Topeka Magazine | Summer 2022 by Sunflower Publishing

SU M M ER 20 22

PLUS The first edition of ily Topeka Fam Magazine

From

Mangonadas

to Funnel Fries SUMMER TOP TIER FOOD SELECTIONS

also in this issue GUIDE TO SUMMER EVENTS ACROSS THE U.S. WITH A HAM RADIO BE A FISH WIZARD! RESTORING AUTHENTIC LIMESTONE FENCES

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

FROM THE EDITOR SUMMER 2022 | VOLUME 16, NO. 3

Editor Nathan Pettengill Art Director/Designer Alex Tatro Copy Editor Leslie Andres Advertising Representative Angie Taylor ataylor@sunflowerpub.com (785) 832-7236 Photographers Bill Stephens Nick Krug Writers Jordan Brooks Susan Kraus Evan McHenry Bill Stephens Artist and writer Jordan Brooks sketches out some highlights of his culinary tour of East Sixth Street.

WELCOME TO THE SUMMER ISSUE OF TOPEKA MAGAZINE. This year, we’ve introduced our Topeka Top Tier series, editorial selections of some of the highlights of the city. For this first year, we’re focusing exclusively on cuisine—bringing attention to what we believe are some of the city’s best dishes and drinks. Our search for summer selections began with an idea from artist and writer Jordan Brooks to focus on local cafés, food trucks and eateries along East Sixth Street, a region he describes as a vibrant thread of modern Americana-fusion cuisine. Let us know what you think of the selections and which ones among your favorites that we missed—we’re always willing to go back for another dish! In addition to other stories and an overview of summer event selections, this edition also includes a 16-page insert, introducing our new magazine that we are launching in partnership with trusted sponsors. We plan for Topeka Family Magazine to focus on resources, ideas and insights for those raising kids in the capital city. We’ll bring regular features such as overviews of extracurricular and recreational activities, interviews with award-winning teachers and more—all done with the same commitment to providing authentic stories that reflect the people and spirit of Topeka. Thanks for taking some time from your summer to read through our pages. We look forward to rejoining you for our fall edition that will be released in September. Until then, we hope to see you around the city! — NAT H A N P E T T E N G I L L , E D I T O R

On the Cover

SUMMER 2022

PLUS The first edition of Topeka Family Magazine

From

Mangonadas

to Funnel Fries SUMMER TOP TIER FOOD SELECTIONS

also in this issue GUIDE TO SUMMER EVENTS ACROSS THE U.S. WITH A HAM RADIO BE A FISH WIZARD! RESTORING AUTHENTIC LIMESTONE FENCES

A mangonada from Casserolle is one of our summer selections for the Topeka Top Tier award. Photograph by Bill Stephens.

Subscriptions $27 for a one-year subscription; email topekamagazine@sunflowerpub.com 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. Director: Bob Cucciniello Publisher: Bill Uhler Ogden Publications 1503 SW 42nd St Topeka, KS 66609

sunflowerpub.com topekamag.com

CONNECTING AUDIENCES SUPPORTING ARTISTS BUILDING A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR THE ARTS IN TOPEKA

Cities that integrate art, design and culture while investing in infrastructure and amenities gain the distinction and competitive advantage required for recruitment in the workforce and business development.

JOIN US. TOPARTS GRANTEES: www.artstopeka.org/donate

ARTS PARTICIPATION UNITES GENERATIONS AND EMPOWERS CITIZENS.

Congratulations to this year's TopArts Grantees. American Regional Theatre Society, Inc. College Hill Neighborhood Assoc. Dane Shobe, Artist Family Service & Guidance Ctr Jay Shideler Elementary School Kansas Ballet Co. Kansas Book Festival Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey (KCFAA) Kansas Percussive Arts Society KODA Project Lighthouse TCO Foundation Monette Mark, Artist NOTO Alley Mural

NOTO Arts & Entertainment District On Stage Live Phyll Klima, Artist Shawnee County Health Dept. Sunflower Music Festival Sunrise Theatre Company Topeka Art Guild Topeka Blues Society Topeka LULAC Topeka Performing Arts Center Topeka Symphony Society Valeo Behavioral Health Care Washburn University Music Dept.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

WHAT’S INSIDE

D E PA R T M E N T S 10 T H E C O U N T Y C O L L E C T O R For Ed Eklin, all the counties in the United States are just a frequency away

THEY CALL THEM ‘FISH WIZARDS’

At annual event, a group of biologists invite the public to appreciate the perhaps surprising beauty and complexity of the native fish population

M A K E I T B R O O K LY N

Craving big city excitement after months of staying home? Here’s our US-travel destination recommendation for the coming season.

W H AT ’S H A P P E N I N G 17 S U M M E R E VE N T S F E AT U R E S 21 R E B U I L D I N G T H E O L D WA L L Traditional craft methods—and a lot of heavy lifting—bring back a historic limestone structure

TOP TIER SELECTIONS FROM EAST 6TH

The summer installment of our Topeka Top Tier awards brings us on a tour of one of the city’s most vibrant local-restaurant districts

T O P E K A FA M I LY 04 C L A S S R O O M W I S D O M

A conversation with Hayley Smith about teaching history (painful aspects and all) to middle-school students

A PA R E N T ' S G U I D E TO SOCCER

Topeka soccer leagues are trending toward younger enrollments, with more opportunities for competitive play in the teen years

TING!

This is a story about conversations between two friends that led to the continuation of a remarkable creative partnership to create a new children’s book inspired by the fascinating life of a quirky cat … but the cat doesn’t care about any of that

TOPEKA TALK TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

Topeka Top Tier

You say goodbye,

This edition continues our Topeka Top Tier series dedicated to honoring exemplary dishes, items, achievements, performances and more. For 2022, we’re focusing on food and drink selections throughout the city, having already selected Topeka’s best BBQ side dishes and best bitter beers, we’re now turning to some of the best dishes found along East Sixth Street. As always with Topeka Magazine, our writers and staff contributors make their editorial selections without any commercial relationships or sponsorships affecting their

Great Plains Journalism Awards

choices. That does not mean that all of our choices are perfect or that we believe our tastes should be the standard for everyone’s tastes, but it does mean that we are transparent about what we are doing, how we are doing it, and why we are presenting it. We do this out of enthusiasm for finding and acknowledging what is good in the city. Our selections for “top tier” might not be your selections in any particular category, but we hope to share a common motivation and common interest in supporting what we are grateful to see and enjoy in Topeka.

Congratulations to Topeka Magazine art director Alex Tatro, whose work from the past year won her a finalist recognition in the category of Portfolio Design at the annual Great Plains Journalism Awards. This awards ceremony seeks to honor journalists, photographers and designers from across the Midwest without any distinction between size of publications or populations of the region covered. We’re extremely proud that Tatro’s work earned such distinction in competition against publications from major metro regions in the Midwest.

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Join Us?

As our publication continues to grow, we’re looking for new contributing writers to cover and submit stories about life in Topeka. Previous writing experience is highly preferred, but expertise in a subject field is also valued. If you are interested, send an email and resume to Topeka Magazine editor Nathan Pettengill at npettengill@sunflowerpub.com.

Next Edition

The fall 2022 edition of Topeka Magazine arrives in September and includes our next installment of our Topeka Top Tier selections as well as our usual range of stories concentrating on arts, culture, people, places and spaces of the Kansas capital.

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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

TOPEKANS

The County Collector For Ed Eklin, all the counties in the United States are just a frequency away STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY

Bill Stephens

People collect all sorts of things: stamps, sports memorabilia, sneakers, vinyl albums, wine, seashells, guitars … nearly anything and everything. But for operators of ham radios—broadcast devices, often used by amateurs, assigned to specific groups of frequencies—one of the most respected collections to gather in the United States is counties—all 3,077 of them.

By outfitting specialized equipment and an antenna, Ed Eklin turns his entire vehicle into a receiving and broadcasting device for his ham radio.

Ed Eklin, a ham operator in Topeka, is one of the few who has completed this collection, not once—but seven times. For a ham operator to “collect” a county, they must first make radio contact with another ham operator in the target county by Morse code, voice, or a digital connection that is routed through a radio. Then, they must receive written confirmation from their

TOPEKANS

Summer 2022 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

Eklin is nearing his goal of broadcasting on his ham radio from all of the 3,077 counties in the United States.

County hunter hams all over the world now have a chance to work a new county

corresponding operator attesting to the call, its time and its date. “I finished working and confirming all 3,077 U.S. counties in 2006, then again using Morse code only in 2009 and 2019,” says Eklin. “In 2010, I finished working all 3,077 counties again for the fourth time, and then again in 2018. In 2020, I did it again solely on the 30-meter band. Most recently I worked all 3,077 counties on the 40-meter band.” Each of those series of 3,077 contacts (which includes the counties in Alaska and Hawaii) involved hours of work and placed Eklin in a small group of radio enthusiasts. He was the 254th ham operator to confirm contacting all counties four times, and he was only the 100th ham operator on record to contact

all the counties via Morse code. He is only the 3rd ham operator on record to contact all 3,077 counties on the 40-meter band. The distinction, known among ham radio operators as the “Worked All Counties” award, also involves extensive record keeping. Eklin must keep a written log of the call letters, dates, times, frequencies and modes of operation. And he has to enter that information through a software portal run by the Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club (MARAC), which assists him in organizing his contacts and requesting confirmations from hams he contacts. Eklin retired from General Motors and also from the State of Michigan before moving to Kansas. His call

letters are K8ZZ, issued to him by the Federal Communications Commission after he passed the government-issued tests covering electronics, proficiency in Morse code, electrical safety, and legal aspects of the hobby. He holds an amateur extra class license, the highest issued by the FCC. In Kansas, he has begun taking those skills on the road with the goal of operating his equipment and making Morse code calls from all 105 counties in Kansas. Eklin says of all types of radio communication, he enjoys Morse signals the best and can transmit and receive Morse at the rate of 30 words per minute. By bringing his signal into some of the less-populated areas of the state, he is allowing other ham operators to

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

establish contact with a county that might otherwise be difficult to reach. “Traveling to remote counties that do not have any hams allows me to operate a portable station and put that county ‘on the air’ for a brief time,” Eklin explains. “County hunter hams all over the world now have a chance to work a new county.” When he travels through Kansas, Eklin uses the equipment that he keeps set up in his customized vehicle. It looks like a regular SUV with a big whip antenna on the rear bumper; however, Eklin extensively modified the electrical grounding throughout the SUV to eliminate electrical noise from the notoriously noisy vehicle electrical system. This involved adding grounding straps from all of the door and hatch frames and securing them to the vehicle frame. Many of the cables that connect his radio equipment are additionally shielded with ferrite coils to further eliminate noise. Eklin’s mobile station includes an Elecraft KX3 radio, a Scorpion 680 motorized antenna, and—for Morse code signals—a Begali Traveler code key. A standard code key produces dots and dashes by up-down movement, but the Begali Traveler key is activated by side-to-side movement, with each side designated for either the short or the long code pattern. When he travels long distances, such as to Hawaii, to transmit and receive signals, Eklin brings his portable radio and antenna equipment and sets them up in a rental car as roams around to catch signals. He describes his trip to Hawaii a bit differently from how other tourists might: “I had a nice three-week vacation playing radio!” On trips like this, Eklin relies on a customized software written for county hunters like himself. “It overlays county boundaries on a GPS map that tracks my current location, easily letting me know when I enter one county and leave another,” Eklin explains. It’s a program essential to the newest goal he is chasing. Having broadcast to all 3,077 counties, he now wants to broadcast from each of them. “So far, I have transmitted from 3,013 unique counties and hope to visit all 3,077,” Eklin explains with enthusiasm. “In the end of June, I’m going to finish up Utah, Wyoming and Idaho to finish off 30 more counties. Over the last 20 years, I have driven over 200,000 miles to accomplish this, but who is counting?”

TOPEKANS

Geographic Factors of Ham Radio Connections The Challenge of Remote Counties Lesser populated counties far from urban centers are understandably more difficult for a ham operator to establish contact with. Fewer people means fewer ham operators, and the distance can make an area less frequently visited by a traveling ham operator. Eklin says a good example of that is Keweenew County, the least populated county in Michigan, which consists of an island and a stretch of land at the very northernmost point of the Upper Peninsula. The Equal Challenge of Urban Areas So if remote, low-population counties are difficult, then urban areas should be easy for the very opposite reasons—well populated and easily visited. Right? Well, not at all, says Eklin. “New York City or any big city is a challenge because of all the electrical activity—the grid, all the equipment running—there is so much noise to get through.” It’s an East Coast Kind of Thing “Most of my contacts will be east of the Mississippi,” says Eklin. “I’d say 80% of the county hunters live east of the Mississippi—that’s just the way it is.” Want the World to Love You? Take Your Ham Radio to Nantucket Sitting off the mainland of Massachusetts are three islands that constitute the county of Nantucket. To get there, a ham radio operator needs to take a ferry early in the morning, set up, and take a ferry back at the end of the day. With hotel and car-ferry tickets, the trip can easily cost more than 1 $ ,000—so it’s rare for a ham operator to set up there and provide other enthusiasts the chance to establish a connection. But when one does, the radio traffic is practically nonstop. “It was the busiest run of all my 3,077 counties,” says Eklin, who used a ham operator internet site to give advance notice to other ham operators that he would be operating from Nantucket. “When I go again, I will post a week before I go and a reminder the day before. I’ll post what band and what mode I’ll be running and people from all over the world will be lined up. They’ll take the day off, they’ll miss cutting the grass … anything, because you don’t get the chance to make that connection very often.”

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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

LOCALE

They Call Them ‘Fish Wizards’ At annual event, a group of biologists invite the public to appreciate the perhaps surprising beauty and complexity of the native fish population STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY

Taegan Johnson displays some fish seined from the waters during the 2022 Fish Wizards event.

Bill Stephens

LOCALE

Summer 2022 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

Now in its third year, the annual Kansas Fish Wizards Tour provides an opportunity early each summer to celebrate the native fish population by catching and releasing population fish samples and hearing about their habitat and life cycle from wildlife experts. The most recent event was held in the first week of Jue at Mill Creek in Wabaunsee County. Once guests arrived at the tributary, about twenty minutes from Alma, they were put to work catching fish in a way that did not harm the animals. Four people unrolled a ten-footsquare seine, or net, and put it in the stream. Two people held the poles attached to the seine, and two others walked 10 feet upstream to kick the rocks to encourage any lurking fish to flee into the net. After a few minutes, they pulled the seine out and took it to the bank, where the experts, the wizards, removed the fish and transferred them to small, thin aquariums, perfect for passing around for the assembled group to view. The program is scheduled at this time of year for a reason— the first part of June is the peak of the mating season for most of the species of fish found in the crystal-clear waters of the Flint Hills streams. During this two-week window, the fish take on brilliant colorings in an attempt to attract mates and deter predators—and perhaps also proving that they have a bit of their own wizardly magic.

Join the Wizards

The Fish Wizards event is organized by the nonprofits Volland Foundation and the Kansas Native Stone Scenic Byway. To find out when the 2023 event will be held, sign up on the email list at vollandstore.com.

Know Your Wizards

The 2022 fish wizards are Dr. Bill Stark, professor at Fort Hays State University; Joe Tomelleri, one of the world’s leading freshwater fish illustrators; Mike Kaminski, a fisheries biologist and adjunct professor at College of Saint Mary in Omaha; and Dr. Brian Bohnsack of Wichita State University, who assisted with the event and provided insight into fish and wildlife management.

SUM MER 202 2

From sarcastic kitty to Topeka children's book hero ... it's Ting!

A PARENT'S GUIDE TO SOCCER OPTIONS

TEACHER WISDOM WITH HAYLEY SMITH

TFM

FROM THE EDITOR

TOPEKA FAMILY | Summer 2022

SUMMER 2022 | VOLUME 1, NO. 1

Ting the cat has many thoughts in a new children's book by Glendyn Buckley and Barbara Waterman-Peters.

Welcome to our introductory issue of Topeka Family Magazine! Editor Nathan Pettengill

Our hope and plan for this new publication is to present a twice-yearly collection of stories and resources that will assist parents and those raising children in Topeka to create a better life for their youth and themselves. This goal is represented by the magazine’s mission statement: We share authentic stories to inspire and support all Topeka families and communities. We take these words to heart. By “authentic,” we promise that the ideas and themes in our magazine are selected and presented with integrity, with our understanding of what sources and experts are telling us about a topic rather than what we want you to hear in order to promote a particular product or business interest. And by “all Topeka families and communities,” we promise to seek out stories and information inclusive of race, religion, economic background, physical abilities, geographic location and more. In setting out to create this magazine, we looked for community partners who share this goal and have mission statements of community service and betterment embodied into their years of work within the community. We invited our lead sponsors, Family Service & Guidance Center and Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, to talk about their mission statements and how it affects their work in serving Topeka families. We hope you enjoy this sample of more to come, and we look forward to celebrating our city and the opportunities it provides together with you and your loved ones. To you and to your families!

Art Director/Designer Alex Tatro Copy Editor Leslie Andres Advertising Representative Angie Taylor ataylor@sunflowerpub.com (785) 832-7236 Photographers Nick Krug Bill Stephens Writers Evan McHenry

Please contact us at topekamagazine@sunflowerpub.com for all comments, subscription and editorial queries.

— NAT H A N P E T T E N G I L L , E D I T O R Topeka Family Magazine is a publication of Sunflower Publishing, a division of Ogden Publications. Director: Bob Cucciniello Publisher: Bill Uhler

On the Cover SUMMER 2022

From sarcastic kitty to Topeka children's book hero ... it's Ting!

A PARENT'S GUIDE TO SOCCER OPTIONS

TEACHER WISDOM WITH HAYLEY SMITH

The cats of the great grooming center outbreak! Illustration from book Ting & the Caterbury Tales by Glendyn Buckley and Barbara Waterman-Peters. Illustration by Barbara Waterman-Peters, photograph by Bill Stephens.

Ogden Publications 1503 SW 42nd St Topeka, KS 66609

sunflowerpub.com

FROM OUR SPONSORS

Summer 2022 | TOPEKA FAMILY

TFM

The lead sponsors of Topeka Family Magazine share what their mission statements mean to them, and how the statements guided and inspired them in responding to recent challenges Family Service & Guidance Center Mission Statement: Provide quality behavioral healthcare for children and families

Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library Mission statement: Sparking curiosity and connecting our community through literacy and learning.

Through all the uncertainty of the past two years, we at Family Service & Guidance Center learned a valuable lesson: Despite the change and chaos, our mission— to provide quality behavioral healthcare for children and families—had remained consistent. We simply changed how we carried out that mission. When COVID-19 closed our doors for several months, we didn’t stop providing services. We found new ways to provide them. Within weeks, our dedicated professionals were providing therapeutic services via telehealth. The results were very positive and promising. Some clients actually preferred talking to their therapist over the phone or via televideo rather than in person. Numerous families made tremendous strides toward improved mental health. Some parents gained a better understanding of why therapy is helpful to their child. Many parents thanked us for, literally, meeting them where they were. Our staff have seen a dramatic uptick in youth experiencing severe mental health crises as well as those with substance use disorders. That’s why FSGC is building a new Youth Crisis & Recovery Center. It’s another way we’re working to identify community needs and getting ahead of them. We’re also addressing barriers to service, like poverty, lack of transportation and homelessness. It’s all part of meeting families where they are and when they need us. This past May, for National Mental Health Month, we highlighted the importance of children’s mental health. At FSGC, we know that parenting is the hardest job in the world, and parents in our community should know they’re not alone. FSGC will continue to look for innovative ways to meet the needs of children, teens and families. We’re here for you.

The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library (TSCPL) mission statement is a guiding principle which informs everything we do for our customers. Our community uses the library for so many different reasons, to learn something new, discover your next favorite read, meet friends and family, or visit the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery, but they all share one thing—curiosity. It’s a good thing to Stay Curious, our brand tagline since October 2017. We strive to create a community culture of literacy and learning ignited by an endless supply of curiosity and is one of the attributes that lead to being named Library of the Year in 2016. Little did we know how important this would be as we all experienced a once-ina-century pandemic. We just needed to be innovative on how we lived the “connecting” part of our mission statement. Taking a cue from the food delivery industry, the library started curbside pickup of library materials and direct to door deliveries we dubbed TSCPL@Home. “Thank you for Curbside Pickup! I use it every week.” —Lauri Library programs went virtual by Zoom and YouTube playlists. Our storytellers became YouTube sensations by recording storytime for our youngest readers. Families loved the convenience of being able to “turn-on” a story whenever they needed one. “Please just give us a daily Kyler video [Musical Storytime] and the world will be a better place.”—Desmond “Loving getting to join in on Storytime on our own schedule and from home!”—Amie Staying connected during the pandemic was critical for our customers and staff, so we developed one-minute book review videos and a new “Browsing Just for You” book selection service. Perhaps you received a special, personally selected set of reading materials for your family from the library. “It’s like Christmas every time I come to get a new stack of books and movies! Love, love, love this service [Browsing for You]!”—Eric Today, we continue to look for new ways to connect with our customers and improve our products and services the way our customers want to use the library. We will Stay Curious!

—Kathy Mosher, MS, MBA CEO, Family Service & Guidance Center Gold Sponsor of Topeka Family Magazine

—Marie Pyko, CEO Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library Silver Sponsor of Topeka Family Magazine

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TOPEKA FAMILY | Summer 2022

Classroom Wisdom A conversation with Hayley Smith about teaching history (painful aspects and all) to middle-school students STORY BY Nathan Pettengill PHOTOGRAPHY BY Nick Krug

Hayley Smith, a middle school history teacher at Topeka Collegiate, was the Kansas teacher nominated by the Kansas History Day Foundation for the 2022 national Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year award, junior division. Administered by the nearly 50-yearold nonprofit National History Day, this award honors innovative and accomplished professionals who teach history to middle-school students.

Hayley Smith teaches middle school history at Topeka Collegiate.

We met with Smith during a planning period in her classroom where the walls are filled with history-themed maps, posters, and student projects. One section, dedicated to the Civil War, has a timeline of major battles, an image of Abraham Lincoln stylized as a modern election campaign poster, and a print of Tragic Prelude (John Steuart Curry’s famous image of John Brown that shows the abolitionist with outstretched arms, one hand holding a rifle and

Summer 2022 | TOPEKA FAMILY

the other a Bible). On Smith’s desk sits a coffee mug reading “History Buff,” and attached to the front of the desk, facing her students, is a bumper sticker from the nonprofit Learning for Justice (part of the Southern Poverty Law Center) that says “I have the courage to teach hard history.” The willingness to equip students to study and discuss difficult and sometimes painful aspects of history is an approach that Smith values and returns to in our discussion of contemporary education and other aspects of passing a fascination with history to the next generation. Topeka Family Magazine (TFM): What are some of your favorite lessons to teach each year? Hayley Smith (HS): Every year that I’ve taught, I’ve taught the Hacker Trail, a three-to-five-week Oregon Trail simulation. I don’t think I’ll ever not teach it because the kids love it so much. They learn about the Oregon Trail by hypothetically going through situations, for example, “your wife got bit by a rattlesnake; you need to research how to cure a rattlesnake bite based on the supplies that you have in your wagon.” It’s a lot of fun and opens their eyes as to what the people on the Oregon Trail witnessed. We also do multiple activities on identifying what is a primary source. For example, we have a crime scene investigation where they have to learn how to use primary sources and secondary sources and justify why they would use a person’s testimony or not to solve a case of a missing teacher. It’s really to help them understand what is a primary source and what is a secondary source. We start that off at the beginning of the year so that when they start their research for their History Day projects, they have a fine-tuned understanding of primary sources. We work with primary sources all year long, but it is crucial that

they understand the difference for their research for their History Day projects. TFM: What is important about the History Day project? HS: Not only are the students presenting factual information about their topic, but they are proving whether or not their topic fits the theme. This year the theme was Debate and Diplomacy: Successes, Failures and Consequences, so they had to prove whether they believe their topic was a success, failure or both and analyze and share that in a way that we wouldn’t in a classroom because it is a semester-long project. It is more than just creating a board with factual information; these students are developing their own ideas and sharing them in a way to prove their point— advancing an academic thesis. I ask the students at the beginning if their goal is to compete and go to the state or national level, or just to become an expert in their topic. Sometimes there are a few projects that might not do well competitively because they might not touch on both parts of the theme. This year, a student had a great project on the Stanford Prison Experiment, which addressed the “debate” portion but caused them to struggle on the “diplomacy” aspect. These are projects that are truly the student’s interest. They might not be topics we cover in class, like the Stanford Prison Experiment, but they allow the student to explore their interests and to think more in-depth—it is the student’s authentic argument.

TFM

TFM: What determines how you adapt and change lessons that you repeat from year to year? HS: Every year is different because there are different students in your room. It is based on the kids, on how they learn. For example, if I have students who are kinesthetic learners, meaning movement helps them, then I might do a presentation and have us look at primary sources by having the students move from station to station. If you look at the back wall, there are these posters where we learned about certain things like the Great Depression, and I can point to that and say: “Remember when we talked about that, or this is where we watched that video.” It’s strange how that association works, but it really does for some learners. It helps them jog their memory knowing that that spot is where they talked about a certain topic. TFM: What do you think is the ideal parent involvement for your students? HS: What I really rely on is parent discussion with the students. Our social studies curriculum is focused on the concept of “tough history.” We don’t want to shy away from tough subjects at the middle school level. I am honest with the kids about what goes on in history, from my knowledge. Parents are, too. Sometimes subjects such as slavery or WW I and chemical warfare might be considered tough subjects, but we don’t shy away from conversations about racial injustice or any injustice, and it’s important that parents communicate with their students. I know that every student is not going to bring every question to me, so I rely on the parents to help facilitate those conversations at home. TFM: How do those conversations connect withthe classroom? HS: It depends on the values of a family. And it starts with relationships. I try to get to know each child, the whole child—their likes, dislikes, values and

TFM

TOPEKA FAMILY | Summer 2022

their families. Some are very involved in their religious studies; others are not. It is important to gauge that. Most of our really tough conversations happen at the end of the year. We spend all year developing a space safe for students to share their thoughts, to allow students to speak their thoughts. We talk about respectfully agreeing or disagreeing. We talk about being able to feel confident enough to voice their opinion—in writing at the beginning and then outward later on—and to understand that other people might have different values and they might have a different perspective, and that is the beauty of our classroom and the beauty of the students in our classroom. TFM: What should be the benchmarks of success for a new teacher? HS: Well, for any new teacher, the first year is just about survival! And forgiveness, an understanding that not every lesson is going to be perfect. In history, I want my kids to be enthralled by the mystery, excitement and sometimes tragedy of living in a world so different from ours. But the main benchmark for every teacher is that lightbulb moment with their students—that aha! moment when you are trying to gently guide them to understanding a topic and it clicks. Every teacher looks for that moment and hopes for that moment every day, from every student.

Summer 2022 | TOPEKA FAMILY

!ziuQ poP easkdTo W pekaColgitchrHySm respondaquicklybthfwg. Best meal pick-up spot on the west side of Topeka after a hard day at school? TheBarn’NGil—thfodsg! Ideal summer break? CampingtPo[serk]dMelvernLak. Best history museum you’ve ever been to? TheUnitdSasHolcuMemorialMuseumin ashingtoD.C,weSmNlMu W seum ofAmericanHstyld. Best history museum you haven’t been to? TharIMu oldW eNatin .Inedto sumiKaCy tbenhr,adIo!liv’gc Your favorite achievement as a student? Iwonthe[xclisarp]SuB.Ay awrduingmyfeshocltEp . StaeUnivrsy

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A Parent's Guide to… Soccer Topeka soccer leagues are trending toward younger enrollments, with more opportunities for competitive play in the teen years

Evan McHenry

Shutterstock

STORY BY

In Topeka, and across the United States, youth soccer programs continue to grow, and more and more parents are enrolling their children in programs, both recreational and competitive. It’s not hard to understand why: the sport requires little in the way of equipment, it’s intuitive, it allows for many players to have equal playing time, and it’s a lot of fun. “Soccer is our most popular sport,” says Derrick Mead, the youth sports manager for Shawnee County Parks and Recreation. “It’s our only sport that we have three seasons of—spring, summer, and fall. It’s the one where I get the most kids registered, the most teams. We’ve gotten enough to get a league going with six to eight teams the last couple of years.” Shawnee County Parks and Recreation offers coed recreational league play for children up to age 14 in the fall and spring, and up to 11 in the summer. Mead notes the numbers for summer registration have risen significantly (from 154 in 2018 to 332 in 2022), likely because there are fewer other sports going on during this season. Last year, the parks and recreation program expanded play to children ages 4 and under. “Our 4 and under 3v3 league with no goalie has been really fun,” says Mead. “It’s cute and adorable with the goofy cartoon-like shirts.” At all age levels, these recreational leagues require little to no prior soccer experience, are a low time commitment, and for some children, can provide a solid foundation for a transition into more competitive club play as they get older. The opportunities to join more competitive club leagues likely explains a drop in parks and recreation league enrollment for older students. Several Topeka and regional organizations offer higher-level teams, which usually require tryouts to join, and play their games in the Heartland Soccer League in Kansas City—the largest youth soccer league in the country. For parents, having their child play competitive club

soccer can mean a larger commitment: multiple training sessions per week; higher fees for leagues, tournaments, and uniforms; and traveling to Kansas City every weekend for games. However, because of the size of the Heartland Soccer League, only teams playing at the very highest level need to travel further than Kansas City, so many families in Topeka can enjoy strong competition without an unreasonable commute. Regardless of their child’s skill level, parents have many good options when choosing youth soccer in Topeka. But as recreation officials like Mead stress, the important thing is encouraging and allowing a child to find an activity that they enjoy. “I like to see kids participate, play, and have fun with as many different opportunities as they can,” Mead says. “I’m just happy when I see kids out playing sports.”

Summer 2022 | TOPEKA FAMILY

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EVENTS | PARTIES | MEETINGS

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TOPEKA FAMILY | Summer 2022

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Summer 2022 | TOPEKA FAMILY

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This is a stor y about con versations b two friends etween that led to t he continua a remarkable tion of creative par t n a new childr ership to cre en’s book in ate spired by th fascinating e life of a quir ky cat … bu cat doesn’t c t the are about an y of that

Ting, the hero of a new children's book ... always has the last words. Artist Barbara Waterman-Peters created the original illustrations with water colors, and would then add the story text (switched out to our story introduction on this page) at a later stage.

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TOPEKA FAMILY | Summer 2022

Barbara Waterman-Peters (holding Ting) and Glendyn Buckley collaborated on their third children's book, this one about a group of cats and their renegade leader.

he door closes, and the cats are trapped. Of course, humans might not describe a group of cats being safely locked into a grooming and boarding center overnight as “trapped,” but this story doesn’t concern humans. This is a story for cats, told by them and told to them. And the host of all this storytelling—a sarcastic, haughty tabby named Ting—most definitely considers her group to be “trapped.” Ting responds by doing what any great leader would do—she breaks out her chance brood of prisoners and escorts them beyond the doors and into freedom. The only price she demands is that each cat tell a story. Thus begins Ting and the Caterbury Tales (Pen & Brush Press, 2022) by Topeka author Glendyn Buckley and Topeka artist/author Barbara Waterman-

Peters. As Ting leads her group of escapees around the city, each of them takes a turn amusing the others by sharing an anecdote from life. The stories stop only when the runaways are picked up by animal control and reunited with their owners, one by one. This is the third collaboration for Buckley and Waterman-Peters, who have also released The Fish’s Wishes (Pen & Brush Press, 2015) and Bird (Pen & Brush Press, 2017). Like their previous collaborations, this story is an illustrated children’s tale, but where Buckley did all the writing and Waterman-Peters did all the illustrations in the first two works, this book is a collaborative writing effort. And, of course, the real powerhouse behind the project is Ting, Waterman-Peters’ real-life cat who inspired this project and is at the forefront of the story’s adventure.

But that doesn’t mean she’s necessarily a hero. “Oh, Ting,” Buckley says, “Ting is an ornery cat.” “You could call Ting an antihero,” agrees Waterman-Peters in a tone that seems equally full of exasperation and affection. “She is awful in real life, and we are depicting her as she actually is. We have had her almost 8 years, and our lives have just been awful, but we’re getting along [because] we understand all of her rules: her rule that she is fed at 5:30 p.m., her rule that she will sit on our laps, but we do not reach for her under any circumstances; her rule that she will give you cat-scratch fever if you are not careful; her rule that if she wants in the bed, you better move over; her rule that if she wants out to the garage, then you better let her out or she climbs up on counters and meanders through things she shouldn’t.”

Summer 2022 | TOPEKA FAMILY

“Ting is always a source of conversation for the two of us,” Buckley explains, adding that in the course of one of their talks about Ting’s latest escapade, the two friends realized maybe they should do a book about cats, about Ting, and about all the cats whose outlandish habits or actions might impress Waterman-Peters’ strongwilled pet. Buckley, who has had numerous cats share her life, easily came up with stories and memories to fill eight of the book’s tales. She has stories about the adorable, loving cats such as Soots, who showed up on Buckley’s doorstep one day and kept returning to the home as Buckley and her husband repeatedly tried and failed to identify Soots’ owners. By the time that Soots had been regularly making his way inside the house and covered himself entirely in ashes by trying to climb

up the fireplace, he had earned his adopted name and home. And Buckley has tales about family cats, such as the one who belonged to her husband’s grandmother and managed— decades ago when people didn’t keep their vets on speed dial— to chop off a portion of its tail that was caught in the door. The grandmother attempted a home-remedy replantation of the tail involving plenty of tape and wrappings. Initially, the operation seemed a success, as the tail held when the bandages were removed. But a short time later, a visiting relative was petting the cat, and the tail fell off in his lap. So, the relative did what many of us would hope we wouldn’t do, but might end up doing when caught up in the confusion and shame of it all. “He stuffed it in his pocket and left,” says Buckley.

At least that is how the tale was passed down to her. And that’s the thing about cats, they come with tales. And when you share one, other people share their own. “I tell people these stories, and they will come back and tell me about their cat,” Buckley says. And in that way, the book of cat stories has already inspired more cat stories, where the reader or the listener becomes the narrator and the cats remain at the center of it all. In fact, it was by centering cats—by paying loving attention to them—that the project was able to move from anecdotes to paintings and an adventure. Waterman-Peters, who hand-drew and then completed by watercolor all 60-some illustrations for the book, says that the project forced her to more closely examine cats in general, and Ting in particular. “I wanted the paintings to not be cartoonish, but realistic all through,”

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TOPEKA FAMILY | Summer 2022 As the story Ting & the Caterbury Tales comes to an end, the wayward cats are reunited with their people and readers are left with new cat adventures to share.

says Waterman-Peters. “So, I studied drawings of cats, their anatomy, their expressions and their emotions. And I took countless photographs of Ting. She tolerates me, though sometimes she’ll look at me and go ‘not again?’ But she allowed me to photograph every conceivable expression on her face, the movements of her body and her tail, which meant I was able to find the appropriate poses and so forth for her and for some of the other cats as well.” This is part of the purpose of the book as children’s literature. By telling stories that children can relate to, they are encouraged to tell their own. By showing them the wonder and details of something they might encounter every day, they might develop an appreciation for the art, the beauty otherwise easily overlooked. And even imperious Ting provides a lesson, maybe even a role model. Forced into a situation where her faults become strengths, surrounded by a bunch of cats who seem

helpless without her, Ting responds with sarcasm and sass … but she watches over others, much as an older sibling might when charged to look after younger brothers or sisters. “Ting doesn’t want to be the leader, but somehow she has to be,” says Waterman-Peters. “She does take care of all these cats. She does take charge, and they do get to safety. She doesn’t let any of them run off; she keeps them all safe. So, she’s had this responsibility but at the end of the day, she’s only a cat.” But being only a cat, Ting might point out, is what the book is all about. “Cats are their own person,” notes Buckley. “They have their soul and they know a lot more than we give them credit for.” Ting & the Caterbury Tales will be available this summer at Studio 831 in NOTO, open 4-7 p.m. or by appointment (785.224.5728).

A ONCE UPON A TIME THAT NEVER ENDS Watch school readiness skills almost magically unfold and experience the delight of sharing stories with your child.

INQUIRE WITHIN

WHAT’S HAPPENING

JUNE FEATURED EVENT

Topeka: Dino Days Through June 30

Kansas Children’s Discovery Center, Great Overland Station, Topeka Zoo, and Downtown Topeka host a range of educational, sciencebased and entertaining dinosaur exhibitions designed to appeal to young minds. The Stormont Vail Events Center hosts the interactive Jurassic Quest June 24–26; the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center hosts numerous exhibits and special events, including Dino Dance parties; Downtown Topeka hosts the Topeka Dino Days Base Camp to get all your dino info and see an Allosaurus and calf replica fossil; Topeka Zoo hosts an immersive, animatronic exhibit with more special events and activities throughout the city. topekadinodays.com

June–July 23 Edge of Reality

Guest teen curators Alexandra Poling and Sydney Laster present a collection of surreal and dreamlike works from the permanent collection of the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. tscpl.org/gallery

June–July 23 Refugees

American photo journalist Peter Turnley chronicles the life and hardships of modern refugees and refugee populations across the globe. mulvaneartmuseum.org

June–August 21

Oceans of Possibilities Art Exhibit for Children The Alice C. Sabatini Gallery of the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library hosts this kidfriendly exhibition chronicling life in the ocean and the impact of human activity on oceanic ecology. tscpl.org/gallery

June 24

Nim’s Island Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library shows the 2008 familyfriendly show about a young girl who gathers her courage—and the support of an iguana, a sea lion and a turtle—to brave isolation on a remote island. tscpl.org/events

June 24

Kelly Hunt Local blues legend Kelly Hunt hosts an evening of music at the history Jayhawk Theatre. jayhawktheatre.org

June 25

Capital City Crushers Topeka’s Roller Derby team hosts a four-team double-header with the Salina Sirens, the Quad City Rollers, and the Kansas City Roller Warriors at their home rink of Sk8Away. facebook.com/CapitalCityCrushers

June 26

Native Americans and the Curtis Act Lisa LaRue-Baker (Keetowah Cherokee) examines how an 1898 law named after Topeka resident and United States vice-president Charles Curtis undermined tribal sovereignty in Oklahoma. Free event sponsored by the North Topeka Historical Association at the Kansas Avenue United Methodist Church, 1029 N. Kansas. 2:30–4 p.m.

June 28 (and following Tuesdays) Team Trivia

Norsemen Brewing Company hosts free weekly Tuesday trivia competitions 6–9 pm. facebook.com/trivialzombies and norsemenbrewingco.com

Summer 2022 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

JULY FEATURED EVENT

Fiesta Mexican July 14–16

The city’s celebration of Mexican American culture, music, heritage, food and community returns after a pandemic break. 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 HeartSt. Joseph. Event organizers are still finishing details for the festival’s return, but it is likely that the festival will hold its traditional, official opening marked by a Holy Mass service. From that point, the fiesta becomes a daily celebration with food vendors, two stages of free concerts, and a nightly carnival plaza. facebook.com/ topekafiestamexicana

July 1 (and the first Friday of every month) First Friday

Galleries, studios and other venues open to the public for an evening of entertainment and art showings. artstopeka.org

July 3

Topeka High School Patriotic Concert Topeka High’s annual concert of patriotic music plays out Sunday evening at 6 p.m. on the school’s 18-note Deagan chimes. Concert is free and public is encouraged to bring lawn chairs and drinking water.

July 4

Spirit of Kansas Blues Festival The Topeka Blues Society hosts the city’s biggest all-day Fourth of July celebration at Lake Shawnee with music and activities. The day ends with a fireworks display sponsored by Capitol Federal. topekabluessociety.org

WHAT’S HAPPENING

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

July 6

July 30

August 6

The Topeka Cello Collective presents an evening of classic and contemporary rock hits from musical groups and musicians such as Led Zeppelin, Bon Jovi, and Bruno Mars. jayhawktheatre.org

Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library hosts a morning of ocean-themed, family-team trivia with questions designed for preschoolers to fifth-graders. tscpl.org

Nashville-based comedianmusician Jonnie W. presents one evening of his touring act at the Jayhawk Theatre. jayhawktheatre.org

July 7

AUGUST

Rockin’ the Jayhawk Part V

Tracy Morgan Comedian and SNL veteran Tracy Morgan brings his “No Disrespect” tour to the Prairie Band Casino & Resort. prairieband.com

July 8–August 13 Hello, Dolly!

Topeka Civic Theatre brings a favorite musical comedy to its mainstage for a summer of performances and dinner concerts. topekacivictheatre.com

July 8–24

Sunflower Games 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. sunflowergames.com

July 9, 22 & 30 Ghost Tours

Family Night Trivia

FEATURED EVENT

Kansas Big Brothers and Sisters hosts a charity fundraising topshelf bourbon tasting at The Beacon to raise money for youth programs in Shawnee County. Bourbon Affair on Facebook

August 31

August 12–14

“Weird Al” Yankovic Equally a comedic and musical legend, “Weird Al” Yankovic stops in Topeka on his “Unfortunate Return of the Ridiculously Self Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour.” topekaperformingarts.org

August Date TBA

Balloon Crew Training Learn how to assist with a hot air balloon launch and recovery ahead of the city’s 47th annual Huff ’n’ Puff hot air balloon rally September 9–11. This is hands-on instruction that leads to actual launch-day crewing. huff-n-puff.org.

August 6 (and every Saturday)

July 14–16

Topeka Farmers Markets

The Midwest’s biggest country music festival returns to Topeka with headline act of Jake Owen plus musicians and groups such as Runaway June, Big & Rich, Kid Rock and Randall King. countrystampede.org

July 15

Maria the Mexican The homegrown Topeka-Kansas City Mexican American pop/ folklore fusion talent headlines this month’s free concert in the summer NOTO concert series at Redbud Park. explorenoto.org

August 12

Bourbon Affair

Ghost Tours of Kansas continues its summer of spooky-themed walking tours with trips through Downtown Topeka and North Topeka, as well as a dog-friendly walking tour. ghosttoursofkansas.org

Country Stampede

Jonnie W.

62 Drag

Studio 62 hosts an evening of drag shows and entertainment. studio62artbar.com

August 6

If you haven’t been dropping by the farmers markets yet, this Saturday (and the following Saturdays in August) is your chance to catch the end run of the summer growing season and the beginning of the fall harvest items from dozens of local and regional growers. This year, you can choose from the traditional downtown venue as well as the new west side Breadbasket Farmers Market in the West Ridge Mall parking lot. topekafarmersmarket.com, breadbasketfarmersmarket.com

Menards NHRA National Heartland Motor Sports Park hosts one of its premier events, a weekend of drag racing by funny cars, pro stock, pro mod and other vehicles. heartlandmotorsports.us

August 13

Topeka Classic 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. Facebook.com/ TopekaClassicHighlandGames

August 19

Hector Anchondo Blues guitarist Hector Anchondo headlines this month’s free summer concert in the NOTO concert series at Redbud Park. explorenoto.org

August 19 & 20 Laugh Lines

Topeka’s improv comedy troupe performs at the Topeka Civic Theatre. topekacivictheatre.com/laugh-splash

LOCALE

Summer 2022 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

Make It Brooklyn Craving big-city excitement after months of staying home? Here’s our US-travel destination recommendation for the coming season. STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY

Susan Kraus

Staying in Brooklyn allows a visitor to enjoy not only the full Manhattan skyline but also the rich cultural and entertainment scene of the often-overlooked, most populous borough in New York City.

When most of us envision New York City, we see Manhattan: skyscrapers, Broadway, Times Square, Central Park, Empire State Building or the memory of the World Trade Center Twin Towers. Less often do we think: Brooklyn. But we should. After all, the very best views of all of New York City’s iconic landscapes are from Brooklyn. And Brooklyn captures what we often think of as the spirit of New York City: multicultural, fast-paced, artistic and spirited. Nonstop flights from Kansas City will get you there in about 2½ hours, and off-season round-trip tickets can sometimes be found for less than $150. As you evaluate summer trips or your first post-pandemic big getaways, consider putting Brooklyn at the top of your list. By basing your NYC trip in Brooklyn, you aren’t losing out on the buzz of a big city. If Brooklyn were an independent city, it would be the fourth-largest city in the United States. (It was independent until a hotly contested vote in 1898 to assimilate under the NYC umbrella, a motion that passed by only 164 votes. Some still refer to it as the “Great Mistake of 1898.”) What Brooklyn offers best is proximity to all the NYC sites at comparatively affordable costs. This spring, I paid less than $150 a night to stay at a lovely two-bedroom Airbnb (kitchen, washer-dryer, and well supplied) on the second

floor of a brownstone on Classon Avenue with convenient access to subway and buses. Staying in Brooklyn allows you to explore and enjoy the neighborhoods. Though they don’t have typical tourist sites, Brooklyn’s melting-pot neighborhoods do have some of the best authentic international restaurants. I tracked Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Caribbean, African, Hispanic, Ukrainian, Russian, Middle Eastern, Indian, Greek, Irish … and the list goes on. From your base in Brooklyn, you can easily cross over to explore sites in Manhattan, and you can remain in Brooklyn to enjoy some of its unique sites, including: Brooklyn Bridge Completed in 1883 as the largest suspension bridge in the world, it is a marvel that is still going strong. Walk it

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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

from Brooklyn to Manhattan and you end up in the lap of City Hall, just blocks from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Reverse direction, and you’ll curl into Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), a hot entertainment district adjacent to some of the ritziest brownstone streets in NYC. Brooklyn Museum Opened in 1897 as the largest cultural center in the world, the museum hosts massive permanent collections but also edgy temporary exhibits, all housed in beautiful spaces. Brooklyn Children’s Museum This was the first museum in the world to be dedicated to kids when it opened in 1899.

More than 120 years later, it’s still good for adults and kids alike. New York Transit Museum Holds artifacts of NYC subway, trains, bus systems … unexpectedly impressive. Brooklyn Botanical Gardens These 52 acres contain a rose garden, Japanese section, ponds, conservatories, esplanades, and green spaces where residents spread blankets and take naps. Like most NYC parks, it is well loved. Prospect Park A B-I-G (585 acres!) green space with meadows, lake, zoo, biking and hiking trails, picnic spots and bandshells with free concerts. Grab some deli

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takeaway, bring a blanket, and enjoy like a native. Coney Island The original amusement park and boardwalk offers rides (like the Cyclone, a rollercoaster that is on the National Register of Historic Places) and an expansive beach (yes, you can swim in the Atlantic Ocean in Brooklyn, in several spots). Various Music Venues There are plenty of opportunities for concerts, from traditional venues such as the Brooklyn Philharmonic performances at the Brooklyn Museum and concerts at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Be sure to check out a performance at Bargemusic, a river barge outfitted for classical music concerts. One

of our favorite musical finds was the Williamsburg Music Center, a compact jazz club with maybe 8 small tables and a few couches but a quintet of amazing, seasoned musicians. Walking Tours There are several walking tours around Brooklyn, including the outstanding Free Tours by Foot. Sign up online in advance for a tour with these excellent guides and pay what you can afford. I met people from nine countries and look forward to meeting more on my next trip. After all, of course I plan to return. Because I may be falling in love with Brooklyn.

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Summer 2022 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

REBUILDING THE OLD WALL Traditional craft methods—and a lot of heavy lifting— bring back a historic limestone structure STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY Bill Stephens

Volunteers begin placing a layer of stones on a nearly restored limestone fence in Wabaunsee County.

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

Volunteers have been restoring this 160-footlong limestone fence for several years.

his summer, just to the east of Topeka along K-99, a new monument is standing after having been rebuilt and preserved over the past six years. It’s modest by monument standards, a humble stone fence, but it’s part of our region’s heritage showcased along the Native Stone Scenic Byway. This byway, a 75-mile route through Shawnee, Wabaunsee, and Riley counties, features the natural beauty and panoramic views of native limestone structures throughout this region. Seen in everything from hillsides to courthouses, both natural limestone formations and architectural stonework can also be found along highways K-177, K-18, K-4 and K-99 in the Mission Creek and Mill Creek valleys, as well as through the Flint Hills. “The Native Stone Scenic Byway highlights both the natural wonder of rock formations and the craftsmanship of masons who built the small towns and communities with native stone,” explains Marsha Ericson, chair of the Native Stone

Scenic Byway. “Their heritage continues today with stone masons who share this craft by holding workshops along our byway to repair and reconstruct sections of stone fence to honor the original builders and preserve the craft for future generations.” The most recent in nearly two decades of restoration projects is this fence, one mile south of Alma on K-99. Project leader Rocky Slaymaker explains that the fence was originally built in the 1870s and that the focus of the restoration was to “tear down a portion of the aging structure, replace the foundation, and then rebuild using the original stones augmented with new stones, until the stone fence is back in the same solid condition that it was when it was first constructed 150 years ago.” Slaymaker comes to this project as a certified dry stack craftsman, meaning he has mastered the technique of using native stones to construct fences, corral walls and retaining walls without binding them

with mortar. To build up the fence as it was originally built, Slaymaker directed his crew of volunteers in laying a wide, protruding stone foundation in a trench. Next, the group stacked more stones in a tapering design until the fence is about 3.5 feet tall. The jagged edges of the stone naturally tend to lock together, which strengthens and stabilizes the structure. Slaymaker’s volunteers used chisels to shape the stones and then gathered the much smaller, broken-off pieces and poured them into the spaces between the stones so that their sharp corners could also reinforce the construction. Once the team members created a level and solid fence, they finished the top portion by laying stones vertically on it. These additions— called “coping stones”—help protect the fence from rain and discourage animals from getting on top of the fence. “We have been working on this 160-foot-long fence for several years, one section at a time,” says

Summer 2022 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

Slaymaker. “We use nothing electrical. All of the tools are manual with the exception of a chainsaw to help remove brush.” According to Slaymaker, the limestone rock for this project, as well as in Kansas in general, is high quality and very workable. Each day of work for the 10 volunteers began at 8:30 and ended at 4:30 with breaks and lunch provided by the landowners, Robert and Doris Schmidt. The crew members wore work boots and safety glasses to protect themselves from chips of flying rock. There’s no escape, however, from hard work. Every foot of the 3.5-foottall fence weighs approximately 500 pounds. All of those stones had to be moved and placed by hand. While projects like these can inspire home garden decorations, Slaymaker says the focus of his work is very much “on bringing the old fences and other stone structures back to their original beauty and functionality as an homage to the original settlers back in the 1800s.”

Project leader Rocky Slaymaker says the goal of the restoration is to bring the fences “back to their original beauty and functionality.”

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

Volunteers assist at all stages of a fence’s restoration, from digging the base trench to placing the coping stones.

Historic Stone Fence Workshops The Native Stone Scenic Byway Committee welcomes volunteers to work on upcoming restoration projects and learn about crafting with native limestone. To get on their email list and to reserve a future spot, contact Marsha Ericson (ksmarsha@msn.com) or look for information on the Native Stone Scenic Bywasy’ Facebook page.

Other Byway Historic Sites The Native Stone Scenic Byway features many other attractions in addition to the stone fences. Several are on the National Register of Historic Places: • The 187 Sage Inn and Stagecoach Station in Dover • The Eskridge iC ty Park and Security State Bank Building • The Beecher Bible and Rie Church in aW baunsee • The aW baunsee County Courthouse in Alma • The Lazy T Ranch on Zeandale Road in Manhattan

Why Limestone?

Abundance The limestone found east of Topeka is part of the large aW baunsee Formation, a geological description for the massive limestone beds intermixed with shale and some coal and running from Manhattan to the south past Emporia and nearly to Newton.

Durability Limestone is reproof—it can withstand prairie burns. Limestone is bug-proof—it withstood the grasshopper plague. Limestone is solid—its lack of pores means it is less likely to break and won’t allow in moisture, which could lead to freeze-thaw cracking. Shapeability While projects like the stone walls rely on the jagged cuts of limestone to help hold construction, limestone can be relatively easily formed into various shapes for construction of large projects, the Great Pyramids of Giza being one of the most well-known examples.

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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

Some of our Summer 2022 Topeka Top Tier selections of original dishes from East 6th Street include (clockwise, from left): Zoila Cafe’s enchilada plate, Prize Package’s funnel fries, Tacos El Sol’s taco de barbacoa, and La Casita’s taco al pastor.

Summer 2022 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

TOP TIER SELECTIONS FROM EAST 6TH The summer installment of our Topeka Top Tier awards brings us on a tour of one of the city’s most vibrant local-restaurant districts

STORY BY Jordan Brooks | PHOTOGRAPHY BY Bill Stephens

TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

or me, one of the best culinary adventures through Topeka is the eastside “Food Corridor” also known as the 6th Street Cruise. I like to think every interesting place has some kind of authentic food experience that is rooted in specific culinary and cultural traditions, and 6th Street’s historical impact on Topeka is huge. Southeast (or more commonly “East”) 6th Street held some of the first storefronts in Topeka, such as Bliss & Lee groceries and I.H. Holman Dry Goods. The street has changed over the past 150-plus years as newcomers from different

parts of the globe have moved into the area, each bringing their own culinary heritage and tastes. To this day, the street preserves that traditional mom-and-pop neighborhood store vibe, with classic and longstanding favorites standing near fresh, new entries. I especially feel that vibe when I take a walk or drive down 6th on the lookout for a great dish or treat—sometimes an old favorite, sometimes something new. As an artist, I love to sketch out the places and visualize the feeling that I get from them. As someone who appreciates good, authentic food, I simply love to eat here.

We all have individual tastes, so my list of go-to selections from East 6th Street may be different from yours. Whatever you crave, I hope you’ll explore this great, collective gathering of American culinary fusion available in one short strip of road. It’s Topeka’s own thread of classic and modern Americana cuisine. This list of standouts will get you started; stop by these places and other East 6th Street venues, talk to the owners and staff about their recommendations, sample and choose your own favorites. You can’t go wrong.

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Topeka Top Tier Selections

Taco De Barbacoa Tacos El Sol | 2124 SE 6th St.

Serving up authentic food for nearly 25 years, Tacos El Sol has developed a wide menu covering burritos, specialty soups, sandwiches, combination dinners and, of course, tacos. The taco de barbacoa is El Sol’s take on the traditional Mexican braised meat dish of several varieties. El Sol serves a beef variation with juicy, savory strands that pair perfectly with the fiour tortilla, onions, cilantro and sauce of your choosing. With each taco costing just under $2, you can try this one along with other favorites for an inexpensive, full meal.

Funnel Fries Harold’s Prize Package | 1420 SE 6th St.

We hear you, we hear you. How can we talk about Prize Package and not focus on the longtime venue’s popular cheeseburgers? Well, we’re doing burgers in an upcoming edition—those showy sandwiches kind of hog the show, so this is an opportunity to allow other options to receive some much-deserved praise. Look across the Prize Package menu for biscuits and gravy, catfish sandwiches and fried okra if you want to try some deepfried traditional dishes … or, just go all-out and order a batch of their funnel fries. Nutritional value? You’re not here for that. This selection is all about an indulgent, nostalgic treat—and few sides do it better than these fries.

Summer 2022 | TOPEKA MAGAZINE

Tacos al Pastor & Gorditas La Casita Mexican Restaurant | 3032 SE 6th St. There are times when you are feeling on-the-go, but don’t want fast food. For these times, there is La Casita Mexican Restaurant’s walk-up to-go order window in its stylized brick building. There’s usually a good line of people in their cars waiting to pick up an order during the lunch and dinner hours, but the kitchen works fast and serves up dishes quickly. One of their most popular orders—with good reason—are the tacos al pastor. You might also wish to try their gorditas—a thick, maize dough sandwich pocketed with a variety of stufngs, such as shredded peppers, pork stew or beef stomach. This is speedy, but fresh.

Sope al Pastor Poblanos Grill | 3035 SE 6th St. A thick corn dough holds layers of steak, chicken or seasoned pork, then topped with beans, cheese, lettuce, sour cream and sauces. These are thick, tasty delights in just the right portion with options to customize. As with most meats on the menu, the al pastor (seasoned pork with pineapple) can also be ordered in sandwiches, tacos, quesadillas, huarachas, burritos and cemitas poblanas (a thick sandwich on a special sesame roll).

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TOPEKA MAGAZINE | Summer 2022

Enchilada Plate Zoila’s Café | 1000 SE 6th St. Zoila’s Casfé’ homestyle Latin plates help you feel satised. They offer a range of dishes including breakfast all day long; yes, that means pancakes too. The rst dish you might want to become friends with is the enchilada plate. These 3 large beef enchiladas, tucked in with spice combined with your classic rice and beans, help balance my taste buds for a delightful meal from start to nish.

Mangonada Casserolle | 2410 SE 6th St. Suite B aC sserolle has eb en in Topeka of r seven ey ars, u b t its move to a new location last ey ar allowed it to expand its ofef rings of Mexiac n drink-treats such as the Piña Loca, an over-the-top rf uit ob lw drink served in a pineapple shell, or the rf uitys- ry upy shaved-iec treats known as raspados. The mangonada is a ec rtain summer treat, iw th its lb end of ice rc eam, rf esh mangos and spice. aC sserolle owner Erica Garcia recommends topping the mangonada iw th a h c amoy sauce and sprinkles of tajin. The h c amoy, a rf uit-ab sed sweet-and-sour, provides a oc ntrast to the sweetness of the mango, and the tajin, a mix of peppers and limes, adds a ib t of kick. aC sserolle has a rack of sauces and spices to h c oose rf om, rf om mild to hot. Bring on the re, rb ing on the u j ice … rb ing on summer.

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