden Publications. Our editorial mission and approach remains the same, but we are happy to be part of the company that releases national titles such as Mother Earth News, Utne Reader and more.

HISTORY CONTINUES

r e l e a s e d

i n

t h e

w i n t e r

o f

2 0 1 5

a . d .

A Topeka Almanac c

d a i ly n o t i c e s i m p o r ta n t, amusing , unusual

of history history of

poignant events from our c i t y ’ s pa s t.

Ranging across the years from time immemorial to the present,

@ particular emphasis on the mid-1800s * the early 2000s,

a russian prince, the King …

s all all of of Topeka Topeka s

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

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they were allowed to receive assistance from area merchants and fellow Pokemon enthusiasts. And that is how Topeka pulled out the win. With businesses placing ingame bonuses called “lures” along the route, and with volunteers spotting Pokemon, the Topeka team pulled ahead in the last half-hour of the contest to reach Level 7, topping the Lawrence team, who remained at Level 6. If you have ever played Pokemon Go, you understand exactly how the title was won. If you haven’t played the game and the concept is confusing or even irrelevant to you, then at least know this—Topeka topped our friendly Kaw River rival to take home the title.

facebook.com/topekamag

@TopekaMagazine

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Our Topeka Almanac project that was released at the end of 2015 continues online with updated entries. Visit facebook.com/ topekamag or twitter.com/ topekamagazine for daily posts on quirky events and historical happenings from the city’s past. 2g-

The City of Topeka has put itself to the test and proved it is better than all the rest. We’re talking, of course, Pokemon Go—the hit interactive digital game—and the #PiKAWchu Showdown. Organized by Topeka Magazine and our sister publication Lawrence Magazine, the #PiKAWchu Showdown pitted representatives from two great cities on the Kaw—Topeka and Lawrence—in a head-to-head one-hour contest. The event took place on July 29. Both teams began with a new Pokemon Go account on a pre-determined route through their respective downtowns. While the playing teams were not allowed to make any in-game purchases (which would give them an unfair advantage),

7 7 7

m at e r i a l fo r t h e p r i c e o f 5 0 0 c e n t s .

w l ava i l a b l e f r o m p u r v e yo r s o f f i n e r e a d i n g

10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Winter 2016 marks 10 years of publication for Topeka Magazine. We are releasing a special foodthemed issue to celebrate. Look for the savory pages to arrive in early December. Corrections: Our summer 2016 edition incorrectly spelled the name of Dawn Robertson, Topeka’s Race Against Breast Cancer administrator. We apologize for the error.

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DEPARTMENTS 12 18 22

ARTI ST OF THE MONTH

RI PHAHN’S UPCLOSE HI STORY

HAYDEN HI GH’S HARK!

26 30 38 ON THE WINE ROAD Two dancers take the floor at the 2015 “Hark!” performance. Photograph by Bill Stephens.

LI BRARY H ONORS

W HAT’S H APPENING ...

Fall 2016 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

STORY BY

PHOTOGRAPHY BY

Barbara Waterman-Peters

Bill Stephens

ABOUT THE WRITER

Barbara Waterman-Peters writes, paints, exhibits, teaches and manages Studio 831 in the North Topeka Arts District (NOTO).

ARTIST OF THE

MONTH A RECAP OF OUR MOST RECENT PICKS TO HONOR THE CITY’S ART COMMUNITY

TOPEKANS

Naomi Cashman’s work includes, Canyon de Chelly, watercolor on paper (this page), a pair of blue-winged teals, oil on tupelo (opposite top, with artist) and Companions, watercolor on paper (opposite bottom).

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

Topeka Magazine’s Artists of the Month for the Fall Edition

NAOMI CASHMAN

’m always up for a challenge,” Naomi Cashman says. And, indeed, this is reflected in the choices of media and the range of subjects selected over the years by this versatile artist. Raised on her family’s farm in rural Brown County, Cashman was active in 4-H, which introduced her to sewing. Although no art was offered at her high school, making costumes for plays and working on the yearbook afforded Cashman creative opportunities. She attended the University of Kansas, majoring in home economics while dreaming of majoring in art. Cashman married the man she had first met as a fellow student in seventh grade and worked, using her tailoring skills, while her husband attended medical school in Kansas City and finished his training in San Francisco. Eventually, the young couple moved back to Kansas, settling in Topeka. Here, Cashman created all of her two daughters’ clothes, gaining a level in sewing where she could figure out how to make a dress simply by examining it in a shop window. Amid all that sewing, she also returned to her earlier dream of making art, and enrolled in the late Rebecca Wright’s “Painting for Fun” classes at Washburn University’s Mulvane Art Museum. One day in 1978, while taking her daughter’s Girl Scout troop to a craft shop, Cashman saw a group of artists carving wood and enrolled in their wood-carving classes on the spot. She became drawn to the art form, to the warmth and texture of the wood and to the depth of oil paint that could be applied to its surface. She created relief sculptures, and focused on waterfowl in the early ’80s. She began producing exquisite pieces, the result of working five days a week, 8 hours a day over a period of months. By 1989, several years of watching birds and mastering the art of carving in three dimensions gave her the confidence to enter national competitions, including the Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition and Art Festival. She brought home a series of ribbons and “Best of Shows” in her class. In 1996, her work was featured at the Dyche Natural History Museum at KU. Over the past ten years, she realized that carving soft woods like bass and tupelo was becoming too hard on her hands. She “quit cold turkey.” “It was hard,”Cashman says, “but I was ready for something else.” Watercolor presented itself as her newest challenge, and the accomplished artist took it on with the same careful, thoughtful approach she had applied to her previous work. And, once again, she has successfully entered competitions and has shown in galleries and museums. Her painting, Sunflower Quintet, appeared on the cover of the 2015 Sunflower Music Festival program and the wren in Huntoon Park also bears the unmistakable touch of her brush. Fall 2016 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

Topeka Magazine’s Artists of the Month for the Fall Edition

MARIN ABELL

Marin Abell’s résumé reads like a sampling from the world atlas, featuring everything from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to the Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik in Berlin. He has held exhibits and artist residencies all over the United States, received numerous grants, served on a number of panels and given many lectures. He has taught at the University of Alabama and the University of Michigan, and he currently is Catron Professor of Art at Washburn University. Named after his father’s favorite painter, John Marin, and raised in eastern Virginia, in the cradle of American history, Abell grew up with an interest in sports and art but decided at age eight that “art seemed more stable.” He credits early teachers and mentors for his success. Though he claims he’s “not a master of any particular technique or material,” Abell’s knowledge of many sculpture techniques enables a widely diverse body of work. He describes much of his work as “folding traditional materials into less comfortable contexts.” One strong influence on his work has been the career of German performance artist, sculptor and theorist Joseph Beuys.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

[ABELL’S] POWERFUL CONCEPTS PAIR WITH PHYSICAL OBJECTS OF ONE PARTICULAR PLACE IN SURPRISING COMBINATIONS.

Because Abell travels frequently, he often creates with whatever materials he is able to gather on site. For example, the project Tarp Lake began in 2010 when Abell and fellow artist Heidi Bender were given three small archeological excavation tarps from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Eventually, they gathered more tarps and suspended them in the air on wooden poles of various heights to create what appears to be an artificial lake with waves blowing in the wind. As an instructor, Abell requires his students to research everything involved in the creation of their work, from the materials to the techniques, so that they are thoroughly versed in the visual language in which their work will address a viewer. Abell explains this also “disrupts functional fixity,” meaning it opens up new applications of materials by going beyond their immediate, default function. Fixity of any sort is not a problem in Abell’s approach to art. His powerful concepts pair with physical objects of one particular place in surprising combinations that at times amuse and succeed in re-envisioning how a society is structured, how we relate to the land and to one another.

The most recent works of Janet Bailey, above, include “spacecapes” such as Supernova Two, right, an interpretation of a cosmic image transmitted by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Topeka Magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Artists of the Month for the Fall Edition

THE ARTISTS & VOLUNTEERS OF THE MULVANE ART FAIR The Mulvane Art Fair has come full circle in its nearly 60 years of existence. Known originally as the Mulvane Art Fairâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the event debuted as a simple celebration with tables showing off the work of artists and lights strung along the top of supports so the event could go well into the evening. It continued for several years as part of the Go-Fourth celebration, found new life as the Mulvane/Mountain Plains Art Fair, and finally returned to its original name. The annual event, usually held in June, has also moved around on the Washburn campus. First held north of the museum, long before White Concert Hall existed, and then relocated many times to accommodate construction and larger numbers of artists, it always seem to find a comfortable and accessible spot among the beautiful campus buildings. Another constant has been the quality of the art, a tradition that continues to this year with a show featuring artists from both our region and around the nation. Artists are juried into the fair, not only on the basis of their work but also on their presentation. Media range from painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, and glass to mixed media. Two regional arts professionals are tasked with viewing all images (submitted online) to determine participants; on the opening day of the festivities, the same two people select prize winners. Behind the scenes, the museum staff, but primarily the many volunteers from the Friends of the Mulvane Art Museum, work for nearly a year to plan each fair. Untold hours go into the creation of such a major community event.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

Visitors attend the Mulvane Art Fair, above, (photo courtesy Mulvane Art Museum). The photography work of Cort Anderson, below, won awards at the 2015 event (photo copyright and courtesy Cort Anderson).

Connie Gibbons, museum director, says the amount of time put in by the volunteers is “mindboggling.” Marketing and fundraising are only part of the goals of the volunteers; coordination of artists, patrons, children’s activities, sponsors, food vendors, musicians, partners and campus maintenance staff all enter into the extensive logistical mix that becomes the Mulvane Art Fair. “We could not do the fair without the sponsors and partnerships we have,” Gibbons says. Two key recent sponsors have been the Blues Society, which arranges the musical performances and ensures that all goes harmoniously, as well as Brewster Place, which sponsors the Patron’s Champagne Breakfast. The patron program, which encourages art purchases, helps to attract a variety of talented artists. The Mulvane Art Fair is the major fundraiser for the programming at the museum. It is the “heart and soul of the museum,” says Gibbons. “We wouldn’t have a museum if we didn’t have this event and the funds from it. Things like the Mulvane Art Fair that happen in communities like Topeka are the most important, the most real, the most authentic and the most interesting,” she adds.

Fall 2016 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

STORY BY

PHOTOGRAPHY BY

Christine Steinkuehler

Bill Stephens

RIPHAHNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S UP-CLOSE

HISTORY

TOPEKANS

BILL RIPHAHN EXPANDS THE ROLE OF A PUBLIC PARKS PROJECT MANAGER WITH HIS INTEREST IN THE QUIRKS OF LOCAL HISTORY

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

ABOUT THE WRITER

Christine Steinkuehler is a Topeka teacher who has researched and written extensively on local history.

s project manager for the Shawnee Parks and Recreation Department, Bill Riphahn is responsible for helping shape area green spaces. He writes grants, oversees projects and tries to formulate a vision for the area landscape. But if Riphahn’s business card listed all of his roles, then it might read “landscape architect, city parks planner, storyteller, historian, detail enthusiast and keeper of park ephemera and treasured tales.” Fittingly enough, Riphahn’s office is located in an upstairs bedroom of the Ward-Meade mansion, a property linked to one of the city’s earliest residents and steeped in local history. It is a perfect surrounding for Riphahn, who is intensely intrigued by the minutiae of daily life. Take, for example the stylized door hinges on his office door. These are, Riphahn explains, Victorian-era “steeple-tipped” hinges that he discovered on the park grounds. After finding them, he stripped off decades of paint, refurbished them and installed them. Justifiably pleased with the results and the additional rich detail that they bring to the old

home, Riphahn found more hinges to restore and reinstall around the mansion. In Riphahn’s world, nothing is disconnected from history. The hinges lead to an explanation of other Victorian-era home curiosities—represented by elaborate strips of wallpaper in the upstairs of the mansion. Riphahn notes that it was a common practice at that time for a family to entertain visitors in an expensively decorated and elaborately wallpapered formal room. This wallpaper was made by taking strips from the intricately patterned wallpaper that hung in the mansion’s downstairs section, and then applying those patterns to plain white paper in the house. In short, Riphahn’s knowledge of the house is encyclopedic. Walking through the house there isn’t an article of clothing, artwork or oddity that he doesn’t know the story behind. He stops to show a dark-green, almost black wedding dress that had been on display. “They were often black in those days; the interesting thing is that a lot of women were often buried in their wedding dresses. They would cut a slit down the back of the dress.”

Bill Riphahn demonstrates the echo effect of Gage Park’s historic stone archway entrance.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

Riphahn’s official connection to local history began in the mid-1980s, when he took his first job at the “Castle” building of the old State Hospital. Six months later, he moved to a post in the city. With that position, Riphahn inherited boxes and reams of documents, photographs and oddities of the parks. He discovered a notebook, which he thinks belonged to E.F.A. Reinisch, the city’s first landscape architect and horticulturalist, namesake of the Reinisch Rose Garden in Gage Park. One of Riphan’s favorite items from the parks collection is a copy of the first park report, written by Reinisch, who died in 1929, with drawings of all the parks. “These old scrapbooks and drawings are stories,” says Riphahn. “I have found drawings by George Kessler, the father of the city park system in Kansas City, including the Plaza. He designed two parks in Topeka.” Those Kessler-designed parks were City Park (no longer in existence, but once located roughly where the bus transit system is at the north end of Kansas Avenue) and Gage Park. “Gage Park was only half the size then as now,” says Riphahn. “City Park had all the ponds and at one time there was a baseball team that played there, maybe the Owls.” Riphahn’s nearly 30 years with the parks department has allowed him to witness much living history as well. He fondly remembers bringing the 1908 Herschell-Spillman carousel to Gage Park. The mayor at the time was Doug Wright; he had acquired the deconstructed carousel from Boyles Joyland and had decided that it was to be reassembled in Gage Park. It was in parts and in a sad state of disrepair when Riphahn was commissioned to create an enclosed space for the carousel—except he had no idea of how big the carousel would be. Luckily, a craftsman that specialized in carousels was found and gave Riphahn and the parks crew detailed instructions. “There were these arms, and underneath layers of paint, there was a repeating stenciled pattern on them. He said to look for the dots and to line everything up with the dots, and he was right,” recalls Riphahn. Project updates do not always go as smoothly. When you have the entire history of the parks department at your disposal, you learn of some colossal failures that now make amusing anecdotes, such as the Gage Park pool, which originally had a natural grass bottom. “When they finally put in the concrete bottom, it was in sections, five-sided, and it leaked like a

sieve,” says Riphahn. “They had to have water running non-stop.” But, Riphahn notes, attitudes were different back then, including attitudes toward the type of park equipment that was considered normal for children to play on, such as the concrete sculptures that are still in Gage Park, the raw-wood Flinstone-themed slides or even blocks of ice that would be dumped into the swimming pool for kids to play with. Riphahn’s great enthusiasm for Topeka’s past informs and enrichens his work, says Topeka historian and co-founder of the Topeka Genealogical Society, Dee Gronquist-Puff. “Bill is Topeka’s quiet hero. His presence can be felt when you are visiting the Rose Garden at Gage or a water garden at Old Prairie Town.” Indeed, part of a municipal historian’s role is to draw connections between a city’s past and present, to point out incidents and people that might affect how we see and shape the city today. There are tidbits from the past that you preserve and share—and Riphahn is a master of that. In talking about the Oakland neighborhood, he explains how Napoleon III was a catalyst that led many families such as the Billards and the Sardous to leave France and settle in Topeka. And in mentioning plans to add a saloon-themed reception building at Ward-Meade, Riphahn says he hopes to place an exhibit on legendary temperance crusader Carrie Nation, who marched through the capital in the early 1900s with her axe-wielding entourage. “A number of places knew she was coming and they barricaded their doors. But she got into the Senate Saloon, now the Office at Eighth and Kansas, and she busted the place with her hatchet,” says Riphahn. “She took the cash register and broke it over the bar. She got put in jail, fined, and they sent her out of town.” Some will tell you that, buried in official records and documents, there are still warrants for the arrest of Carrie Nation. Riphahn hasn’t seen those. But he’s intrigued … and on the hunt.

THE NEAR-SINKING OF

TOPEKA’S PINAFORE

When Bill Riphahn came into his job with Shawnee County Parks and Recreation Department, he inherited many objects and photographs that came without any context. In order to determine why they had been preserved, Riphahn often searched through records and period newspapers to draw connections, discovering a wealth of stories along the way. One of his favorite stories came from researching a photograph of a barge on Soldier Creek in Garfield Park; the barge was filled with people in costume and decorated with painted portholes and cannons. Riphahn knew that it had to have been before the 1930s when authorities built the creek’s artificial channel, so he began perusing newspapers published earlier. On the

front page of two editions in 1888, he found the exact same barge picture and a story of how a city production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comedic opera H.M.S. Pinafore went badly wrong. “The barge had been part of a theatrical production in which at one point all of the actors were to go to one side and throw a scalawag overboard. When they did this, the barge took on water and it went down, listing badly, which left the whole cast about knee-deep in water,” Riphahn relates. “Someone called the newspaper, and the next day’s headlines blared ‘The Pinafore has gone down with All Aboard.’ For the next night’s play they ran a plank from the ship to the shore to keep it from tipping. And that is the picture.”

Fall 2016 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

STORY BY

PHOTOGRAPHY BY

Kim Gronniger

Bill Stephens

ABOUT THE WRITER

HAYDEN HIGH’S

HARK!

LOCALE

A SIMPLE ACT OF CHARITY HAS GROWN INTO A NEW TOPEKA TRADITION WITH FOOD, MUSIC, DANCE AND PLENTY OF AIR MATTRESSES

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

Kim Gronniger’s other favorite Irish tradition (her mother was a Murphy) is gathering with her family to watch her dad drive his restored Model-T in an annual St. Patrick’s Day parade.

‘CHRISTMAS

CITY’

t began in 2010, when Edward and Lisa Letourneau, along with others, decided to host a Christmas dinner and concert to help Hayden High School purchase a new piano. Maureen Brogren, vocal music educator at Hayden and director of music at Christ the King Church, arranged the songs for the evening. The Letourneaus’ daughter, Michelle, who played mallets on the drumline in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish band, and her brother, Steven, a Hayden student, joined other musicians of the Hayden community for the first event, which was hastily planned within a month and conducted in Hayden’s deckedout band room. But however rushed, the inaugural event— which became known as “Hark! Topeka’s Christmas Spectacular”—led to more than $4,500 in contributions and a serendipitous gift of a Mason & Hamlin 1920s piano valued at $20,000, precisely what the group had originally hoped to purchase for Hayden with proceeds that could now be reallocated for other department needs. And that was to be the end of the holiday spectacular. The next year, the Letourneaus were battling Lisa’s breast cancer, and Brogren was unable to arrange the music. But big musical hits, like holidays, have a way of returning. Michelle had already lined up nine band mates and other Notre Dame musicians to perform and was undaunted by the additional challenge of finding someone to arrange the music. She enlisted friends and Hayden volunteers to assist. Her group of traveling Irish holiday musicians descended on the Letourneaus’ home one week before Christmas of 2011 and set to work to reprise the previous year’s successful launch.

TICKET INFORMATION A dancer performs at the 2015 “Hark!” performance. The annual fundraising holiday is made possible through numerous donations, including the talents of Notre Dame students and alumni who travel to Topeka each year.

Tickets for the December 17 event are $50 for dinner and $75 with the wine-tasting and auction events, which begin at 4:30 p.m. Dinner is served at 6 p.m., and the performance is from 7–9:30 p.m. in the Sunflower Ballroom in the Capitol Plaza Hotel’s Maner Conference Center. More information available by sending an email to lisakayl@cox.net or calling (785) 230-0795.

The week before Christmas, arguably one of the busiest times of the year, Edward and Lisa Letourneau undergo a novel holiday ritual—inflating air mattresses, putting sheets and blankets on couches, coordinating shower schedules and enlisting assistance to ensure an additional dozen or so “Hark!” performers are properly pampered. Coordinating the logistical details for an annual event the caliber of “Hark! Topeka’s Christmas Spectacular” involves reviewing myriad details involved in the Saturday evening extravaganza and ensuring enough casseroles, cookies, snacks, drinks and other fortifications are on hand to feed the group before and after two days of lengthy rehearsals. Appreciative that the Notre Dame musicians travel at their own expense to participate in the event, the Letourneaus purchase and prepare food supplemented with dishes and desserts dropped off by nurses who work with Edward, a rheumatologist, and other volunteers eager to assist. Describing the holiday-bedecked Letourneau home and the accompanying banquet spread as “Christmas City,” Hal Melia Jr., a University of Notre Dame alumnus who arranges music for the event, looks forward to coming to Topeka for the “giant adult slumber party” every year. “We can’t thank the Letourneaus enough for all they do,” he says. “Their support of this rewarding event wraps so many things together and we’re lucky as 20-somethings to have an annual reunion tied to a service component and Christmas. None of my other friend groups from Notre Dame has anything like this.” “When the performers walk through the doorway to stay with us I feel like all my kids are coming home for the holidays,” says Lisa.

Fall 2016 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

HARK! CELEBRITIES Two celebrities donated their time to the 2015 Hark! Topeka’s Christmas Spectacular.

Rex Hudler, a former MLB player and Royals’ television analyst, emceed the event, signed autographs and posed for pictures. Hudler joined in part because his son has Down syndrome, and the event selected TARC, Topeka’s nonprofit advocacy for people with intellectual, developmental and related disabilities, as a beneficiary. Hal Melia Sr., a professional jazz musician who has performed with Chicago; Blood, Sweat & Tears; Earth, Wind & Fire and others, joined his son for the 2015 event. Hal Melia Jr., a senior financial analyst with Target, arranges music for the event with fellow Notre Dame alumnus Dana DeVlieger. “We absolutely love getting together with our friends and are so lucky that we have an annual opportunity to reunite and make a difference now that we’re no longer living across the quad but across the country from each other,” says Melia Jr. “It’s great for our parents because they’re all acquainted and it’s been hard for them to not be in constant contact too.”

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

“It was planes, trains and automobiles,” says Edward. “We had 15 people staying here with air mattresses all over the house. We offered to put them up in hotels, but they wanted to stay together.” Since that year, the event has become a tradition (even through the 2013 ice storm), growing from an audience of 100 to more than 330. Ballroom dancing has been added, and the concert has moved from Hayden to the Shawnee Country Club, Ramada Topeka Downtown and the Capitol Plaza Hotel, where the event will be again this year. The concert’s fundraising—now totaling more than $59,000—has also benefited other community organizations; this year, for example, funds will go to Hayden High and TARC, Topeka’s nonprofit agency advocating for those with intellectual, developmental and related disabilities. “Each year the event has gotten better— the branding and marketing, the staging, the lighting, the participation of professional musicians and the number of people who attend,” says Lisa, who credits a dedicated committee comprising Notre Dame Club members and alumni, Hayden staff, parents and alumni, Christ the King parishioners and other volunteers. The Letourneaus initially thought the 2014 concert would be the last one

in anticipation of Michelle’s impending graduation from University of Notre Dame Law School in 2015. But the tradition has a taken on a life of its own, and the Letourneaus describe an “astounding” response from spectators and participants that has led to the event’s continuation. Many of the original college musicians continue to return as well, but as Notre Dame alumni. “Now that we’ve graduated, we appreciate the chance to get together and take our instruments out of the closet since we don’t have many opportunities in our careers to perform,” says Michelle, a law clerk in Tampa, Florida. This year will be no different. In fact, preparations have already begun. Months of planning, including distributing individual parts to each musician, and two days of rehearsals culminate in a Saturday evening performance that sparks joy extending well beyond the final applause as Hayden and TARC apply the funds received to key initiatives. “It’s been really gratifying to organize and produce a uniquely Topeka celebratory event that benefits these two organizations,” says Edward. “The Notre Dame students and the area musicians are awesome. Together, they bring the house down every time.”

BANDING TOGETHER “Hark! Topeka’s Christmas Spectacular” has become a labor of love for many families. Organizers Edward and Lisa Letourneau work with their oboe-playing daughter, Michelle, a clerk for a circuit court appeals judge in Florida; Steven, a Washburn University School of Law student, who plays the trumpet; future son-in-law Ryan Belock, a singer and percussionist who also coordinates design and marketing efforts. While Brice and Anna Feldt, Christ the King parishioners, coordinate the event’s financial and auction aspects, their daughter, Marya, a Hayden High School graduate and vocal performance major at Washburn University, sings selected songs. Maureen Brogren, vocal music educator at Hayden and director of music at Christ the King Church, and Ping Enriquez, a Christ the King parishioner, also have performed. Brian and Carol Schoenhofer, whose child attended Hayden, assist with planning and execution of the event along with Gary Walker, a Hayden staff member, who coordinates the equipment. Jill Quaney has assisted with decorations.

STORY BY

PHOTOGRAPHY BY

Linda A. Ditch

Katie Moore

ABOUT THE WRITER

Linda A. Ditch is a Topeka-based writer and writing workshop leader who specializes in culinary stories.

ON THE

WINE ROAD

LOCALE

A LOCAL COUPLE JOINS WITH REGIONAL WINERIES TO CREATE MORE GRAPE ENCOUNTERS ON THE VINE, IN YOUR GLASS OR AT THE END OF YOUR DRIVE

Grapes grow at the Glaciers Edge Winery and Vineyard.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

drive along rural roads outside of Topeka is mostly a trip through quintessential Kansas farm country. Quaint houses, livestock barns, rows of corn and fields of soybeans line the partially gravel roads. But that scenery changes at some areas, where slopes rise and the land is covered with grape vines. And now, a group of four area wineries is hoping to bring more people to these surprisingly Kansas landscapes. In May 2015, the wineries joined together to form the Glacial Hills Wine Trail. Located in Wakarusa, McLouth, Ozawkie and Lawrence, the four wineries can be visited in a one-day, approximately 110-mile circular excursion from Topeka and back (see info box on page 28). The closest of these four wineries, and the one with the strongest Topeka connections, is Glaciers Edge Winery and Vineyard, just south of the airport, two blocks east of Topeka Boulevard on SE 85th Street. Like the association it belongs to, the winery got its name from rock deposits left on the property with the last glacial retreat over ten thousand years ago. And while every other development on the land is recent in comparison, the winery’s establishment has a bit of a history to it as well. As owners Mike and Lisa Steinert explain, Glaciers Edge began with the age-old theme of a friendly family rivalry. “Dad grew a few Concord grapevines in his backyard,” Mike explains. “He picked them by hand and made wine he thought was good. It was awful. He said to me, ‘If you think it’s easy to do, then do it yourself.’” Mike accepted that challenge and started with eight vines before increasing to 128. He took viticulture classes at Highland Community College. He learned through trial

and error and from other winemakers. Soon, he was growing close to 3,000 vines and adding more to the property each year. Mike’s first commercial harvest was in August 2009, with the help of his father, who had put aside the rivalry. They sold their grapes to Middle Creek Winery in Louisburg and made the delivery together. “It was a hot, hot day,” Mike remembers. “Dad was excited to finally see an actual winery and how they worked. He looked over the entire operation.” Then he pauses with emotion. “He passed away the next weekend.” Mike continued working the vineyard without his dad. For several years after that, Mike, then the science department chair at Washburn Rural High School, and Lisa, a physical therapist, continued the vineyard as a hobby. It was not until the summer of 2012, a particularly difficult year for the vineyard, when the severe drought killed some of the vines, that the couple decided to make a bold move. “We were sitting with a bottle of red wine, looking at a $1,000 water bill, when we decided we were going to build a winery,” Mike says, with a grin. The Glaciers Edge Winery opened in 2014. Mike is the winemaker, creating both sweet and dry reds and whites from the nine grape varieties they grow in the vineyard and grapes obtained from other farms within 50 miles of the winery. His most popular wine is a sweet variety from the Catawba grape; he makes a white wine versus the more traditional rosé. He also makes wine out of other fruits, such as cranberry and blueberry. Lisa takes care of the marketing and special events, as well as the job of chief wine taster. “Lisa is the one I go to to make sure what I’m putting out is good,” Mike says. “She keeps me grounded, balanced,

Fall 2016 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

JEFFERSON HILL

VALLEY FALLS LEAVENWORTH LANSING CROOKED POST TONGANOXIE

TOPEKA

CRESCENT MOON LAWRENCE

AUBURN

GLACIERS EDGE

THE GLACIAL HILLS

WINE TRAIL The four wineries and vineyards of the Glacial Hills Wine Trail formed their association in May 2015. In addition to sharing a belief in the viability of Kansas wine operations, this relatively new organization has hosted coordinated weekend tours. Learn more about their plans online at glacialhillswinetrial.com or visit them in person.

GLACIERS EDGE WINERY AND VINEYARD

CROOKED POST WINERY

1636 SE 85th Street, Wakarusa Hours: Friday, 4â&#x20AC;&#x201C;7 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 6 p.m.; Sunday noon to 5 p.m. (785) 969-6869 (See the main story for more details and history of this venture.)

7397 K-92 Highway, Ozawkie Fall hours: Friday-Saturday, noon to 8 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. (785) 876-9990 Kevin and Lori Henderson were inspired by Italian wine and architecture when creating their insecticide-free winery near Lake Perry. They opened for guests in 2014 and now offer an event room, outdoor seating wood-fired pizza, Kansas craft beers, cheese trays, and snacks in addition to a sampling of their wines.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

JEFFERSON HILL VINEYARDS AND GUEST HOUSE 12381 Washington Road, McLouth Hours: Saturday and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. (913) 796-6065 Located on a converted dairy farm, Jefferson Hill offers weekend wine tastings as well as lodgings that include a complimentary dinner and full breakfast.

CRESCENT MOON WINERY 15930 246th Street, Lawrence Hours: Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 1-5 p.m. or by appointment (785) 550-5353 This winery invites guests for samplings, or to help pick grapes during harvest time.

and moving forward. I couldn’t do all of this without her. She picks up for where my shortcomings are.” Though Kansas vintners such as the Steinerts face a market where California and other West Coast wines dominate, the Sunflower State has a strong tradition of vineyards and wineries. In the late 1800s, Kansas and Missouri were one of the largest grape-growing and wine-making areas in the United States. According to the Kansas Viticulture and Farm Winery Association, even though the state instituted Prohibition in 1881, Kansas Department of Commerce records show more than 5,000 acres of vineyards were still in production as late as 1901. However, when Prohibition became federal law in 1920, grape production came to an end, and when Prohibition was lifted, grape production was slow to rebound due to the state’s continued restrictions. Only in 1985, with the passage of The Farm Winery Act, did Kansas vineyards go back into production. “The soils are very fertile here,” Mike says. “We’ve got a temperate climate that supports grapes. Not too wet, not too dry.” Or, at least, those were the conditions. Now, global warming is affecting everything about the business, and the Steinerts find themselves operating under entirely new conditions. “Climate change is causing the weather to be unpredictable,” says Mike. “We have more extremes in weather that come too close together. The weather patterns are less stable. This means we invest more in irrigation when it’s dry and more in abating fungus when it’s wet. Fungus will creep up on you in six to eight hours.” As the Steinerts seek to adapt to these new conditions, they also work on a more immediate goal of expanding their winery’s concept. The couple added an event space to the winery for patrons to rent for special occasions or business gatherings. They host art displays for First Friday Art Walk and invite customers to sit back with a glass of wine or a wine slushy and enjoy a sporting event on one of the television screens or to just hang out with friends over pizza from the new wood-fired oven. Ultimately, though, the Steinerts believe that their venture is largely tied in with the ability of Kansas vineyards to adapt to new conditions and for consumers to warm to Kansas wines. “When people think of a Kansas wine, they think of the one they didn’t like, which means to them all Kansas wine is bad,” says Mike. “We don’t want to get a bad reputation by association. We want people to taste our wines and see Kansas can make good wines.” “Our attitude is if our winery succeeds, all the wineries will succeed,” adds Lisa. “Kansas can make great wine. We like to say we are changing attitudes about wines all over the state.”

Fall 2016 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

POEM BY

SHORT STORY BY

ILLUSTRATION BY

Eric McHenry

Marian Rakestraw

Lana Grove

LIBRARY

HONORS

LOCALE

IT’S OFFICIAL, TOP CITY IS HOME TO THE NATION’S TOP LIBRARY

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

This summer, the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, or TSCPL, was designated the 2016 Library Journal/Gale Cengage Learning Library of the Year. This industry recognition is one of the most prestigious awards for North American libraries. The selection—a two-part process involving the industry publication Library Journal and an independent panel of nationally recognized librarians—is based on criteria of service to the community, innovation and industry leadership measured by creating programs that can be emulated by other community libraries. In a sense, top librarians and library-industry officials are saying that TSCPL is a library that other libraries should want to become. “TSCPL’s efforts to go beyond the traditional library role to become a convener for community conversation emanate from the very top and permeate through every level of the library,” writes John N. Berry III in the Library Journal’s June article announcing the decision. To recognize TSCPL, we are printing two literary works connected to the library. The first is “The Reading Room,” a poem in honor of the library written by Kansas poet laureate Eric McHenry. Here, the native Topekan picks up on the theme of the library’s visionary approach as represented in its architecture, and the initial shock that it created among some Topekans when the new building opened in 2002. The second section is Marian Rakestraw’s original work of alternative historical fiction, “Native Son.” The Topeka educator created this story as part of the library’s original community novel project, which will mark its five-year anniversary in 2017. This project, which Library Journal had described in 2015 as “an ambitious program,” was referenced again by the journal again in explaining why TSCPL deserved the prestigious “Library of the Year” award.

THE READING ROOM “The taxpayers voted for a new library. Whoever was in charge of this project hires the most expensive architect to design the ugliest, biggest building possible, with a tin can on front and crematoria chimneys on back and lots of wasted space to heat and cool.” —letter to the editor, Topeka Capital-Journal, Feb. 12, 2002 Coming from the east, we passed a school, a church, a statehouse, and a funeral home, which is to say three towers and a dome and lots of wasted space to heat and cool. When we see Second Baptist reach for glory with bricks and shingles, we know that’s a spire. This is a library, which we require likewise to transcend a single story. The highest window is the closest star. Topeka is a room. The stacks are shelves. Very well then, we contradict ourselves. What we aspire to be is what we are. Let’s go inside now, where the central air whispers its revision of the weather, and regulars and strangers sit together in silence so profound it sounds like prayer. --Eric McHenry, 2016

Fall 2016 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

NATIVE SON A short-story of alternative Kansas history by Marian Rakestraw

John Steuart Curry paused for a moment, brush raised, ready to add another black line to the fresh expanse of plaster. He could feel the visitor. Not see him, but feel him. It was odd how fast he’d developed this sixth sense that let him know when he was being watched. It was useful, too. None of them ever actually came into his space. He had come to feel that the second floor of the rotunda was his personal space. They came to the boundaries. They edged up to the brass-railed limit of the third floor, outside the house and senate chambers. They peeked in as they scuttled from the elevator to the governor’s office. He was surrounded by the low hum of people and the shotgun activity of government all day. The walls of the rotunda, though, and the ten foot ring of floor surrounding them, were a country unto themselves these days. He was their king and sole citizen. It wasn’t supposed to have come to this. He was supposed to have come home to Kansas in a rosy glow of acceptance and to have felt the admiration and respect of the home state crowd. He’d started wearing overalls, for Christ’s sake, and looking jolly in photographs. He’d remade himself into the ideal of the country boy made good but still happy down on the farm. It had worked well enough, had gotten him this commission. It just hadn’t been enough. A pair of overalls hadn’t dispelled the suspicions of the people of Kansas. Right off the bat they’d started criticizing his work – bulls didn’t stand correctly, pig’s tails didn’t curl in the accepted fashion, a Prairie Madonna’s skirts were on the short side. Then there was the painting of John Brown, the lodestone for qualms. Curry had no idea how the figure had gotten quite so big, quite so wild, so clearly mad. Placing it right outside the door to the governor’s office now

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

seemed a slightly less brilliant idea than it had at the time. So here he was. Still painting. Still being seen producing murals on the sacred walls of the state house. Bringing the gift of art—as he’d been hired to do by the people. Except now he was doing it in an atmosphere that could most kindly be described as poisoned. He’d almost walked off the job when the legislature had threatened to block the removal of the marble slabs covering the lower walls of his work space, marble that made his envisioned frescos an impossibility. It was ugly marble—pretentious and gaudy and in no way representative of the spirit of Kansas. The Capitol was the house of the people, not a snooty country club. He’d tried to bring some of the energy and spirit of the state into the Capitol and been brought to book like a schoolboy caught slipping frogs into the teacher’s desk. Things came to a head as he was working on the last section of Kansas Pastoral, the politicians and leisure-class public came to him continually with snide comments, such as the suggestion that his night skies were more like seascapes. (And how would these landlocked, self-proclaimed art critics even know?) At that point, Curry realized that he should have left. He should have refused to sign his work, and stormed off in a fit of artistic pique. But he hadn’t. Instead he’d presented new drafts of his proposed work for the murals around the dome interior. He’d let his sketches pass through committees which had vetted them for insidious political ideas and “corrected” the content. He’d smiled and nodded and chewed on his pipe and waited. Now all of the walls, minus this last one, were covered in cheerful, bright, harmless paintings of healthy settlers with muscular forearms (the men) and apple cheeks

STUDY SKILLS

(the women) going about the business of bringing prosperity and corseted civilization to their clear-skied home. It made him want to break all of his own fingers. He chewed his pipe. He sketched the rough outlines of the last scene. The proposal passed by the committee showed that this was to be a scene of hog judging at the state fair. And all of the hogs were going to have Marcelled tails. As he sketched, he could feel the watcher leaving. The examination had lasted long enough to assure the visitor that John Steuart Curry was still behaving just as he ought. He was working in a reverse Panopticon, with one prisoner and many guards; there was nowhere in the rotunda that was out of sight. So he’d had to create that space. Curry climbed down from the scaffolding and set to work erecting a canvas walled tent around his work space. The same construction that had obscured him while he worked on each of the other walls in turn. He’d made sure early on, casually, to mention to a janitor that the enclosure helped the newly painted walls to dry evenly. It was designed to help the paint sink into the plaster, to help make the frescoes permanent. Complete hogwash, of course. But he was sure the comment had made the rounds of the building, and no one had been by to challenge him about it. After the walls were up he checked for gaps, slipped inside and set to work, painting.

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******* Another early morning, three weeks later, and John Steuart Curry wiped the paint from a final brush and packed up his things. He stretched and his back gave a satisfying crack. Crouching on a scaffolding day after day was not easy, even in overalls. He stepped outside the canvas tent and listened. Nothing. It was the golden hour when the building was clean and ready for the new day, but the earliest of the secretaries had yet to arrive. There was a night guard downstairs, but he never came up. Too many stairs for old knees.

Fall 2016 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

MATH

For another thirty minutes the Capitol belonged to Curry and no one else. There was time, but much to do. He turned and started disassembling the tent, folding the canvas neatly and rolling the scaffolding out of the rotunda and into a side hall. There was no time to take it all down, but he didn’t want it to obscure his work. His masterpiece. With that done he turned to the other walls, surveyed the paintings a last time, and fitted his nails under the very corner of the nearest one. He pulled, gently, holding his breath, but there was no need to worry. The canvas that covered the fresco underneath peeled cleanly away. He’d been worried that his little game might fail, that covering the newly made murals with canvases painted to match the approved panels might not work. That the paintings would stick to the walls or that the murals would not. He’d spent months before beginning on the rotunda painting all of the canvases, and given each finished wall a week to dry before tacking the canvas on top. A week while he lay on the scaffold and chewed his pipe, read, and ate ham sandwiches. The extended length of time he’d spent on each wall was not really an issue. There were some advantages to being an artist. No one in the building had the remotest idea how long it took to produce works like his.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

In fifteen minutes, it was done; and he could look on his work as a completed thing, a whole thing. He was pleased. No, he was exhilarated. He turned in a slow circle and stopped chewing on his pipe. The murals spread around him in a swirl of color and activity. Released from their hiding places, they burst forth in a maelstrom. Rather than the dozen discrete scenes promised in the plans, a single continuous parade of people looped around the rotunda. Against a backdrop of Flint Hills and flatlands snaked people Curry was claiming as his own. Here were the outliers, the rule-breakers, the non-conformers, the truest of Kansans—both good and bad. Carrie Nation stormed a saloon, hatchet raised. Clyde Cessna flew smoke-trailed loops through the blazing sky. Chief Ten Bears strode across the plains, observing Carrie Nation, with his hand holding a treaty that wouldn’t be recognized, though Fred Harvey poured him a cup of coffee in commercial compensation. The Dalton gang lay on a table, bullet holes much in evidence but wry, wicked smiles still on their lips. James Naismith dunked a basket as a startled John R. Brinkley and his herd of goats looked on in admiration. Nick Chiles stood in front of a jailhouse, arms out, each holding a copy of The Plaindealer, defying a braying crowd come for a lynching. Off to the distance, groups of Mexican

workers traveled a long railroad line, leading from armed revolution to rail houses along the Santa Fe Railway. There was no beginning or end to the panorama of life. It eddied and churned around the rotunda and in the eyes of each of the figures was the fire of certainty, their hope for a new land. Curry realized that this was the first opportunity he’d had to see his vision in reality. This was how God must have felt when the first sun rose on His creation. This was why he had come home. It was the Kansas he’d loved as a farm boy, the Kansas he’d nurtured in memory while struggling and starving as an artist in the East. This was a Kansas of individuality and passion. Kansas as it was, and as it most feared being seen. John Steuart Curry smiled. From the pocket of his overalls he withdrew a check equal to every penny every school child had collected to pay for his work on the murals and taped it, not without the smallest of pangs, to one of the marble door surrounds. Done. Or almost. He still had to sign his work. With a final dip of a brush into a last pool of paint, Curry stepped to his masterpiece and wrote:

To the People of Kansas, a gift. From a true Native Son. John Steuart Curry, 1941

What does “The Good Life” mean to you? Aristotle and the ancient Greeks described this as “the life that one would like to live.” No matter what your definition, it most likely involves some thought, planning, and money.

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Mark A. Reinert CFP®, RICP®, MBA

Reinert Wealth Management 3639 SW Summerfield Dr. Suite B / Topeka, KS 66614 (785) 272-3900 mark.reinert@lpl.com www.reinertwealthmanagement.com Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

WHAT’S HAPPENING

SEPTEMBER FEATURED EVENT: TWISTING TOPEKA BOOK RELEASE PARTY

SEPTEMBER 25 TOPEKA AND SHAWNEE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

Marian Rakestraw, author of “Native Son” on page 32, and other Topeka authors present the release of their collection of alternativehistory short stories. The publication is the culmination of the 2016 Community Novel Project sponsored by the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. Guests can hear readings, talk with authors and receive information about next year’s program. The Community Novel Project has been held by the library since 2012 as an open, free writing workshop to provide a professional-level publishing experience. “If you look at the library’s goals, we are all about lifelong learning and helping people to live their best life,” says project co-organizer and librarian Miranda Ericsson. “This is part of something that might help people live their best life and continue to develop skills.” “We can’t take credit for their success,” says program founder and librarian Lissa Staley. “But when I see a writer changing what they are doing, taking and implementing a skill we have learned, that is one of our goals in how we measure our success. It’s a library thing—we have resources and we hope you get what you need from them.” The reception and readings continue from 2-4 p.m.

SEPTEMBER 2 (and the first Friday of every month) | First Friday Artwalk | Various locations throughout Topeka | 5:30-8:30 p.m. | Topeka’s monthly showing and gathering of art for display and purchase. | For more information, see the map and schedule on pages 36-37. SEPTEMBER 2-4 | Shawnee County Allied Tribes Annual Powwow | Lake Shawnee | Native dances and music | For ticket information and schedule, go online at shawneecountyalliedtribes.org

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

TOPEKA MAGAZINE’S 10 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SEPTEMBER 09/16

09/24

SEPTEMBER 9-11 | Huff ’n’ Puff Hot Air Balloon Rally | Lake Shawnee | Children’s activities, evening glow and launches | For more information, go online at huff-n-puff.org SEPTEMBER 10 | Great Topeka Duck Race | Lake Shawnee | Ten thousand rubber ducks are launched into the lake for a charity race benefitting a range of Topeka charities | For more information and to get your duck, go online at topekaduckrace.org SEPTEMBER 12-17 | Topeka Pride | Various locations | Street parade, drag show, concerts and other events for a week-long celebration of diversity | For more information, go online at topekapride.org SEPTEMBER 16-18 | TOPCON | Topeka Downtown Ramada, 420 SE Sixth | Gathering of Topeka’s cosplay community (see feature story on pages 46-53) and more | For ticket reservations and schedule, go online at Topcon.us

SEPTEMBER 16 | Kansas Mariachi Festival | Topeka Performing Arts Center | Mariachi music and Mexican food to celebrate Mexican-American culture and Mexico independence from Spain | For ticket reservations or more information, go online at topekaperformingarts.org SEPTEMBER 16 – OCTOBER 2 | The Toxic Avenger | Topeka Civic Theatre, Helen Hocker Theatre | A thriller of New Jersey and Superheroes— how else could your September be more action-packed? | For ticket reservations, go online at topekacivictheatre.com SEPTEMBER 24 | Aaron Douglas Art Fair | Aaron Douglas Art Park, 12th and Lane | 10 a.m.-5 p.m. | Free music and art booths to honor Topeka’s Harlem Renaissance painter | For more information, go online at aarondouglasartfair.com SEPTEMBER 24 | Liverpool Legends, a Beatles tribute band | Topeka Performing Arts Center | I think you’ll understand, they wanna hold your hand | For ticket reservations, go online at topekaperformingarts.org

Photography credit: Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, Bill Stephens, Liverpool Legends

WHAT’S HAPPENING

TOPEKA MAGAZINE’S 10 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OCTOBER

10/01

OCTOBER FEATURED EVENT: TOPEKA SYMPHONY SEASON OPENER OCTOBER 1 WHITE CONCERT HALL, WASHBURN UNIVERSITY

The Topeka Symphony Orchestra opens the 2016-2017 season with an ambitious themed program of “Lovers, Villains and Legends.” The opening October 1 concert starts with the romantic portion of the season (if your idea of romance is pent-up tension and misunderstood youth—but, then again, tragic love and pent-up tension seems to make for better music) hitting favorites such as Ravel’s Bolero and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. Some of the real fire in the season comes with the November 6 concert, the tribute to antagonists, featuring the popular “The Chairman Dances” from Nixon in China and the renowned violinist Alexander Markov playing Paganini’s Second Violin Concerto. If you’re bringing young audience members to the symphony and trying to sell them on classical music, then the concert to hit might be the February 18 concert featuring musical selections from Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars. Oddly enough, the symphony’s official season brochure does not mention that cosplay outfits are required for attendance at this performance, but we certainly wouldn’t complain if we shared the concert hall that night with a few Klingons, Viper Pilots or Stormtroopers.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Fall 2016

OCTOBER 1 | Frankenweenie | Lawn of State Capitol | 7:30-9 p.m. | Family film shown as part of the free and open Movie on the Lawn series | Halloween costumes encouraged OCTOBER 3 | Topeka Festival Singers | White Concert Hall, Washburn University | 7:30 p.m. | Community vocal orchestra celebrates 30 years under direction of Kevin Kellim with concert featuring some of Kellim’s favorite sacred and secular arrangements | For ticket reservations, go online at topekafestivalsingers.org OCTOBER 7-16 | The Canterville Ghost | Topeka Civic Theatre, Oldfather Theatre | The youth academy presents this ghost story based on story by Oscar Wilde | For ticket reservations, go online at topekacivictheatre.com OCTOBER 7 – NOVEMBER 2 | Dia de los Meurto celebrations | Various locations | One of the

10/14

city’s fastest growing annual celebrations with exhibitions, concerts a street fair and more | For full schedule, go online at topekaddlm.com OCTOBER 11 | Gordon Lightfoot concert | Topeka Performing Arts Center | Legendary songwriter/performer in person | For ticket reservations, go online at topekaperformingarts.org OCTOBER 14 | Hairball | Topeka Performing Arts Center | Ozzy Osborne, Prince, Elvis and KISS never performed onstage together … now they have with this rock tribute performance | For ticket reservations, go online at topekaperformingarts.org OCTOBER 21 – NOVEMBER 5 | Deathtrap | Topeka Civic Theatre, Mainstage Theatre | Ira Levin’s classic murder mystery within a mystery | For ticket reservations, go online at topekacivictheatre.com

OCTOBER 22 | Steampunk Art Show | Norsemen Brewing Brewery and Taproom, 830 N. Kansas Ave. | Steampunk art show, musical concerts, cosplay and fire art performances … Vikings, beer and fire, what could be better? | For ticket pricing and more information, go online at norsemenbrewingco.com OCTOBER 22-23 | Mother Earth News Fair | Kansas Expocentre | Owned by the same parent company that produces Topeka Magazine, the nation’s leading natural living magazine presents speakers and workshops from beekeeping to legal home brewing | For schedule and ticket information, go online at motherearthnewsfair.com OCTOBER 28 | Big Head Blues Club | Topeka Performing Arts Center | National blues act headline by Big Head Todd & The Monsters | For ticket reservations, go online at topekaperformingarts.org

Photography credit: Alexander Markov, Disney Movies, Hairball

WHAT’S HAPPENING

TOPEKA MAGAZINE’S 10 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NOVEMBER

11/1811/20

NOVEMBER FEATURED EVENT:

TOPEKA VETERANS PARADE NOVEMBER 5 DOWNTOWN TOPEKA

One of Topeka’s more recent and most popular annual traditions, this event honors military veterans with a parade through Downtown Topeka. The event is organized by the Military Veteran Project, a volunteer-based nonprofit with the mission of advocating for military veterans and addressing issues of post traumatic stress disorder. The Topekabased organization sponsors other events throughout the year and fulfills other missions aimed at assisting veterans and their families. This year’s parade will be part of a larger festival with foodtrucks and displays to provide for larger crowds while still keeping the focus on honoring veterans. For more information on their work and how you can volunteer or assist, go online at militaryveteranproject.org

NOVEMBER 8 | Federal, state and local elections | Vote, vote, vote, vote, vote. | For more information on local voter registration, polling stations and more, go online to the Shawnee County Commissioner of Elections office at snco.us/ election/ NOVEMBER 11-13 | Gingerbread Homes for the Holidays | Topeka Performing Arts Center | Competition of gingerbread homes to benefit TARC, Topeka’s nonprofit that advocates for the interests of the mentally disabled | For ticket reservation or more information, go online at topekaperformingarts.org NOVEMBER 12 | Tower Runs | Topeka Tower, 534 S. Kansas Ave. | The 5th annual race up stairs to the top of the Topeka Tower | For race times, registration and more information, go online at downtowntopekainc.com

Photography Credit: Jason Dailey, Katie Moore, Shutterstock

11/26

NOVEMBER 12 | Anti-Heroes Concert by Topeka Symphony Orchestra | White Concert Hall, Washburn University | For more information, see page 40 or go online at topekasymphony.org NOVEMBER 18 | Washburn University Opera presents A Christmas Carol | Grace Episcopal Cathedral | A freewill offering holiday event | For more information, go online at greatspaces.org NOVEMBER 18-20 | CASA Holiday Homes Tour | Annual tour of area homes decorated for holidays, a benefit for the nonprofit agency advocating for youths in the foster care system | See related story on pages 54-61 | For more information, go online at casaofshawneecounty.com NOVEMBER 23 – DECEMBER 31 | Winter Wonderland | Lake Shawnee Camping Ground

| Annual holiday light extravaganza benefitting TARC | Suggested donation of $10 per car | For more information, go online at tarcinc.org NOVEMBER 25 – DECEMBER 22 | It’s a Wonderful Life | Topeka Civic Theatre, Mainstage Theatre | Stage version of a holiday classic | For ticket reservations, go online at topekacivictheatre.com NOVEMBER 26 | Small Business Saturday | Downtown merchants and local-owned stores offer holiday discounts | For more information, go online at downtowntopekainc.com NOVEMBER 26 | Miracle on Kansas Avenue | Downtown Topeka | The city’s largest holiday parade featuring floats, music and, of course, Santa Claus | For start time, parade route and more information, go online at downtowntopekainc.com

Fall 2016 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

FEATURES

TOPEKAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SUPERH ERO SQUAD

THEI R COTTAGE

SUPERHERO

SQUAD Cosplay enthusiasts bring powered-up legends (and a few dastardly minds) to life

Story by Cale Herreman with Carolyn Kaberline Photography by Bill Stephens

Don’t panic, but you probably know someone who has a secret identity. In fact, that person might have several identities, and if they are part of Topeka’s cosplay scene then those alter egos come with a fascinating story and a lot of hard work. Cosplay, a portmanteau of costume and play, is a hobby that verges on a lifestyle for enthusiasts. Adult and child cosplayers alike act like it’s Halloween many times a year, going to conventions and dressing up as superheroes, villains, characters from anime, science fiction movies, even video games. They don’t hold out a bag for candy, but they do get their reward in showing off their creations, being asked to pose for pictures, even meeting their favorite actors. Topeka cosplayers often travel to other cities for conventions, but the last few years have seen a couple new cons in the region, attracting new cosplayers of all ages. Here are a few local cosplayers, and only a few of their many identities.

war Machine and Iron Man Chris and Mike Haze have earned a lot of attention for their creations: seven-foot-tall costumes that mimic the look—and sound—of an Iron Man armored suit. They go to conventions when they can, but unlike other cosplayers, they need to pull a trailer to transport their costumes—and they need plenty of time to suit up. Mike remembers, “The first time we took the Iron Man suit to Planet Comicon, I got dressed, and these guys opened up the curtain, and that was the first time I’d ever been in the suit in front of a crowd. And I walked out through the curtains, and being in the suit, I’m higher, I’m looking at the tops of people’s heads, and all these heads turned and looked at me like this, and the whole con just migrated right over in front of me. It was quite an experience.” Their setup requires a lot of ingenuity and planning; they even have a garage workshop for

fabricating costume parts. They spend a good chunk of what free time they have there, designing costumes, creating forms for them and painting them. Chris says, “Mike’s the mechanic, the builder. I like to build, but I’m more a perfectionist, though, I critique my things pretty hard.” Mike, in turn, notes his brother “keeps me in line when it comes to keeping things within reason.” The Haze brothers also share their hobby with their children. Chris’ daughter, Zoe, has created a Battlestar Galactica outfit, and Mike’s son, Andrew, has appeared as a mash-up of Iron Man and Deadpool. Together, the brothers, children and their families travel to conventions. “They go with us,” says Chris. “It’s time together that most other people don’t get in their lifetime, not just as parents but as friends: working together, sharing experiences. We’re like a traveling band.”

storm

wednesday

adams

“I don’t pick very sunny, happy characters. I pick the weird ones,” explains Kaela Harrington, who adds she found her aesthetic early on, being the odd kid out in a small town. “My mom was into Stephen King and Anne Rice,” she says, “And we did not fit in.” But when she attended a convention five years ago, she found where she belonged. “The next time I went to a con, I dressed up, and I just never stopped. I actually feel more comfortable in full costume than I do just going to the grocery store.” There may be such a thing as too comfortable. There was a convention where she cosplayed as Ash from the Evil Dead movies, with a chainsaw for a hand and blood-soaked clothes. “I was outside the hotel talking to some people,” she says, “and an older lady had called the cops, saying there was a woman covered in blood and no one was helping her. The cops came up and they said, ‘Are you who they called about?’ I thought they were joking and I laughed, ‘Yeah!’ He was like, ‘You look amazing, can I get a picture?’ They saw it was a costume, and they didn’t say anything.” Harrington loves horror, but she also draws character ideas from comics, performing as Storm and Wolverine from the X-Men; as well as movies, becoming “Johna Hammond,” a female version of the proprietor of Jurassic Park, or “Sith Lord Spock,” mashing up concepts and characters from Star Wars and Star Trek. As Wednesday, the daughter in the creepy Addams Family, she had a family reunion of sorts. “At Empower Con, which was here in February, there was a Pugsley that came, and I was Wednesday, and so I was like, ‘Oh great, my brother’s here!’”

agent carter Nikki Blackburn says she hasn’t been doing cosplay very long, “but it sort of consumed me very quickly.” She was primed from her youthful interests: “I liked everything from comic books, Star Wars, Star Trek, and anime,” she says. “If it’s somewhat nerdy, I usually find a way to get into it.” So no wonder that when she and some friends decided to go to a con in costume, the newbie was hooked. “At first I was sort of hesitant because I’ve never been the most crafty person,” she explains, “so I was sort of intimidated by building and sewing and doing all that stuff. It’s actually forced me out of my comfort zone, to go back and be more creative.” She has dressed up as Agent Carter, who worked with Captain America in the ’40s, Rogue from the X-Men, and Captain Cold, an enemy of The Flash, for which she constructed a cold gun prop. “The thing that really made me believe I could get more crafty was working on that cold gun, seeing it come together and having people actually compliment me on it. It’s rewarding, definitely.”

Dilynn Harvey got involved in cosplay by taking a modeling job, promoting a store at a con by dressing up as She-Hulk. “It was quite fun being painted up in all that green paint. I had a blast, and ever since then, I’ve just been kind of hooked,” she says. In creating costumes, though, Harvey has developed an approach for herself. “I can alter stuff to what I need it for,” she says, “but as far as making something from scratch, I’m just not that crafty. So, initially, I’ll either buy it, if it’s already made and I can afford it, or I’ll find something cheaper and just alter it to what I need it for.”

black

cat

So for Black Cat, a character from Spider-Man’s world, she bought an inexpensive costume, then hand-sewed white fur to it. A second part of that costume is Black Cat’s true-life identity, Felicia Hardy, which Harvey portrays with a simple black dress and hat. She also has developed a Supergirl costume and has dressed as a female version of the Goblin King from the movie Labyrinth. “I actually use my own hair for that, because I have lots of thick blonde hair, so it’s perfect.” While Harvey does not attend many conventions, she did take her daughter to Planet Comicon this year for her 18th birthday and to meet Marvel Comics genius emeritus Stan Lee. “She is just starting to get a taste of it, herself,” Harvey says. “She cosplayed this year for the first time, as Galadriel, from Lord of the Rings.”

kingpin Brian Cervantez went to Planet Comicon in Kansas City last year and left inspired. “Literally right after the con was over, I started working on outfits and thinking of ideas. One of my friends came up with, ‘Hey, why don’t you do Kingpin?’” The bald, imposing and resourceful villain seemed to be a good fit. “I’ve been doing it for over a year now, coming up with different ideas, building different gadgets. When I get done with one, I start thinking of the next one I could do, and then I start building it.” He’s also developing a Lex Luthor character, whose prop will be, of course, a spray-painted rock standing in for kryptonite. Cervantez has also already created an outfit for Heat Wave, an enemy of The Flash. “My friend had some goggles,” he says, “I went out to different stores and bought different parts of the outfit, like pants and a shirt. To make it look like it was dirty, I had to scuff it up and everything, and roll the welding gloves in dirt to make them look dirty.” Like any comic-book mastermind, Cervantez, who attends Washburn and has two part-time jobs and an internship, often has to think up ingenious solutions when pressed for time. “Sometimes friends help me with the costume; they’ll help me with something maybe I don’t have time to do,” he says. “Sometimes the priorities of school and other things take place over cosplay, but I find someone to help me with it.”

MANY WAYS TO COSPLAY The cosplay scene has grown in recent years, but it’s unclear when it began. The term was coined by a Japanese writer who visited a science fiction convention in Los Angeles in the ’80s and was impressed by attendees’ costumes. The annual conventions themselves have multiplied and become more mainstream, some even hosting movie premieres. But that’s big business; what motivates the people on these pages is their connection to a community that’s more like a small town, albeit one spread across the globe. At cons, cosplayers mingle with other attendees, who might ask to take their picture. Cosplayers enjoy sharing their creations with others who appreciate not just the characters but also the creativity and hard work that went into building their costume. They might talk about their costumes and how they were made. A lot of them use similar techniques, but they are always open to learning or getting tips. Mike Haze recalled a quote from the movie Iron Man about the protagonist’s creation of his super-powered outfit: “Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave with a box of scraps!” He indicated that this describes some of the aesthetics of cosplay: use what’s available to you, including time. Outside of cons, though, there is some charitable cosplaying. Charity DeLay has come to know a group called Cosplay for a Cause. “They donate their time, they go make children happy, they spend a lot of time at Children’s Mercy,” she says. Beyond that, “A lot of the cosplay community is very friendly to the children, which is awesome.” This family feeling helps bind the community together. Like many geeky pursuits, cosplay will likely continue to grow in popularity. Nikki Blackburn says of her youth, “Anime was something I quietly enjoyed with a few of my friends. I remember going to school wearing a Pokémon shirt, and getting made fun of for it, and now you see girls and guys wear Pokémon and anime.”

Wonder Woman & Stan Lee

Barbara and Neal Haze entered the world of cosplay through their sons. The couple were attending a cosplay event in Detroit where their sons were appearing in full cosplay outfits, and one of them had trouble with his costume. Neal rushed out to get a tool box to repair the costume. “On the way there and back I kept being asked for my autograph. After we fixed the costume and I was on my way back to our room with the tool box, there was a person in the elevator talking on his phone who said, ‘You’ll never guess who I’m in an elevator with … Stan Lee!’ He was looking straight at me.” It was at this point that Neal, who does bear an uncanny resemblance to the comic book writer responsible for Spiderman, Thor, Iron Man and other legends, decided to adopt Lee’s persona, wearing glasses and a $6.00 T-shirt similar to ones sported by the comic book writer. Barbara soon joined with a range of characters: an original Steam Punk-themed crime-fighting vigilante, comic-book heroes and Wonder Woman. While many cosplayers are much younger than the Hazes—Barbara is 78 and Neal is 81— the two believe it’s the perfect hobby for people their age. “It’s a nice hobby for those who want to get out and be with younger people,” Neal says. “It’s nice for older people because you can do as much with it as you want to. The conventions have photography, writing and many things. For me, it goes with my abilities—I like to sew, research and create something fun,” Barbara adds. “It also allows me to spend time with my sons and grandchildren.”

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Deadp o Ironm ol an Devin DeLay is 8, but he’s been able to spend time with many heroes and villains already. He has had a series of surgeries, and been visited in the hospital by a troop of Imperial Stormtroopers and their leader, Darth Vader. Charity DeLay, his mother, says, “When he realized that Darth Vader was a bad guy, his mind was blown. He didn’t think Darth Vader was a bad guy, because he comes and makes kids happy.”

Between those visits and going to conventions with his mom, it was probably inevitable that he’d take an interest in cosplay. His older brother builds the costumes, but Devin is the idea man here. He had the idea to mash up Deadpool with Iron Man because “Deadpool cannot fly, but he can fly with this Iron Man suit.” Also, he knows that, at cons, “There’s a bunch of Deadpool fans.” He is looking forward to his brother’s next creation, Iron Spider, with four extra arms and glowing eyes. Charity DeLay explains, “It’s a lot of work, but it’s Fun Foam, pieces are 39 cents.” Devin thrives on the attention he gets from cosplaying. “He loves getting his picture taken with people,” his mother says. “He just loves it.”

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their

In settling for less-than-perfect, a couple finds a home amenable to perfecting

Story by Nathan Pettengill Photography by Katie Moore

cottage

It simply wasn’t the house for them. Even though they went to see it when it came on the market, Lee Glaze and David Porterfield knew it was not a practical choice. The window frames were rotting. The carpet was old and shaggy. The outdoor pool held only dirt and weeds. The garage door would not shut. The patio walkway was covered by an uneven spread of half-sunken concrete slabs that caused anyone walking on them to feel like they were on a Tilt-a-Whirl. “I walked out and decided I couldn’t face it,” recalls David. “It was too much work.” In fact, Lee and David were almost relieved when the real estate agent told them someone already made an offer on the house. After all, that money pit on Southwest Burlingame Road simply wasn’t the house for them.

Except … despite being so impractical in so many ways, it did have ample room with a bathroom and bedroom on the ground floor if stairs ever presented a problem. David had renovated homes before, and this one was a charmer. It was one they had admired for years. Admittedly not a perfect fit, it was an adorable Cotswold Cottage that simply echoed Old England. It was a house with beautifully layered stones that arched out ever so slightly to reach up to the eaves, a house with windows that ranged across the back and around the sides, a house with gorgeous woodwork on the interior landing, a house with a deep yard, old trees and

tremendous potential for landscaping. A house they jumped into approximately a week later when the real estate agent called them back and let them know it was theirs if they wanted it. Of course they did. “It was something that was worth something for us,” remembers David. That was seven years and many renovations ago. The first months were practically life in a construction zone. But the house has loved them back each step of the way. For example, though there was rot around the windows, the actual windows—originally left alone

OPPOSITE: Family heirlooms and gifts decorate the Glaze-Porterfield home. TOP: The perks of being a florist? Stunning, fresh floral designs regularly decorate your home. MIDDLE: Though it might appear small from the exterior, the home provides plenty of room for, from left, David Porterfield, Henry, Stuart and Lee Glaze. LOWER MIDDLE: The dining room looks over the spacious back yard. RIGHT: The home’s authentic Cotswold Cottage design is rare for Topeka.

because David and Lee feared damaging the architectural integrity of the home—turned out to be perfectly weather-proof once insulation was stuffed into the walls around them. The windows open up on all sides of the house to bring in fresh breezes, allowing the home to be entirely free of air conditioning throughout all but the balmiest of summer days. And with the help of former residents, such as Jett Elmer who grew up in the home, David and Lee were able to identify and reinstate the original layout. The restored floor plan takes advantage of natural lighting and seems magically to expand the home’s interior space. It has turned out to be the perfect house for them, but not just for them. In 2014, David’s mother celebrated her 90th birthday at the home, with Lee, David and an intimate gathering of some 100 friends. By the next year, she began to require assistance in her day-to-day routine. Lee and David had bought the home telling themselves the groundfloor layout would be practical for themselves in their old age, but it came of use much earlier for a person dear to both of them. “She had become a mother to me,” says Lee. “She was very close and very loving and took me under her wing.” So Lee and David took Virginia Loveland Porterfield under their wings, moving her into the baby-blue ground-floor bedroom whose windows overlooked a shade garden where they relocated a small cherub statue that had accompanied her from her home. And each day, she relied on David and Lee for care. “It’s hard when it is your own blood, your mom,” recalls David. “It comes down to showering and cleaning them up, but Lee said, ‘You just have to do it.’” “I had been through taking care of two friends and my mother,” explains Lee. “I knew what I had to do. It’s an

Meet Cavalier King Charles spaniels Stuart and Henry (as well as Lee Glaze and David Porterfield) when they open the doors to their home November 19-20 as part of the CASA Homes for the Holidays Tour.

open

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The annual event showcases some of Topeka’s most charming homes staged for viewing by area artists, designers and decorators. All proceeds from the event go to support the mission of CASA, the non-profit agency that acts as the advocate for children whose daily lives and routines are entirely altered by an ongoing judicial process. Lee and David have seen the difference that CASA makes to young lives, having had neighbors who served as foster parents and having admired the service they provided to youth. “Those children—through no fault of their own—are lost,” says David. “CASA is the voice of children who wouldn’t have any voice without them; it is truly important. The people who are the counselors for the children are the ones who are on the front line and help them with legal issues, with the home placements. There is no way that emotionally I could do that. I admire the people who do this so much.” David, who owns Porterfields Flowers in the Westboro Mart, provides his own service to the nonprofit. In 2011, he was recognized by CASA with a service reward for numerous years of support in providing decoration and design for CASA homes. In fact, he has decorated and helped stage CASA homes for the tour’s entire 29-year history. This is the second time that David and Lee will open their home for the CASA tour, but this year will highlight their home’s more recent renovations and a staging that is more personable. “This time the home will be open with our collections of Christmas decorations,” says David. Stuart and Henry will be there as well. Ever the polite hosts, the dogs will be in the background, but quite approachable. “It’s sort of like a petting zoo,” says David. “We have a cage for them and they stay in the sun room, but they love people coming to them and petting them.” Tickets and more information about the 2016 CASA Homes for the Holidays Tour will be available throughout town or through CASA. Call (785) 215-8282 or go online at casaofshawneecounty.com

But the house has loved them back each step of the way.

act of love. I told David about two weeks before she died, that this is the time when you need to be there and I need to be there. One thing you will learn is the gratification you will get from helping that person.” “You think you can’t do it, but you do,” says David. “It’s a wonderful way to close a chapter of life. It was really one of the most rewarding times of my life.” Virginia’s cherub still stands in the garden, and some of her art objects decorate the interior corridors and living room. And there is a reminder of her presence even in the list of projects that still, despite the home being a perfect fit, remain to be done.

a cozy cottage whodunnit Lee Glaze and David Porterfield think they have almost solved the mystery of who built their Cotswold Cottage. All clues point to architect Thomas Williamson. Here is the evidence they have assembled:

For example, take the kitchen. Virginia probably would have wanted it renovated. “Most of the cooking in our house is done by Pizza Hut,” laughs David. “My mother spent her whole life trying to get us to cook.” “We want to remodel the kitchen, put in more light so I can learn to cook,” adds Lee. But that might not be the top priority. Because, after all, life is about finding your spot. For some that spot might be an impeccable, ultra-modern kitchen, while for others it might be an entirely impractical Cotswold Cottage that turns out to be the ideal home for you and those you love.

1 The architect knew his/ her stuff. “This house has aged incredibly well,” notes David. “The stonework and the construction are by a renowned architect.” Thomas Williamson knew architecture. He designed landmarks such as Topeka High School, the Jayhawk Hotel, Fire Station No. 2, Monroe Elementary School and more.

2 The office building for Brewster Place in Topeka appears to be the same design and style as David and Lee’s cottage home. Furthermore it was built within the same period. The architect for this building was Thomas Williamson.

3 When the original homeowners, the Breuningers, added the home’s first addition after it was built in 1941, they tapped architect Thomas Williamson for the job. Lee discovered Williamson’s name and signature on the blueprint designs for that addition. It seems very likely the new homeowners would have chosen the home’s principal designer for the job.

So did Thomas Williamson build the Glaze-Porterfield home? Until the actual blueprints with the actual signature appear, the case is still open. But if you ask Lee and David, they will tell you who is their leading suspect.

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