Summer 2018
Pigeon Racers Fine-Feathered & High-Flying
PLUS! Buttonology: Gathering up Swedish Spindles and More “What I Want to Share with Topeka”—A First-Person Immigration Story Topeka’s Mayor: The Personal Story Behind the National Symbol
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2018
FROM THE EDITOR SUMMER 2018 | VOLUME 12, NO. 3
Editor Nathan Pettengill Art Director Jenni Leiste Designer Amanda Nagengast Copy Editor Leslie Andres Advertising Peterson Publications, Inc. Representative publish@petersonpublications.com (785) 271-5801 Ad Designers Jenni Leiste Amanda Nagengast Photographers Nick Krug Katie Moore Brittany JoRae’ Pusch-Zuniga Bill Stephens
It took me several years and many hours of weeding and watering to admit that I couldn’t grow one of my favorite fruit bushes, the juneberry, in my small plot of Kansas land. Theoretically, I was told, it should have been possible. The juneberry is native to North America and while it tends to thrive in zones to the north of us, I should have been able to grow at least a scraggly bush with a few berries to harvest from it. Well, I couldn’t. After losing too many heritage seeds and not a few sprouts, I finally decided that the best way to honor juneberries was to stop planting them—at least for a while, at least for that particular plot of land. And that’s when the real gardening began. Tomatoes and carrots were planted with moderate success, but the land that was tepid about those vegetables and refused to give me juneberries seemed to relish in throwing up blackberry bushes, sunflowers, chives and almost any wildflower mix I threw into it. And so I gardened on with those. If it could be called gardening, because the plants
thrived on their own for the most part and I had only to water during droughts and pull away some foolish weeds every few days. On a much larger scale and with much more gardening savvy, this is the same experience recounted in Christine Steinkuehler’s and Nick Krug’s story found in these pages about “Tam” Vincent and the garden she acquired and learned to cultivate under a canopy of old-growth trees in an unfamiliarly shady lane of Topeka. And it is also, to an extent, the same story found in Michelle Terry’s and Bill Stephen’s portrait of an auctioneer who stumbled upon clothing buttons and began to seek out history. And it is even, to a degree, the same theme in Jeffrey Ann Goudie’s and Nick Krug’s profile of the current mayor of Topeka. These are all stories of combining aspirations and realities, of making the best life for what you find around you, wherever you are, whether that means in Topeka, just outside of it or suddenly far away. May it be your story this summer as well. Bloom on. — NAT H A N P E T T E N G I L L , E D I T O R
Writers Linda A. Ditch Jeffrey Ann Goudie Carolyn Kaberline Leah Sewell Jacqueline Solis-Maldonado Christine Steinkuehler Michelle R. Terry Subscriptions $27 for a one-year subscription, including Topeka SR; order at sunflowerpub.com Production Manager Shelly Bryant Director Bob Cucciniello
Please contact us at topekamagazine@sunflowerpub.com for all comments, subscription and editorial queries.
Topeka Magazine is a publication of Sunflower Publishing, a division of Ogden Publications. Ogden Publications 1503 SW 42nd St Topeka, KS 66609
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Is thatinsmile you? a s s i dy Orthodontics Creating beautiful smiles for you and your family 600 Governor View | Topeka, Kansas | 785.233.0582
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2018
WHAT’S INSIDE SUMMER 2018 | VOLUME 12, NO. 3
TOPEKANS 10 THE BUTTONOLOGIST
For decades, Don Weichert has been fascinated by the variety, beauty, practicality and universality of buttons
14 WHAT I’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH TOPEKA
Our series of personal letters from local residents brings the story of immigration and adaptation
LOCALE 16 THE GARDEN OF EVENTUAL DELIGHT
First there was the task of a fixer-upper home, and then the long, joyful work of transforming the garden began
20 A NEW LAND OF SHADE
A leafy neighborhood of Topeka allows a transplant gardener to innovate, adapt and thrive
APPETITE 23 SUMMERTIME SANGRIAS
Topeka bartenders serve up three variations of a seasonal classic
26 DOUBLE-CRUST BLACKBERRY COBBLER
Often, mom inspires the best recipes … even if she hates to cook
28 WHAT’S HAPPENING
Selected Topeka events for the summer season
F E AT U R E S 32 F L I G H T CLU B
Bred, fed and trained for speed—Topeka’s racing pigeons are elite athletes whose courses cover as many as 600 miles in one day
40 THE KID WHO GREW UP WITH ALL THE CHALLENGES
Michelle De La Isla puts her work as the city’s top politician in the perspective of a lifelong motivation to create better spaces and more opportunity
Summer 2018
Pigeon Racers Fine-Feathered & High-Flying
PLUS! Buttonology: Gathering up Swedish Spindles and More “What I Want to Share with Topeka”—A First-Person Immigration Story Topeka’s Mayor: The Personal Story Behind the National Symbol
On the Cover Bird No. 1468 hatched in 2004 in the loft of Topeka Racing Pigeon Club (TRPC) member Mike Beam. In 2008, Beam’s pigeon won a 500-mile race and placed in the top 20 in eight races with a total distance of over 1,800 miles and was awarded Champion Bird recognition by the TRPC. Bird No. 1468 retired in 2008. Photograph by Nick Krug.
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TOPEKA TALK
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Winter 2017
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than
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Organizers prepare for the city's largest, most ambitious community mural project
Artist Michael Toombs (forefront) stands in front of the location for the planned Brown v. Board of Education mural, joined by (from left) Yesenia Villarreal, Daryoush Hosseini, Timothy Steward, Hector Bernal, Mary Thomas, Sarah Fizell, Cathy Burchett and Felix Maull.
Story by Kim Gronniger Photography by Bill Stephens, Katie Moore and Kevin Anderson
Mayors Jeffery Ann Goudie’s profile of Topeka’s current mayor made us wonder about the city’s past leaders. Join us online at our Facebook page as writer Brian Hall talks with historians and community members to draw up a list of the best mayors from Topeka’s past.
Design Award
Topeka Correctional Facility Plant Sale In our previous edition, writer Michelle Terry introduced some of the gardeners and staff behind the Topeka Correctional Facility greenhouse program. Since that time, the facility held its annual plant sale. And though it was slated to run from May 1–13 of this year, the event was so successful that the gardeners sold all of their decorative plants and vegetables in the first five days. “This may be the most successful year we’ve ever had,” said Brad Metzler, horticulture instructor at TCF. The gardeners were on hand during the sale to answer questions about any of their plants and to pass on advice.
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“Plant these in partial shade and don’t get their leaves wet,” said gardener Mary R., as she sold the sunflowers shown in the photograph above. This year, the gardeners had cultivated some 27,000 plants and vegetables, with 15,000 of them set aside for the sale. The gardening by inmates at the facility will continue throughout the year, as the gardeners prepare for next year’s sale and continue to grow plants, flowers and vegetables used in the facility’s landscaping and in the kitchen. “The program gets better every year, and these women develop skills that will help them find jobs once they leave,” said Metzler.
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Congrats to Topeka Magazine designer Amanda Nagengast, along with photographers Bill Stephens, Katie Moore and Kevin Anderson as well as writer Kim Gronniger! Their story on the Brown v Board of Education mural project received top finalist recognition in the Magazine Page Design category at the 2018 Great Plains Journalism Awards.
Next Edition The fall 2018 edition of Topeka Magazine arrives in early September and includes our annual Topeka Magazine SR edition, as well as our full range of feature and department stories, including a corgi costume party.
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TOPEKANS
TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2018 STORY BY
Michelle R. Terry |
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Bill Stephens
The
BUTTONOLOGIST For decades, Don Weichert has been fascinated by the variety, beauty, practicality and universality of buttons
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D
on Weichert says when someone first learns he’s a button collector, the conversation almost always follows the same script: You collect what? Buttons. Political campaign buttons? No, clothing buttons. Were they really on clothes? Yes. I’ve never met a button collector! Well, now you have! As a child, Don was brought up in a home of buttons—his mother was a professional dressmaker who would sew while Don played with her sewing machine’s round, buttonlike templates known as “cams.” But it wasn’t until 1983, while working as an antique dealer, that Don became interested in buttonology. It was that
year when he and a friend, Diana DeGennaro, were surveying auction items and discovered—amid stacks of cutlery, baby food jars and other family possessions—a collection of small, colorful buttons. These were what button collectors call “Czech tinies,” but at the time Weichert knew only that they were beautiful and fascinating. “I stored them in a crystal bowl, and it made an eye-catching display,” he recalls. Weichert would craft earrings and jewelry from these and other tiny treasures he began collecting at auctions and garage sales. But as he began to learn more about buttons, he began to appreciate that even the modest backs of his collectables had unique qualities he didn’t want to destroy with alterations.
Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
So he began collecting buttons, not as jewelry or decorative components, but as works of art in their own right, each with a unique story. “I picked this up for $3.00,” says Weichert as he shows an oblong button adorned with an intricate, laser-thin scroll known as a Swedish spindle. “I thought I’d lost it right after I bought it. Then, later that day, it appeared back in my pocket.” Luck seems to have often favored Weichert in his interactions with buttons. After graduating from the Missouri Auction School, his first opportunity was to sell a button collection by Mary Gilmore valued at $35,000. Gilmore trusted the novice auctioneer because Weichert had already been collecting buttons for a decade and knew the value of her collection. Seventy-three bidders
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Buttonology In the United States, buttons became popular in the mid-1800s and were collected in groups and strung together as “charm strings.” By 1938, the National Button Society was organized to promote the collection and study of buttons along the same lines that philatelic clubs would promote the collection and study of stamps. Membership in the National Button Society remains open to individuals and organizations who collect buttons and who wish to support the objectives of the NBS. While there is no longer a local Topeka chapter, Kansas collectors can join the Kansas Button Society at kansasstatebuttonsociety.org.
from eleven states attended the live auction and participated in the 915 lots sold from her thirty-five-year assemblage. The new kid on the block, Weichert landed a $47,455 price tag—for only half of the collection. Weichert attributes his growth as a buttonologist to his lifelong mentor, Florence Belton of Wamego, whom he learned about while attending a seminar and lost no time in meeting. “I drove to her house, knocked on her door and asked to learn more about her button collection.” Belton was doing a dress-fitting at the time, so she told Weichert to wait thirty minutes while she finished with her client. He did, and she then introduced herself and her collection. “We have been friends ever since,” says Weichert. Belton had a rare and unusual button collections, but even a small button collection can be unique. There are buttons made of plastic, glass, bone, wood, fabric, pearl, and even precious stones. An attentive eye can find almost microscopic details along on the edges, but it takes a trained eye to spot subtle differences. Weichert points to a colorful display in his office. “Can you tell which seven items aren’t glass?” After I failed several times, Weichert teaches this novice the difference between plastic and glass buttons. “Florence told me to pay attention to detail,” he says as his eyes dance, and then he adds, “useful in button collecting and life.” Two years ago, Weichert decided to finalize his retirement plans and sell his 30-plus-year collection of buttons made from black glass, clear glass, and colored opaque. The fastidious auctioneer fashioned framed displays, small and large pictorials, and card mounts. On January 1, 2018, he notified the tightly connected button-collecting communities by email and wordof-mouth that his collection was for sale. Four days later, a collector from Hoxie had bought everything, save for a small portion of the collection. These remaining buttons are Weichert’s favorites, the ones with special significance that remind him of a lifelong hobby that has rewarded him in many ways. “I have made lifelong friends in pursuit of buttons,” Weichert says as he points to a button-adorned wooden plaque a friend gave him. “Good friends are like unique buttons–you collect them one at a time.”
About the Writer: Michelle Terry is a registered dietitian. When she’s not working or wrangling her family, she is running, doing yoga, or managing an unruly garden.
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TOPEKANS
STORY BY Jacqueline Solis-Maldonado with Leah Sewell | PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Brittany JoRae’ Pusch-Zuniga
A Bridge to see
THE WORLD The first in our series of personal letters from local residents brings the story of immigration and adaptation Five years ago, I started a journey in a new country, the United States. It wasn’t easy to get used to my new surroundings because everything was so different from what I used to know—the architecture, the people, the food, and even the taste of the water. But these little things didn’t affect me as much as coming to terms with a new culture and language. My hometown, Zacatecas, was once considered one of the safest places to live in Mexico. But powerful drug cartels invaded and waged wars over territorial rights. Their greed for riches didn’t stop at selling drugs. Between 2012 and 2016, the homicide rate in Zacatecas rose 93 percent. Kidnappings became commonplace. Despite the
violence, we didn’t want to leave our beloved country. But my family feared something terrible would happen to me or to my little brother. Safety came first. At 14 years old, I arrived in Topeka, nervous and homesick, to enroll at a public middle school with an English as a Second Language (ESL) program. My schedule consisted of practicing English with one teacher and attending science and math classes with a translator. The program required ESL students to attend the same classes together. It seemed like a good deal, and for the first days I almost forgot my anxiety. Ever since I was a small child, my mother noticed I was more anxious than other children. New experiences
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were difficult for me, but in the U.S., every experience was new. I found myself in foreign waters, so I tried my best to navigate them. I relied on useful phrases like “I don’t speak English” or “I need help” followed by pointing at something, like a homework sheet. I worked hard, but, for the most part, I still needed help communicating. Like me, my classmates came from Mexico, and one boy my age was even from the same hometown. But those common ties didn’t matter; because they arrived years ahead of me, my classmates were further along in English. They must have struggled too during their adjustment to life in Topeka, but they couldn’t see themselves in me. Instead, because of their head start in learning the culture and the language, they treated me as inferior. “Why can’t you do it?” they’d say at the first sign that I couldn’t understand a lesson. “Why are you so stupid?” they hissed at me in Spanish. The teacher took several students aside for a stern talk, but that didn’t stop the harassment. Beginning the first thing in the morning when we traveled to school, other students barred me from taking a seat on the morning bus and tormented me with namecalling all day long. I dreaded going to school. I became shy and too afraid to talk. I just wanted to go back to Mexico. I knew deep down that this was an unrealistic wish, and it made me feel hopeless. My mother grew worried. In Mexico, she would have marched up to the school to make them take action immediately. My mom can be scary! She’s a strong woman who will do anything for her children. But in the U.S., she couldn’t speak English to give the principal a piece of her mind. She had to ask for a translator and set an appointment. All the while, she, too, had been struggling with our new situation. During that appointment, I saw my mother cry for the first time. Nothing came of that meeting, either. Once, the principal came to check on me as I sat on the afternoon bus, but my bullies didn’t ride that bus. We couldn’t keep trying to relate our situation through a translator. I decided to just hold on as long as possible. Somehow, I made it to the end of the year and envisioned a happier future at a high school where I wouldn’t attend class with my harassers. But I received notice I would attend the same school as them because of the ESL program. That night I came to my mom, crying. I couldn’t believe I would have to deal with these same bullies for four more years. My mom searched for other schools, but we weren’t allowed to transfer districts. When my mom found out about another option, a private school, I was thrilled. But I learned it had no ESL program and few Spanish-
Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
speaking students and teachers. On top of that, the tuition was over $9,000 per year. All this information destroyed my hopes. Besides the likelihood I wouldn’t do well in my classes or make friends, I knew my mother couldn’t pay this tremendous amount of money. I wanted so badly to get an education without fear of being ridiculed every day, and, more importantly, I wanted to be myself again: the content, nerdy girl I was in Zacatecas who’d loved school so much. I wasn’t ready to give up. I looked for ways to attend the private school without causing financial trouble for my family. I applied for and was awarded many scholarships. I elected to work at the school during the summer to reduce the cost of tuition. And so I found myself on the first day of high school, starting from scratch again. I didn’t make friends at first. My one semester of middle school hadn’t helped much with my English. I spent most days only talking to answer easy questions or to say “here” when teachers took attendance. One day, at the end of English class, a boy spoke to me. “Why are you so quiet?” Shyly, I answered in English, “I am learning English. My native language is Spanish.” He responded in Spanish, “Oh! ¡Tambien hablo español!” [I speak Spanish too!] I felt relief and comfort when I heard these words. We introduced ourselves and talked about school. I confessed I wasn’t enjoying it, but at least I didn’t have to deal with bullies. By the next week he’d already spread the word and most of the students now understood why I was so quiet. They asked me about my background and made efforts to get to know me. Not everyone was like this, of course, but I was happy to know that most of my classmates wanted me to feel welcome, and my teachers seemed to care about me. It was still tough to learn English, but with support at my new school, I advanced faster than ever. Learning a new language isn’t just about memorizing words. It is a bridge to see the world from a different perspective and connect with people who can introduce you their culture. These people who approached me with so much curiosity are now my friends. They made me feel accepted into their culture, and that acceptance helped me leave my comfort zone. Even now, as a freshman in college, things can still be difficult. When I think back over those miserable first months in the U.S., I can see that I didn’t need friendship to survive although friendship made my path less lonely. What got me through was my own strength, and when that ran out, I leaned on the strength of my mother and sometimes her shoulder to cry on.
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2018
TOPEKANS STORY BY Christine Steinkuehler | PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Nick Krug
The Garden of
EVENTUAL DELIGHT First there was the task of a fixer-upper home, and then the long, joyful work of transforming the garden began
TOPEKANS
Shaded by arching branches, bordered by a wrought iron fence, boasting a beautiful brick patio and a gently bubbling fountain surrounded by an abundance of flowering plants, the Old Town home of Denise and Galen Murphy has been absolutely transformed since the Murphys bought the home some thirty years ago. “We got the worst house on this block and fixed it up,” says Galen. Aided by Galen’s expertise from years of working with architects, designers and engineers at Topeka Blueprint, the house now shines among the rows of historic homes. Denise and Galen describe their approach to redesigning the garden as a partnership. Denise is the visionary and optimist, always learning new things and willing to try new things and Galen is the one who goes along and—despite any misgivings—accepts the wisdom of Denise’s plans. It’s a team approach that emerged with some of their earliest projects such as transforming the front yard that began with Denise’s plan to put in a front yard fence. “I was totally against it,” recalls Galen. “Our yard is so small, and to me having that barrier there was going to make it even smaller. And then she wanted a seating area out there and I was like, ‘What are going to do with a seating area out there? We have the porch. And you know we are so close to the sidewalk now, we are not going to want to sit that close to the sidewalk.’” For years, Galen objected. Until he didn’t. “I was really against it and finally she wore me down after years of wanting, I was finally like, ‘Whatever, we’ll do it, I know we are going to hate it, but ok.’ And I love it now. She was right. I thought I
Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
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don’t want to sit that close to the sidewalk, but we love to sit out here, we go out in the evenings and sit out there.” Even on the hottest summer days, the Murphys’ renovated yard provides a shady, peaceful respite that seems to allow life to move at a slower pace. “It is so relaxing, to sit out there for a half hour, just rock and glide and listen to the fountain,” says Galen. Denise and Galen continued working on their yard, doing most of the work themselves. But they did tap professionals and volunteer crews for projects such as installing the iron fencing or creating the courtyard. Galen, Denise, their kids, and even the neighbors helped lay the courtyard bricks that were salvaged from the reconstruction of the alley behind Walgreen’s on 10th and Topeka. Those bricks arrived at a moment of need—the Murphys had already dug out their yard and put down the gravel and sand base when they learned that their original order for new bricks wouldn’t be filled in time. “So we found these,” says Denise. “It has worked out, they are cool, and they say ‘Topeka’ on them and are somewhat irregular. When you buy used brick, even though it costs almost as much as new brick, it does not come stacked on a pallet; they bring a dump truck and dump it on the driveway.” With the courtyard in place, the Murphys have been able to concentrate on the challenges of creating a garden in a shady neighborhood. “We don’t get a whole lot of sun out here except two hours of the hot afternoon sun,” says Denise. “It is really challenging to get the right combination of flowers and plants in. Do you do part shade? Do
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Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
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you do part sun? I throw things in there, and if they do not do well after a couple years, I rip them out and put them somewhere else. It is what it is.” For the main attractions in her garden, Denise currently has a combination of lilies, tall phlox, clematis, lespedeza and other perennials. But she acknowledges that she doesn’t know which of these will remain. Potted plants also decorate the garden. Denise augments her main plantings with pots of mums, coral belles and shaded leaf plants arranged in a fairy garden with miniature homes and furniture. Denise says she once had a wish to “have everything blooming at the same time and last for 3 or 4 weeks,” but she has learned to create focal points in areas that will rarely, if ever, nurture flowers. “There are a few places that get the sun, but then they are under the eaves and they don’t get any rain,” says Denise. “It is a really hard place to garden. It is mostly clay. We put stuff in it to mix in; some areas have gotten better, but other areas you go to dig up something and it is like, ‘Oh man, what did I get into?’ I have about 8 or 10 buckets all the time that I am working on that when I dig something up and get clay soil, I put it in the bucket and I put fertilizer in there and a little bit of water and I let the dirt cook for a while and it breaks it up and I put it back into the garden.” As with any garden, the quality of the earth, the sun, the shade, and the cycle of plant life dictate some of the biggest changes in the Murphys’ garden. The recent death of a mulberry tree that shaded the back yard effectively redefined the backyard space. True to her adventurous gardening spirit, Denise responded by looking for a new approach—a garden without any straight lines, beginning with a circular patio. “Galen did not want a circle, but I did, and he made it happen,” Denise says as she remembers the projects and laughs. Denise and Galen don’t know what their next project will be although Denise has been contemplating how to address a difficult spot between he sidewalk and the street. Eventually, she will have a plan. And eventually, she and Galen will be out in the yard making it a reality.
About the Writer: Christine Steinkuehler is a Topeka educator who frequently contributes articles on gardening.
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2018
TOPEKANS STORY BY Christine Steinkuehler | PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Nick Krug
A New
LAND OF SHADE A leafy neighborhood of Topeka allows a transplant gardener to innovate, adapt and thrive
TOPEKANS
T
amara “Tam” Vincent began seriously gardening when she lived on the edge of the Flint Hills where it was all sun and exposure. Twelve years ago, when she moved to Topeka’s Prospect Hills neighborhood, she quickly realized her years of open-sky gardening experience had limited applicability in the land of shade. “It was a whole different ballgame,” says Vincent. “I came in here and had trees. They didn’t tell me about all of the leaves.” So she had plans professionally drawn and started by gardening in sections in order not to lose all of her plants and gardening investment in the event of one bad growing season. Since that time, Vincent has switched out her front bed at least four times, has adapted to gardening in the shade and says she has learned that gardening in general means embracing change. For example, she is currently exploring how to downplay the importance of blooms. Don’t get her wrong, Vincent likes blooms, she just does not want her garden to be dependent on them. “I have been trying to work with foliage colors and texture and not play with the blooms anymore,” Vincent says. Currently, this means switching the locations of a smoke bush and some hydrangeas. The
Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
smoke bush—with its rich, dark purples—grew beyond its expected ten feet, shifting the visual balance of her garden. Meanwhile, the hydrangeas, which are traditionally spring-blooming plants, have been hit by late, hard frosts. So, Vincent has realized that they are now best used as “a nice backdrop” whose placement should be decided by their shape rather than by their infrequent flowering. By foregoing blooms and creating a landscape with bushes—a landscape of texture, varying height and rich colors—Vincent has actually opened visual space for traditional flowers. Some of her favorites are her daylilies, and she has some phenomenal ones, preferring the pastels and developing a taste for spider daylilies and iridescent ones. She is also very fond of the Annabelle hydrangeas with their giant white blooms; she repeats them throughout the garden to give it continuity and a unified appearance. Looking at a planting of coral belles where most are thriving and one is quite obviously dying, Vincent laments that one of the most difficult things about shade gardening is that the trees pull the moisture out of the ground, “even with a sprinkler system, and watering by hand, I have no idea why, but it started dying a week ago.”
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Vincent has found that other flowers, such as the pachysandra, do better in the shade. “It is good for stabilizing slopes and it will take some sun and some shade, and it tolerates really bad dirt,” she says. Lately, she has begun combination planting the pachysandra with the iris. “I like the combination of the spikey iris coming up through the pachysandra,” says Vincent. “I know you are not supposed to do iris under trees, but they really have thrived. The iris bloom because there aren’t leaves on the trees at that time of year.” Vincent has found that one of the unexpected benefits of gardening in a neighborhood plot is the chance to be part of an active neighborhood association whose meetings have included speakers such as Cameron Reese from Skinner Garden Store and the opportunity to share extra plants with her neighbors. Lately, she has also been sharing her garden with a puppy she adopted last year. “The dog took everything out down at that
end; he ruined it,” says Vincent. But, true to her take-it-in-stride gardening style, Vincent took the setback as a chance to adjust that portion of her garden … and encounter new challenges. “I started dividing my striped lirope and putting it down there, and then I decided that I needed the contrast of the yellow and green against all of that green. So I started transplanting and splitting, but then I got into a bumble bee nest in the ground. I got stung. It really hurt. So, I sprayed, and the foam spray, it doesn’t work trying to hit a wasp or something with foam spray. They all came out, the foam hit my tree peony and that is what happened to it. I didn’t realize that it was going to damage plants until the next day I saw what happened.” Looking back at the incident, Vincent describes it as “awful,” but by the time you hold this story in your hands, you can bet that Vincent has already responded to this setback, adapting her garden in a novel way, finding beauty in her shaded plot of Topeka.
APPETITE STORY BY
Linda A. Ditch |
Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Katie Moore
Summertime
SANGRIAS Topeka bartenders serve up three variations of a seasonal classic
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APPETITE
WE RECOMMEND
SANGRIA 3 drinks for summer
THE ROW HOUSE’S SASSY SANGRIA This summery combo packs a powerful punch with layers of taste and texture. Bar manager Elaine Appelhanz starts with a SouthAfrican rosé and adds five liquors— cherry brandy, Grand Marnier, citrus vodka, raspberry liqueur and peach schnapps—along with pineapple, orange and grapefruit juices. She finishes the mixture with strawberries, blueberries and cherries then tops it with a little sparkling rosé.
PAISANO’S WHITE SANGRIA What started out as a seasonal drink is making its way to the regular menu. Bar manager Angel Simmons and a co-worker came up with this white sangria, which features a nice Chardonnay with some peach nectar, pineapple juice and white cranberry juice.
THE WHITE LINEN’S SUNSET SANGRIA General manager Bekah Artzer adds vanilla brandy, Cointreau, simple syrup and fresh-squeezed orange juice into a shaker filled with ice. After a vigorous shaking, she strains it into a large, round wine glass, reintroduces some ice and then tops the drink with a deep red wine to give it the look of a summer sunset.
S
ummer brings a rich choice of cocktails. This is weather for a margarita, a piña colada, a mai tai, a daiquiri or a mojito. But the queen of summer drinks might be sangria, a drink rich with history yet adaptable to the latest taste trend.
“Sangria is crisp, refreshing and refined. You feel classy drinking it,” says Bekah Artzer, general manager for Topeka’s The White Linen restaurant. That elegance might come partly from sangria’s long traditions. Sangria blends fruit or fruit juice (and sometimes liqueur) but retains its heritage as a cocktail that is primarily winebased—and traditionally red-wine at that. (One of the few other wine-based cocktails, the Bellini, is traditionally white-wine-based.) The amount of wine can vary, but it should remain an essential element of the drink that is allowed to interact with the added fruit. As Paisano’s bar manager Angel Simmons says, “A good sangria is the combination of the wine’s flavor and fruitiness from the juices. You don’t want too much of any one flavor.” These three sangrias are examples of how the drink has evolved in the United States since gaining popularity at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. The White Linen’s Sunset Sangria sticks with the traditional red wine; Paisano’s White Sangria is made with Chardonnay, and the Row House’s Sassy Sangria features rosé. Each of the three Topeka sangrias are classic, but with the distinct style of the people who make them and the establishments that serve them.
APPETITE
Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
MEET THE
Choosing Your Sangria Wine Base A good homemade sangria starts with the wine base. Here are some suggestions when selecting a wine to anchor the flavor and character of your personal sangria.
RED WINE Any simple, fruity wine will do, but avoid wines that are too sweet because you will add sweetness from the fruits and fruit juices.
EXPERTS ELAINE APPELHANZ, BAR MANAGER, THE ROW HOUSE Elaine Appelhanz likes to improvise. She relies on her instincts and risk-taking when she suits up as Lady Richochet for the Capital City Crushers roller derby team and when she creates drinks at Row House. “I’m known for winging things. Successfully, most of the time,” she says. The Sassy Sangria that Appelhanz created at Row House fits her personality of boldly mixing things up. When asked what makes a good sangria, she says, “Wine for sure. Fruit and fruit juices, liquor and patience. It gets better each day. Give it a day. The fermentation gives it a pop and it takes on a whole different identity.”
WHITE WINE The key in choosing a white wine is to find one that complements the fruits you’re using. For example, if you want to use lemons, limes, or oranges, don’t pick a citrusy wine. Typically, a lighter un-oaked Chardonnay works best.
ROSÉ Known as summer wines because of their light color and flavors, rosé wines are great for sangrias and can give the drink a lovely color. Pick dry rosés instead of the sweet ones. This wine works best with fruits such as berries, peaches, and cranberries.
SPARKLING WINE Who doesn’t like bubbles in their beverage? Sparkling wines can make your sangria more festive. Use white sparklers in place of white wines, and rosé sparklers in place of red or rosé wines.
ANGEL SIMMONS, BAR MANAGER, PAISANO’S The sangria Angel Simmons serves is conducive to the atmosphere she enjoys while working behind the bar. It’s a light, breezy, friendly sort of drink to serve to relaxed, chatty customers. Simmons started at Paisano’s as a server but is happy to have swapped lugging around heavy trays of food for talking with and listening to her regular guests. “I have my own space, and the connections I’ve grown to have with the people I meet is fun and exciting,” she says. “When people are eating, you really can’t chit chat with them. At the bar area, there isn’t anything else for them to do than for me to get to know them and make their experience fun.” BEKAH ARTZER, GENERAL MANAGER, THE WHITE LINEN “Bartending is amazing because it is a creative outlet,” says Artzer. “It allows for artistic expression and offers instant gratification when you create a drink that your guests love.” For Artzer, the sangria is a perfect drink to express that creativity because it offers the ability to combine from several wine, fruit flavors and sugars. That versatility also allows the sangria to adapt to a changing menu, which is important to Artzer’s venue where most customers tend to be wine drinkers pairing wines with the meal. “The sangria,” notes Artzer, “is a versatile drink between a dinner wine and a cocktail.”
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APPETITE STORY BY Linda A. Ditch | PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Bill Stephens
Double-Crust
BLACKBERRY COBBLER Often, mom inspires the best recipes … even if she hates to cook
M
om started my cooking education. She taught me to sift ingredients for Tollhouse cookies and acted as my consultant while, at ten years of age, I fixed my first pot roast. There are some great recipes in her repertoire, including sugar cookies that are much requested at Christmas, and a rich vegetable soup that will warm any winter day. But here’s the kicker—Mom hates to cook. If a dish isn’t quick and simple, she doesn’t want to deal with it. Mom seems to have inherited her aversion to cooking. Her mother didn’t like to cook either—yet she did. Mamaw, as I called her, ran a farmhouse kitchen that was the heart of her home. Dinner was at noontime, eaten while listening to the news, weather, farm prices, and Paul Harvey on the radio. These were large meals of meat, boiled potatoes, gravy, and home-canned vegetables. When Mamaw moved into a retirement home, she gave up her utensils and gave me her recipe file, which is one of my most cherished possessions. I augmented those family recipes with recipes from books and cooking shows, and here too my mother was my guide. Mom introduced me to my first television cooking shows. Anytime I stayed home sick from school, we would watch reruns of The Galloping Gourmet. Thanks to host Graham Kerr, I was probably one of the few Missouri elementary students who could clarify butter. Beyond the
screen, I knew nobody with kitchen skills like Kerr, who could chop, dice, and flambé his way through a dish, with a knife in one hand and a wine glass in the other. But as I watched Kerr tear through celery and deadpan jokes, I would eat my Mom’s potato soup. And even though it was actually just cubed potatoes in warm milk with a little onion, butter, salt, and pepper and prepared without wine glass in hand, the soup always tasted good and helped me feel better. Now, when I sit down with my mother for a meal, she is happy to let me do the cooking. Our agreement is I cook, she cleans. She will even get on my case if I try to help with some scrubbing or washing. But there will always be dishes, such as blackberry cobbler, that Mom cooks best. In my family, cobbler was always made with a double pie crust and in a rectangular baking dish. It wasn’t until I left home in my late teens that I learned cobbler can come in different styles. Some are cakelike with berries scattered throughout. Others have a dough mixture spooned over the top. Those other recipes sound easier, but to me it doesn’t taste like real cobbler without the crusts. I know it might seems strange to have such definite standards from chefs who always said they don’t like to cook … but I know the taste of mother’s cobbler and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
Blackberry Cobbler Ingredients for crust 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes 1/2 cup shortening, cut into cubes 1/3 cup ice-cold water
Instructions 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the flour and salt in a large bowl or a food processor. Cut in the butter and shortening, or pulse with the food processor, until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Mix in just enough water to form the dough into a ball. Divide the dough in half and flatten into rectangles. 2. Roll out half of the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Place into a 7-x 11-inch baking dish, and then put into the refrigerator while you make the filling. 3. Mix together the blackberries, sugar, tapioca, lemon juice and salt in a large bowl. Pour the mixture into the baking dish. 4. Roll out the top crust the same way you did the bottom crust. Place on top of the blackberry mixture and crimp together the top and bottom crust edges. Make slits in the top crust to allow the steam to escape. Place in the freezer for 5 minutes to chill.
Ingredients for filling 12 cups fresh or frozen blackberries 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/3 cup instant tapioca Juice of 1 lemon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 egg 1 tablespoon water Sugar
5. Beat together the egg and water to make an egg wash. Remove the cobbler from the freezer and brush the top of crust with the egg wash. Sprinkle with a little sugar. 6. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice is bubbling from the slits. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or a little milk on top. About the Writer: Linda A. Ditch is a Topeka-based writer and writing workshop leader who specializes in culinary stories.
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WHAT’S HAPPENING
JUNE JUNE FEATURED EVENT
Sunflower Music Festival June 22–30
Launching its 31st year of programs, the Sunflower Music Festival continues a tradition of youth education and performance programs combined with jazz and classical concerts provided by some of the best local artists as well as visiting musicians and conductors. This year’s program includes a June 25 appearance by KC-based jazz pianist Joe Cartwright and his quintet as well as a violin-harp performance by guest violinist and conductor Andrés Cárdenes (with Rita Costanzi). In addition to the concerts, the festival hosts a week-long institute for high school and collegiate musicians, offering intense instruction and performance opportunities with the Blanche Bryden Foundation covering the cost of the program. The collegiate institute musicians provide a concert on June 28. All performances for the festival are free and open to the public and held at the White Concert Hall on the campus of Washburn University. For more information on the institute or on this year’s performance schedule, go online at sunflowermusicfestival.com.
June 9
Brew at the Zoo The Zoo’s 7th-annual fundraiser pairs up artisan tap beer with closed event tours and special sea lion show. For more information and ticket reservations, go online at topekazoo.org.
June 9
Heartland Military Day A celebration honoring the 50th anniversary of the mobilization of the 69th Infantry Brigade, the 184th Tactical Fighter Group and the 995th Ordnance Company of the Kansas National Guard with pancake feed, band concert, WW II battle reenactment and more at the Topeka Regional Airport grounds. For more information, go online at kansasguardmuseum.com.
June 13
Garden Bros Circus Kansas Expocentre hosts performance featuring an elephant show, motorcycle acrobatics and more. For more information, go online at gardenbroscircus.com or ksexpo. com.
June 13
Family Spelling Bee
Book Reading and Havdalah Service Former Kansas Poet Laureate Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg reads from her latest novel, Miriam’s Well, and leads a discussion on the Jewish concept of Midrash. Co-sponsored by Temple Beth Shalom and the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. For more information, go online at tscpl.org.
June 23
Tap That Topeka Downtown’s 6th annual block party to celebrate local and artisan brews. Special discount tickets available for designated drivers. For ticket reservations and more information, go online at visittopeka.com.
June 28
Civil War and Genealogy Carl Graves shares advice on how genealogists of all levels can incorporate Civil War history and information into researching their family genealogy. A free and open event hosted by the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. For more information or reservations, go online at tscpl.org.
Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library holds competition for family/friend groups of 5-8 people with an emphasis on spelling music-themed words. For registration and more information, go online at tscpl. org/register.
June 30
June 15–July 1
June 30
Disenchanted
An adult-humor musical comedy about rogue princesses that had a short Broadway run from 2014–2015 takes stage in Topeka with 10 female leads and equal amounts of royal sass. For tickets and more information, go online at topekacivictheatre.com.
Photo courtesy, from top, Library of Congress, Topeka Zoological Park and Lawrence Magazine.
June 23
Midwest Pro Mod Series and Pro Diesel Nationals Heartland Motorsports Park hosts one of the region’s premier drag race events. For more information, go online at heartlandpark.com.
Rotary Freedom Festival All-day event including parade from Brown v Board of Education National Historic Site to Constitution Hall, children’s activities, a beer garden and a 9 pm concert by Kansas blues legend Kelley Hunt. For more information, go online at visittopeka.com.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
JULY JULY FEATURED EVENT
Fiesta Mexicana July 10–14
We’re biased, but this is arguably the Midwest’s most successful and best celebration of MexicanAmerican heritage with a week of events including religious services, a parade, a race, dancing, music, food vendors and carnival rides. And the best part—the entire celebration is a volunteer-powered fundraiser to benefit educational scholarships and needs at Holy Family School, the Catholic elementary institution serving the parishes of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Sacred Heart-St. Joseph. The 2018 events began as early as late April and continue until July 1 as Fiesta Royalty candidates compete through tamale sales to raise money for the festival. A 5K run and parade through the Oakland neighborhood are held in the days before the official opening, marked by a Holy Mass service. From that point, the fiesta becomes a daily celebration of two-stages of free musical concerts, food vendors and a nightly carnival plaza. For a full lineup of confirmed musical performances and a schedule of daily activities (as well as times and locations for buying the pre-fiesta tamales), go online at olgfiestamexicana.org.
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July 4
July 20–August 5
This annual Lake Shawnee celebration of blues music, barbeque and fireworks is the city’s largest public Independence Day celebration. Music and food vendors begin at noon and continue until the nighttime fireworks display ends. For more information, go online at topekabluessociety.org.
Murder is the bill of fare and you’ll see motives everywhere in this off-Broadway production that emerged in 1997 but continues to be a favorite for its interactive audience participation in solving a crime with a variety of possible solutions (but all of which include some memorable musical numbers). For tickets and more information, go online at topekacivictheatre.com.
Spirit of Kansas Blues Festival
July 6
First Friday Art Walk Galleries, art studios and other venues across the city open for art displays, demonstrations and special events. The Art Walk is held on the first Friday of this and every month. For a full list of venues, times and special shows, go online at artsconnecttopeka.org.
July 7
Clue: The Musical
July 25–29
Shawnee County Fair Kansas native and country musician Rusty Rierson headlines the fair with a free concert on July 27 while 4-H demonstrations and competitions, along with carnival rides fill the week. For more information, go online at shawneecountyfair.org.
Sunshine Reggae Roots Festival
July 26–August 1
Josh Heinrichs headlines a list of musical groups playing from 5–10 pm in Downtown Topeka; tickets sold in advance and on festival day, with children 10 years and younger admitted free. For more information, go online to the Sunshine Reggae Roots Festival page on Facebook.
Chisholm Trail Exhibit The Kansas Museum of History hosts a special traveling exhibition on the legends and reality of the Chisholm Trail that brought cattle from Texas to Kansas (and for some years through to Nebraska). For more information, go online at kshs.org/museum.
July 8
July 28
Topeka West High and KU grad returns to Kansas for a free opera performance at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library as part of the Music for a Sunday Afternoon Series. For more information, go online at tscpl.org.
Kansas Ballet teams with professional dancers to present Prokofiev’s classic with dinner and dessert service at the Topeka Performing Arts Center. For ticket reservations and more information, go online at kansasballet.com.
July 13–29
July 28
Top amateur athletes from across Kansas gather in Topeka to compete in events including archery, dodgeball, clay shooting and weightlifting at locations across the city. For full schedule, go online at sunflowergames.com.
ZZ Top tribute band, ZZ-KC, headlines downtown concert with more than 15 food trucks. Open and free to the public from 3:30–9:30 pm. For more information, go online at visittopeka.com.
Lillian Sengpiehl Concert
Sunflower Games
Photos courtesy, from left, Shutterstock (2) and ZZ-KC.
Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
Peter and the Wolf
Rock and Food Truck Festival
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WHAT’S HAPPENING
TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2018
AUGUST AUGUST FEATURED EVENT
Lois VanLiew Show
NOTO-based Studio 831 opens the August 3 Art Walk with a two-month showing of recent work by Topeka painter Lois VanLiew. Trained at the University of Kansas by Kansas landscape legend Robert Sudlow and others, VanLiew continued painting as she moved to Texas and Wisconsin and became known for largescale paintings. For the past 14 years, VanLiew has worked from Topeka where she continues to blend mystical visions with landscapes, more frequently now the Kansas prairie. “The challenge is to capture the amazing renaissance light, to convey the prairie’s many moods, intense colors and everchanging sense of motion from the wind,” VanLiew told our magazine in 2015. “The more I do the prairie, the more I find it lends itself to impressionism.” This showing of VanLiew’s latest work will show her latest takes on the prairie, and how the land both grounds and frees the artist in creating her vision.
August 3
Grape Escape Topeka Performing Arts Center holds its annual fundraising festival of wine and expands this year with a beer garden and bourbon-sampling areas. The evening concludes with a live auction of wine-themed packages and more. For ticket reservations and more information, go online at topekaperformingarts.org.
Photos courtesy Bill Stephens.
August 4
August 18
If you haven’t been dropping by the Saturday Downtown Farmers’ Market yet, this Saturday (and the following Saturdays in August) is your chance to catch the end of the summer growing season and the beginning of the fall harvest with items from dozens of local and regional growers. For a full listing of vendors and in-season updates, go online at downtowntopekafarmersmarket. com.
Topeka Civic Theatre’s resident old-time radio revival troupe presents an onstage, live performance of popular radio melodramas from the 1930s–1950s. For ticket reservations and more information, go online at topekacivictheatre.com.
Downtown Farmers’ Market
August 5
Motorcycle Racing Course Champion motorcycle racer Hector St. John leads novice, intermediate and advanced motorcycle racing clinics at Topeka’s Heartland Park road course. For additional class dates, more information and reservations, go online at heartlandpark.com.
August 5
Omaha Street Percussion Begun as a fund-raising busker act, this collection of percussionists playing on trash can lids, piping, paint buckets and other salvage material has emerged as a regional touring band with a signature sound equally wacky and catchy. Catch their free performance at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. For show times and more information, go online at tscpl.org.
August 7
State Primaries Official party primary elections throughout the state of Kansas. For information on voting registration, locations and more, go online at snco.us/election.
WTCT Radio Players
August 18
Topeka Highland Games Swagger out in that kilt of yours and get ready to toss some rocks and logs—it’s Topeka’s annual festival of Highland culture and competitions of raw-strength and grit. For more information, look for “Topeka Classic Highland Games” on Facebook.
ugust 23-25 Team Roping
Kansas Expocentre hosts the Midwest regional finals for the United States Team Roping competitions. For ticket reservations and more information, go online at ksexpo.com.
August 26
Topeka Jazz Workshop Band Going strong since 1961, Topeka’s hometown big band of jazz provides a free afternoon concert inside the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. For more information, go online at tscpl.org or tjwband.com.
August 26
Balloon Crew Training Learn how to assist with a hot air balloon launch and recovery ahead of the city’s annual Huff ’n’ Puff hot air balloon rally. This is hands-on instruction that leads to actual launch-day crewing. For more information, go online at huff-npuff.org.
Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
FEATURES 32 40
Flight Club
The Kid who Grew Up with All the Challenges
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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2018
he eight pigeons in the small carrier poke their beaks through the bars of their plastic and metal cage as they wait for their release. These are “old birds,” meaning they were hatched in 2017 or earlier and will soon be entered in competition. But their trainer, Mike Beam, has another word for them—athletes. “They need to get their wings stronger before the race season begins,” Beam says. “They will probably fly around an hour or two before they return.” With a quick motion, Beam drops the side door to the cage and dips his hand through the structure’s top bars to shoo his birds into the sky, though they hardly need the encouragement. They were anticipating this moment and burst out in a ball of feathers and wings. Almost immediately, they separate into distinct flight routes, circling overhead and then disappearing over Beam’s home and into the sky. This is one of the last pre-season flights for the birds who compete in the Topeka Racing Pigeon Club (TRPC). Their competitions begin each year on the third Saturday of April and end the last Saturday in June. “By then it’s getting warm and they need a break,” notes Beam, who serves as the club’s president. He also explains that these “old bird” races range from 150 miles to 600 miles in length with most of the Topeka Club members entering races starting from towns in Oklahoma and Texas. Once the old birds finish with their season, the young birds—those hatched in 2018—will begin their race season on the third Saturday in August and continue into late October. The young birds will compete at slighter shorter distances, 150– 300 miles. Like the old birds, they are put into a cage with other birds from their flock, loaded onto a truck that will carry several cages from all the racing teams and then driven to their release point, usually Oklahoma or Texas. Birds are released early on Saturday morning for the flight back to their home coops. Most birds fly around 40 miles per hour and will arrive home late Saturday. The release team records the moment that they release each cage of birds and an automatic scanner in each flock’s home coop will record their return. The winner is the bird with the best time in yards per minute. “The speed often depends on the wind,” says John Markham, a Junction City High School teacher and club member. “A 20-mph tail wind will get the birds home early.” Both Beam and Markham stress that the key to good racing is having extremely healthy birds. Usually that health is the result of good feed, vitamins, minerals and antibiotics if needed. “While there are special pigeon foods, a whole grain mixture of barley, milo and wheat is fed after the racing season,” Beam says. “During racing season they need a lot of fat and protein such as corn, safflower and peas or peanuts.” Of course, breeding and training are also important in developing a champion race pigeon.
TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2018
Taking up Pigeon Racing Topeka Racing Pigeon Club members Mike Beam and John Markham both enjoy their sport but caution those interested in joining that caring for competitive pigeons—and doing it well—is not cheap. Weaned youngsters ready to race can cost $75 to $125 while good breeders can range from $100 to $10,000. Of course, if you do not plan on taking home winnings or recovering your race entry costs with payout money, then you can raise and race flocks that might not hold champion pedigrees. And veteran racers have been known to help out new members. “Some of my best birds were given to me by older, established breeders,” Beam says. But there are additional costs and considerations beyond the costs of pigeons and their care. The birds must be housed in a loft that provides shelter and space. The American Racing Pigeon Union provides guidelines for size, ventilation capacity and sanitation standards, among other things. Markham suggests another factor is crucial to consider—the people around you. “You need space for a loft and tolerant neighbors,” Markham says. “It might be hard for someone living in the center of town to get into it.” Beam, who has a small loft in his west Topeka back yard, notes that his neighbors often say they like to sit on their patios and watch his birds fly. For anyone considering pigeon racing, that might be the best first step of all—to simply watch the birds at a race and ask question of their experienced trainers. One of the best opportunities for this will be when Topeka hosts the Midwest National Classic Old Bird Race. In past years more than 3,000 birds from all over the country have taken part in this race. This year’s race is scheduled for June 30 with a release point at the south end of the Expocentre parking lot (the starting time will be determined closer to the race). For more information, go online at midwesthpa.com and look for details for the “Liberation 2018” or “Midwest National Classic Old Bird Race.”
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Both Beam and Markham raise their own birds, a process that begins— appropriately enough, around Valentine’s Day—by pairing up pigeons whose combined traits will make a strong brood of racers. A successful breeding will result in the female laying two eggs about 10 days after mating, followed by an incubation period of about 17 days with both cock and hen sitting on the eggs. The pairs will mate and produce eggs several times before breeding season is over, usually in early June. “The birds mate for life unless something happens to one of them,” Beam says, adding that old birds race better if they have eggs or a mate at home while young birds will race for food. Food is usually the incentive for young birds to return, but they have been prepared long before their first flight. A first-year racer is banded as early as 7–11 days after hatching. “If they’re banded too early, the bands can fall off,” Markham says. “If too late, it may be impossible to get the bands on.” This band contains the bird’s individual number and the club the owner is associated with. For TRPC members, the bands include the “TOP” letters. In some cases, a “futurity band” is placed on a bird to reserve its possibility of entering a particular competitive race in the future. The band remains on for the life of the bird. Regardless of what bands it wears, at about 30 days, the young pigeons— known as “squabs”—will develop feathers and an instinct to fly. “They will eventually start circling the loft to get the lay of the land,” Markham says. “They can see for miles up there. They will later begin to disappear for an hour or two or longer.” That’s when it is time to get them away from home, Markham says, noting that he first takes his youngsters to a location one mile from the house and turns them loose. If everyone comes back, he’ll next take them to a location about five miles from his house. Hopefully, before race season begins, he will have been able to take them 100 miles from home. However, he notes that not all of them will make it back. “They can hit wires and there are hawks,” Markham says. “Cooper hawks won’t catch pigeons flying 40 miles an hour, but they can ambush them. Falcons can be a problem.” Knowing that the birds face real and fatal challenges along the route can discourage some from sending them into competition. While neither Beam nor Markham names his birds as a rule, Markham is quick to say that it’s easy to get attached to some of them, and Beam says he has named a few that raced well or had an interesting personality. And fortunately, on this particular day, on this particular flight, all of the pigeons are returning to their loft. Soon all eight of the racers have found their way home and are busy feeding. They will be released again later in the day. After all, race season is just about to begin.
Mike Beam, president of the Topeka Pigeon Racing Club, releases two of his birds for flight.
Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
Topeka’s Pigeon Racing History The sport of pigeon racing is commonly traced to back to an 1818 competition held in Belgium that sparked other races in Europe and then the United States. Topeka’s first racing club is believed to have formed in the 1940s before disbanding and then reemerging as a charter club with the American Racing Pigeon Union. “During the early years of the club, members would gather their birds and box them up in used waxed cardboard boxes, which were available at grocery stores for no cost,” says Beam. At that time, club member Bob Evertson would cut holes in the boxes for air as well as to feed and water the birds. Once the birds were in the boxes, they would be taken to Forbes Airport. The owners would pay 50 cents per bird to have them flown on a Frontier Airlines flight to destinations such as Ponca City, Oklahoma City, Dallas-Ft. Worth and Waco. There, they would be greeted by local pigeon racers who would take the birds home, feed them, water them and release them to fly back to Topeka once the skies were clear. This is basically the same procedure that is followed by the club to this day, except that the birds are hauled by truck in permanent cages—though at a range of costs much higher than 50 cents per bird. Anyone interested in joining the Topeka Racing Pigeon Club (TRPC) can call 785.228.2324.
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Analysis of a Champion
What makes a pigeon a champion racer? Each trainer has a different take on what separates a flyer from a first-place finisher, so we asked Topeka Racing Pigeon Club member John Markham for his take on sizing up a winner.
TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2018
EYES: PLUMAGE: HEART: SHOULDER: BREAST: WINGS:
HOMING:
PEDIGREE:
There is a school of thought that the eye, or “eye sign,” is the most important characteristic of a great flyer. Others believe the eye is simply what the pigeon uses to see. Feather quality is extremely important—it is what propels a bird. Worn out, damaged feathers will hinder a bird’s success in flights and races. I will regularly bathe the birds (well, provide bathwater; they bathe themselves) in order to try help them maintain good feather quality. The desire to come home can be the single most important attribute in a bird, and it is the one thing you can’t tell from looking at them. I’ve had birds fly through injuries and dangers—nothing can compare to the inner drive to do that. I like to race birds with wide (but proportional) shoulders that taper into a narrow structure. This aerodynamic shape is one of the big differences between racing pigeons and feral pigeons. Different trainers will have different preferences but I choose racers with muscular, but not hard breasts. This can be one of the most important flying muscles and determines how well a bird can race. Some trainers will say that flight feathers on the wing will determine if the pigeon is a long-distance or short-distance racer. I tend to look for birds that are in-between. The structure of the wing is important. A sprint or short-distance bird might have a broader feather quality, very little gaps in between the feathers, and generally a very “solid” wing that is great at pushing air and causing the bird to accelerate. The problem is that this bird will have to use more energy to move a wing over the course of time. Consequently, a long distance bird may have a less solid wing and feather coverage, and move less air, but can still fly longer distances because of the lesser amount of energy that the bird requires to move its wing. Personally, I like a little of both in a bird. We still don’t know exactly how pigeons operate with their internal GPS. Many factors are involved, including weather, magnetic fields and the sun. This is the single most important part of a pigeon’s ability and performance. The only way we have to truly assess this instinct is to send the birds on races and training tosses and wait for them to come back. In doing this, we keep record of those performances and, to an extent, their pedigree. A pigeon’s pedigree is only as reliable as the person making it, but if you trust the person making the pedigree and thus trust the pedigree then you at least know what performance record that particular family of pigeons has. You want to maintain champion bloodlines because certain families and breeds are known for certain things and you can develop a breeding program based on what you know and what you want to get out of your pigeon. For example, some bird families excel at shorter distances, some at longer distances. Some don’t perform well in humid climates and some don’t do well in mountainous terrains. Trainers will breed for the distances and locations they will choose for their birds to fly. But, as they say, pedigrees don’t fly, pigeons do.
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The
K id who Grew Up
All the Challenges with
Michelle De La Isla puts her work as the city’s top politician in the perspective of a lifelong motivation to create better spaces and more opportunity STORY BY JEFFREY ANN GOUDIE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICK KRUG
Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
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Topeka Mayor Michelle De La Isla laughs with her daughters, Cristina (center) and Lorraine (right). Photo location courtesy The Historic Dillon House.
Summer 2018 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE
T
he day after 42-year-old Michelle De La Isla was elected Topeka’s first Latina as well as first single-mother mayor, she got a surprising call. “We were so engrossed in the race that when the next morning, the New York Times called, and they’re trying to interview me, I’m sitting there going, why is the New York Times interested in this?” she laughs. “A Hispanic woman won the mayor’s race in Topeka, Kan.,” announced the Times in its November 8, 2017, article about national election results that also saw the mayoral victory of a Liberian refugee in Helena, Montana, as well as two women becoming the first Latina delegates in the Virginia legislature. Two days later, satirist Bill Maher pointed to De La Isla’s victory in the opening monologue for his HBO show Real Time. Both of the national news sources placed De La Isla’s victory in the context of an election where Democrats beat Republicans, and a cast of ethnically and culturally diverse candidates took wins in unexpected places. De La Isla says she now understands some of the national fascination with her election and has had “moments and glimpses” that have provided insight into her victory’s symbolic power. But despite what national pundits have read into the race, De La Isla’s win came in a nonpartisan contest that could be seen as equally—if not more so—the result of a compelling personal story. That’s the takeaway for Leo Espinoza, a college and career counselor at Topeka High School who volunteered in De La Isla’s campaign last year. He thinks what distinguishes De La Isla from a lot of leaders is the “uniqueness of her own past,” and the difficulties she overcame to get where she is. De La Isla was born at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. When she was a preschooler, her mother fled for safety from her father and relocated in Puerto Rico to live with De La Isla’s grandparents. Raised in Bayamon, outside of San Juan, De La Isla left home at 17, found herself pregnant at 19, and a new mother at 20. A year later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After recovery and with encouragement from her priest, she explored going to college on the mainland. Wichita State University offered financial support and vocational training, so De La Isla arrived with $2,000 and her young son. She graduated with a degree in biology and began teaching Spanish and biology for Upward Bound, a support program for lowincome and first-generation college students. She then took a job in the university’s Office of International Education, where she met and married the man who would become the father of her two daughters. When he took a job at a retail outlet, the family moved to Topeka. In the capital city, councilwoman Karen Hiller, then executive director of Housing and Credit Counseling, Inc., hired the young De La Isla as director of operations, and De La Isla applied the financial literacy skills she was learning in her job to her volunteer work with MANA, the Latina women’s organization. She also used those skills several years later when, with help from the YWCA, she left her abusive marriage. “I’ve been very public about the fact that there was some domestic battery happening in my life,” she says. “So, I was living a double life because here I was trying to help people with their budgets, and I was drowning in mine. … Trying to keep up with the house and the kids, and here I am teaching women to have hope and to budget because it works in the long run. Which, in the end, I did what I believe in. It did work.” After five years at Housing and Credit Counseling, De La Isla became executive director of Topeka Habitat for Humanity. With the help of volunteers—De La Isla specifically mentions the energy brought by Don Snethen—the organization opened an office and the ReStore, a shop that sells donated construction materials at a discount to the public. Even before she started her present job as Diversity and Inclusion Representative for Westar Energy, on Kansas Avenue, she was a big fan of Topeka’s downtown. She says she would bring her kids there to look at the buildings, which she found “charming and quaint,” particularly at dusk. “There’s a time of the day where the sun hits the buildings and the roads get pink,” she says. Soon, De La Isla became affiliated with people promoting downtown revitalization. They took her under their wing because they had heard of the work she was doing with MANA de Topeka’s Hermanitas mentorship initiatives and were eager to gain perspectives from younger Topekans. De La Isla started attending city council meetings and invited one of her young
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program participants to testify at a meeting about improving downtown. That student took it upon herself to survey 100 of her classmates at Shawnee Heights High School. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that of those 100, 73 thought the capital was “boring,” and needed “a lot of interesting stuff” to enhance the downtown. The council voted that night to approve the initial $5 million to start downtown revitalization. De La Isla says that moment was so significant that she decided she wanted to be mayor. Her neighbor Larry Wolgast, however, was making a bid for mayor, so she instead ran for his open city council seat, won it and served for four years before launching her mayoral campaign when Wolgast decided not to seek a second term. The single mother is juggling the mayor’s responsibilities along with her full-time job at Westar Energy. She notes that the past two mayors were retired, thus having fewer working-hour duties outside city hall. But De La Isla has a calculus that allows her to meet her obligations. Her days start early, with evenings often including events and ribbon-cuttings, and her weekends are “very heavy with the city.” De La Isla has an infectious enthusiasm for the city. “There’s some magic happening in this community right now,” she says. She has high praise for the city manager, the county partners as well as the city’s plan, Momentum 2022, to address economic inequality and quality-of-life issues in the city. Kim Morse, a history professor at Washburn who started working with De La Isla through MANA de Topeka and the Hermanitas conferences, says that De La Isla is “completely passionate about Topeka and dedicated to Topeka. But she does it in an extremely thoughtful way—inside-out and bottom-up— and then she makes an educated response.” Espinoza says De La Isla “loves Topeka and wants people to know Topeka loves them back.” For her part, De La Isla says she likes to tell people that it was only in Topeka where she fulfilled her dreams and became who she wanted to be. But, she will also add, “I never lose sight that I am still the kid who grew up with all the challenges.”
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