Travel Kansas 2012

Discover the Sunflower State

New Flint Hills Discovery Center showcases tallgrass prairie Slice of Heaven

There is nothing more satisfying than a piece of Kansas pie

Lucas’ Garden of Eden spawns all kinds of art

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Around Kansas

Five years after Greensburg tornado, Big Well reopens Elvis sighted in exhibition of historic photos at Eisenhower Museum New Flint Hills Discovery Center educates about tallgrass prairie

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A Slice of Heaven

There’s nothing like a made-from-scratch pie, and Kansas eateries keep the art alive

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The Garden of Eden and Beyond

Lucas’ recently restored sculpture garden has spawned all kinds of art. The latest community art project, (Toilet) Bowl Plaza, opens with a First Flush on June 2.

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Haunted Happenings

The spirit moves communities to plan trolley tours, educational graveside conversations and other spooky events

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Strolling in the Gardens

Several landscaped public gardens and aboretums offer opportunities for enjoyment and education

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Wickedest Town in the West Turns 140

Remnants of the Old West are not only alive and well but thriving in Dodge City

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Cornucopia of Festivals

Starting after summer harvest, Kansans take to the streets for a variety of community celebrations

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Calendar Highlights

Experience a lot of Kansas in one place at Sampler Festival

Publisher/Editor

contributing writers

Cynthia Mines

Amy L. Bickel, Kim Hanke, Sara Peterson-Davis and Patsy Terrell

art director

Photographer

Susan Burdick

Harland Schuster

ON THE COVER

The sunrise photo of mint-leaf beebalm was taken from one of the hiking trails at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Chase County. A new Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan offers information about the last largest expanse of untouched tallgrass prairie. Photo by Harland J. Schuster published by

Matrix Media Inc., a Kansas company. To have a copy of the magazine mailed, send $5 (includes postage) to The Wichita Times, 111 N. Mosley, Ste. 201, Wichita, KS 67202. To order multiple copies or for advertising information, please call 316-264-5850 or e-mail cmines@aol.com. © 2012 Matrix Media Inc.

Greensburg rebuilds, Big Well museum reopens

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reensburg will observe the fifth anniversary of the devastating tornado that leveled the community on May 4, 2007, with a commissioned play, kite festival, fun run and other activities. In late May, the historic Big Well will reopen with an expanded museum and observation deck.

Like the rest of the community, the new museum was rebuilt to the strictest LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, making Greensburg the “greenest” town in the nation. The city’s power is supplied by 10 wind turbines, and the new 5.4.7 Arts Center – which was named for the date of the tornado and was the first structure built -- was the first LEED platinum rated building in Kansas.

A grant from the National Endowment for the Arts has enabled the William Inge Center for the Arts at Independence Community College to record the stories of the worst tornado on record in a theatrical format. Collaborating on the project are playwright Marcia Cebulska of Topeka, Cornerstone Theatre Co. of Los Angeles and Greensburg’s 5.4.7 Arts Center.

Prior to the tornado, the southwest Kansas town’s claim to fame was being home to the world’s largest hand-dug

A journey on a historic two-lane highway

4l SVHA Travel Kansas 10 Thursday, March 04, 2010 3:17:47 PM

The new Big Well Museum includes an upper level with panoramic windows as well as galleries devoted to the history of Greensburg, the fatal tornado and rebuilding as a green community.

well. Work on the well began in 1887 to provide water for steam engines. It was used as the city’s water supply until 1932, and in 1939 it was opened as a tourist attraction which allowed visitors to descend to the bottom of the 109-foot deep well.

The new museum is “completely different” than the old one, said Stacy Barnes, director of tourism and interim Big Well director. A Greensburg native, Barnes and her husband were living in Lawrence at the time of the tornado. She 100 applied for a job with the city shortly 95 and she and her husband moved after, back to what was left of their hometown 75 so they could help with rebuilding efforts.

“The new museum has one gallery dedicated to the history of Greensburg, one25to the tornado and one to rebuilding a green model community,” she said. An 5 observation area on an upper level will give visitors a 360-degree view of the 0 surrounding area. “They’ll be able to walk up there and see all the rebuilding.”

The museum won’t have as many arti-

facts as before since most were destroyed in the tornado, but it will be interactive, Barnes said. “We found some photos by going through old newspapers and people donated items.”

Not only can tourists visit the Big Well Museum, but the Kiowa County Historical Museum reopened last fall, and there are about 10 retail shops (some in an incubator building) downtown. One- and two-hour Green Tours are available by appointment.

A concert performance of the play will be on Saturday, May 4, at 7:30 at the United Methodist Church. “We’re lacking facilities for a full-blown production but we are rebuilding the Twilight Theater and community auditorium,” Barnes said.

The community will celebrate Tragedy to Triumph Five. . . Years Later May 4-6.

For more information, call 620-7234102 or visit bigwell.org, greensburgks. org or greensburggreentown.org. The Big Well museum and gift shop will be open daily except holidays.

Elvis sighting at Eisenhower Museum

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nSmithsonian Institution traveling exhibit, “Elvis at 21,” will be on display at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene from April 7 to July 1. Centered around photographs

by Alfred Wertheimer, the exhibit shows the 1950s social context for the Eisenhower presidency.

Wertheimer’s 40 large-scale photographs capture the 21-year-old Elvis Presley in 1956 on the threshold of super stardom. The exhibition includes Elvis’ first TV appearances on the “Dorsey Stage Show” and the “Steve Allen Show” in New York. “With cinematic luminosity, the Wertheimer photographs document a remarkable time when Elvis could sit alone at a drugstore lunch counter,” said exhibit organizers.

A blog about the national exhibition can be found at shows2go.si.edu/elvis/.

There is also a dedicated Facebook page and Twitter address.

Several related programs are planned while the exhibition is in Abilene. Elvis tribute artist Joseph Hall, who has appeared on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” will perform at 7 p.m. April 13 during an opening reception. The museum will also show the Elvis films “GI Blues” on April 24 and “Love Me Tender” on May 17 at 7 p.m. in the Visitors Center Auditorium.

Abilene’s Great Plains Theatre, the only professional theater between Kansas City and Denver, will perform the musical “All Shook Up” June 1-17. The Great Plains Theatre will also provide the entertainment for the June 23 Fifties Fest at the Eisenhower Presidential Library presented by the Arts Council of Dickinson County.

For information about the exhibition or the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home, call 877RING-IKE or visit eisenhower.archives. gov. The museum is located at 200 SE 4th St. and is open daily except major holidays. For theater tickets, call 785-2634574 or go to greatplainstheatre.com.

Large-scale photographs, including “Going Home” (above), are part of the “Elvis at 21” exhibition at the Eisenhower Museum.

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Flint Hills Discovery Center opens

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nnew center designed to showcase the science and cultural history of the Flint Hills of Kansas and the Osage Hills of Oklahoma – the last significant stand of tallgrass prairie – opens in Manhattan April 14.

The 35,000-square-foot facility, which cost $24.5 million, anchors the

Kansan, returned to the state as founding director to lead the final development of the new facility in downtown Manhattan.

Through interactive exhibits visitors will have an opportunity to explore the science and cultural history of North America’s last stand of tallgrass prairie, one of the world’s most endangered eco-systems.

“We are a gateway to the last, largest expanse of untouched tallgrass prairie in the world. There will be outdoor patio space with beautiful views of Manhattan, as well as the glass tower featuring colored lights . . .” second phase of Manhattan’s downtown development. “This project is stunning evidence of what can be accomplished when the public and private sectors work collaboratively,” said Ron Fehr, city manager. “(The center) will support all our efforts to preserve the Flint Hills and promote tourism within our state.”

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“The experience is designed to celebrate the history, heritage and natural surroundings of the Flint Hills and tallgrass prairie,” said Autumn Shoemaker, marketing coordinator for Manhattan.

“We are a gateway to the last, largest expanse of untouched tallgrass prairie in the world. There will be outdoor patio space with beautiful views of Manhattan, as well as the glass tower featuring colored lights

Grand opening for the Flint Hills Discovery Center in downtown Manhattan is April 14.

that change color at night.”

The Flint Hills Discovery Center also features landscaped outdoor terraces, permanent and temporary interactive exhibits, classrooms and meeting rooms. It will be open 363 days a year and serve as the visitor information center for Manhattan and the surrounding Flint Hills region.

For more information, visit flinthills discovery.org or call 785-587-2726.

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K a n sas

cafes

kee p

by Patsy Terrell Photos by Harland Schuster

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ew sweet treats are as tempting as a homemade pie still warm from the oven. The number of people who take the time to roll out the dough and make the filling from scratch is dwindling, but the good news is that several Kansas cafes still take pride in making good oldfashioned pies.

Mike Miller, owner of the Carriage Crossing restaurant in Yoder, thinks nostalgia may be one reason people are attracted to pie. “I think pie represents the cooking we did 50 years ago,” he said.

“It’s the type of cooking we don’t do at home very much anymore.”

The volume at his restaurant attests to pie’s popularity: On a busy summer Saturday customers can go through as many as 140 pies, and Carriage Crossing offers as many as 20 kinds of pies.

Pie maker Cheryl Johnson at Otto’s restaurant in Pittsburg agreed that nostalgia is part of the appeal but that fewer people make pies than they used to. “Pie reminds you of home and holidays,” she said.

Pie could be the ultimate comfort food, said Eva Peters, owner of Eva’s Kitchen in Montezuma. “I think people feel a comfort from eating pie, like at grandma’s,” she said, then recalled a recent customer taking a bite of a still-warm piece of coconut pie and saying, “Oh, it’s just like my grandma’s.”

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the

art

of

“It’s always a grandma,” Peters said. “I guess grandma did a good job.”

Pie is such an important part of the meal at the Carolyn’s Essenhaus in Arlington that customers often pick out a piece of pie before they order. If the restaurant has run out of the kind the customer wants, the owner is so reluctant to disappoint that she’ll try to rectify the situation.

“If they’ve driven a long way and we don’t have the pie they want, and I’ve got the crust, I’ll go put one together if it’s a cream pie,” said Carolyn Bontrager.

“People often have their heart set on something and I can’t stand to see that crestfallen look.”

The recipes used at the Essenhaus belong to Bontrager’s mother, who still makes the crusts, along with her granddaughter. “Everything is from scratch,” Bontrager said, “and we roll them out by hand.” Her mom has been involved with the restaurant since Bontrager opened it 22 years ago.

Restaurants all handle crust different ways, but the bakers agree it’s a key ingredient.

At the Main Street Café in Durham, owner Wendell Wedel closely guards the pie crust recipe. “We combined two different recipes for our pie crust,” he said. “There wouldn’t be another restaurant and probably not a home baker that would make our particular recipe.”

Most restaurants that still make pies onsite make a number of crusts at one

m ade - f r o m - sc r atc

time for simplicity’s sake. At the Durham Café, crust making happens on Mondays and then the crusts are frozen to be taken out and filled and baked fresh for the daily lunches and the popular Friday night German buffet, where dozens of homemade fruit and cream-filled pies are the main attraction. Pies have been baked in the restaurant’s ovens for about 70 years.

At Otto’s, Johnson mixes up the flour and shortening once a week, but rolls it out each day she’s baking so the crust is fresh. Peters at Eva’s Kitchen makes the crust in-house too. “We do it all by hand, with a rolling pin, the old-fashioned way, like grandma’s pie,” she said.

Because pie is so labor intensive, “most restaurants have gone to doing as little work on the premises as possible,” Miller said. “It’s also an issue of training and staffing. A lot of restaurants don’t want to deal with having a full bakery just for the desserts.” Carriage Crossing’s bakery also makes all of the restaurant’s bread.

“Anything that’s real good is either hard to make or takes a lot of work,” Wedel of the Durham café said. “That’s one reason most restaurants sell extra pies for holidays.” The Main Street Café sells frozen pies people can bake at home for themselves. “You do all the work for them and they don’t have the mess at home,” he said. The café also makes peppernuts year-round and sells other bulk foods and local cheese.

At Carriage Crossing, 700 pies were

atc h

baki n g

alive

Left to right: Pie is made the old-fashioned way at Carolyn’s Essenhaus; a freshly baked meringue pie at Main Street Cafe in Durham; diners at Otto’s Cafe; and putting the finishing touches on a coconut pie at Main Street Cafe.

picked up on the day before Thanksgiving last year, according to Miller. “We pull in everybody who knows what they’re doing (to bake) and the ovens go for 15 hours straight.”

Miller currently has six pie bakers, who come in between 3 and 4 a.m. to start the day’s baking. He joked that they are always a bit relieved when the pace slows down after the holidays.

Other restaurant owners are also thankful for their bakers. “You’ve got to find someone who cares and will stick with you,” Bontrager said. “Most people don’t cook. I have an advantage with the Mennonite heritage of the area.” Holdeman Mennonites are often a staple in the kitchens at other restaurants that serve homemade pies.

“A lot of it is just downright hard work,” Miller said. “Pies boil down to individual care. Recipes have to be exact.

Employees have to care enough to follow recipes and they have to care enough to make things look good. I can’t give enough credit to staff. I can have a great recipe and if the pie baker doesn’t care, it doesn’t matter.”

As far as the most popular kind of pie, Continued on page 10.

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Where to find authentic homemade Kansas pies made onsite: All Around Sweets

Eva’s Kitchen

Murphy’s Café

317 Pennsylvania Ave., Holton 785-364-3300

203 N. Aztec St., Montezuma 620-846-7231

101 W. Main St., Stark 620-837-3236

Bread Basket

Harvest Café

219 N. Main St., Newton 316-283-3811

112 S. Main St., Inman 620-585-6925

711 N. Broadway, Pittsburg 620-231-6110

Otto’s

Carolyn’s Essenhaus

LaVon’s Bakery

The Pie Hole

104 E. Main St., Arlington 620-538-4711

216 N. Maple St., Buhler 620-543-2411

209 S. Ozark, Girard 620-724-8590

Carriage Crossing Restaurant

Main Street Café

Sommerset Hall Café

10002 Yoder Rd., Yoder 620-465-3612

517 S. Douglas Ave., Durham 620-732-2096

5701 SW Douglas Rd., Dover 785-256-6223

The Corner Pharmacy

Mr. K’s Farmhouse

Whistle Stop Café

429 Delaware St., Leavenworth 913-682-1602

4075 Van Buren St., Abilene 785-263-7995

106 Main St., Walton 620-837-3236

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The Friday night buffet at Main Street Cafe in Durham features a dozen kinds of pies.

Kansas cafe pies Continued from page 9.

many restaurant owners report it to be coconut. “A lot of people don’t like coconut, but we sure sell a lot of coconut pie,” Johnson said.

Sometimes Carriage Crossing branches out and tries other kinds of pies, and sales quickly tell whether they’re going to be as popular as the regular selection, according to Miller. Carriage Crossing Restaurant sells about 70 percent cream pies and 30 percent fruit pies.

Most kinds have their devoted fans.

“The peanut butter pie at Carriage Crossing is the best pie I’ve ever had,” said Rob Mackey, a former Kansas resident who now lives in Virginia.

While the crust can be the most exacting part of making a pie, for Kansan consumer Ric Jung, a self-proclaimed pie lover, it’s more about the filling than the crust. “The pastry, if done right, frames the filling,” he said. “Done right the pastry melts in your mouth and never distracts.”

Carriage Crossing once tried to branch out to cakes but they just didn’t sell. So, it’s “pie, pie, pie – and we just keep making more,” Miller said.

Customers at Carolyn’s Essenhaus enjoy cakes, Bontrager said, “but in proportion, the pie way outsells. There’s something nostalgic about it.”

Another pie tip: The annual Mennonite Relief Sale and quilt auction at the Kansas Fairgrounds is an excellent place to sample a variety of pies made from scratch by Mennonite and Amish churches, plus it’s a good cause.

This year’s event is April 13-14.

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Museum of World Treasures

See more at gowichita.com

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The Garden of Eden (top) laid the foundation for Lucas’ interest in unusual art. Shown here are pieces from the Grassroots Art Center, Deeble House and Flying Pig Studio.

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Grassroots art capital builds on Garden of Eden reputation

By Sara Peterson-Davis • Photos by Harland Schuster

aybe it’s the World’s Largest Souvenir Travel Plate that welcomes visitors to town or all the bright-colored sculptures that dot the local landscape, but there is definitely a spirit flowing through the town of Lucas that is in turns rebellious, whimsical, haunting and totally grassroots.

Lucas, about 18 miles north of I-70 in Russell County, has dedicated itself to being the Grassroots Arts Capital of Kansas.

The town of 400 residents has attracted the attention of the Lonely Planet-USA travel book – which promises that “nothing will surprise and amaze you as much as the oddball art community of Lucas” – as well as Conan O’Brien, who hosted Lucas resident Erika Nelson and what she claimed was the world’s largest cow hairball.

“It’s the kind of art that draws people into the creative spirit,” said Rosslyn Schultz, director of the Grassroots Art Center in downtown Lucas. “It makes people not afraid of art.”

Grassroots art isn’t your grandma’s watercolors, but she could create something in the style with a little concrete, some spare car parts and a welding torch. Created by people who have had no formal art training, grassroots art uses ordinary everyday objects and materials in unique ways.

“It’s just that free spirit, that ‘I don’t care what the neighbors think attitude,’” said Schultz of the genre.

The innovator of that spirit and the grandfather of Lucas’ grassroots art movement was Samuel Perry Dinsmoor, the creator of the town’s most famous grassroots art environment, The Garden of Eden.

A self-educated Union Civil War veteran and wildly progressive thinker, Dinsmoor started building the Garden of Eden in 1907 at the age of 62. For the next 20 years, he used 113 tons of concrete to create soaring sculptured trees and figures that in every detail conveyed a cryptic and humorous commentary on Populist politics, the Bible, women’s and human rights, as well as modern civilization. At the center of the garden is Dinsmoor’s Cabin Home, a structure made of large horizontally-cut limestone blocks dovetailed together much like wooden logs in a cabin.

“Dinsmoor saw all these things (issues) as important,” said John Hachmeister, president of the Friends of S.P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden and associate professor of sculpture at the University of Kansas. “By the end of his life, he wanted to build something.”

Many of the issues Dinsmoor immortalized in concrete, such as the octopus representing the greed of America’s corporations, are still relevant today. The site attracts more than 7,000 visitors a year to Lucas, some of whom, according to Hachmeister, come from France and Germany, where grassroots or “outsider” art is prevalent.

“They really understand the political ramifications of the garden,” Hachmeister said.

While the garden is a testament to Dinsmoor’s beliefs and opinions, it’s also a testament to his sense of humor. Nowhere is that more evident than in the mausoleum Dinsmoor built for himself where visitors can view his mummified remains, as well as an image of the man in life. Dinsmoor once quipped that after his death he would wink at anyone who paid for the garden tour.

But keeping the garden open to the public over the years has been a challenge. Hachmeister bought the Garden of Eden more than 26 years ago with a group of shareholders in an attempt to preserve the site.

“We had seen sites like this be cut up,” said Hachmeister, who also convinced another Kansas donor to save the surviving works of another Lucas-area grassroots artist, Ed Root. “They (grassroot sculptures) have value on the East Coast. I was convinced that someone would come in and cut it up into pieces.”

Over the next quarter century, Hachmeister and Garden of Eden Inc. kept the garden open, but affording the major repairs the Garden of Eden required was impossible.

Then last summer, the Kohler Foundation, a Wisconsin-based foundation dedicated to the restoration and preservation of folk architecture and art environments, stepped in, bought the Garden of Eden and launched a major repair and restoration project at the site. Over the course of the summer, hundreds of hours were spent repairing and restoring the sites and its sculptures.

Earlier this year, the Kohler Foundation deeded the Garden of Eden back to a new community-based non-profit group, Friends of S.P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden. Renovations continue in the spring of 2012.

“I just can’t praise Kohler enough,” Hachmeister said, of the restoration and the return of the garden to local ownership. “I’ve always thought that it should be local.”

Keeping the Garden of Eden viable and in Lucas, which will celebrate its 125th anniversary Labor Day weekend, ensures that it will continue to inspire other grassroots artists locally, as well as around the world.

“It (the grassroots movement in Lucas) has been an ongoing thing for a century,” Schultz said. “I think the Garden of Eden spawned those sites.”

pened in 1995, The Grassroots Arts Center celebrates grassroots heritage in Lucas and across Kansas. It features the work of 30 Kansas grassroots artists, including Ed Roots’ monuments. The center’s galleries take up three downtown Continued on page 14.

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years to encourage local residents to explore their inner artist with an art contest.

“We sponsored Alley Cats with an Attitude, and we were just amazed at what people came up with,” Schultz said.

“There were cats made from old shop vacs and old computers converted into cats.

These were all from people who claimed not to be creative at all.”

Continued from page 13.

buildings, with a courtyard dedicated to the artistry of the region’s limestone post rock architecture.

After suffering a broken hip in a car crash in the 1930s, Ed Root started creating concretget upe monuments on his farm south of Lucas. For 20 years, Root created an environment on his property filled with the concrete monuments studded with colored glass and rocks. In the 1940s and 1950s on the edge of town, Roy and Clara Miller built a park and created a rock museum complete with miniature Rocky Mountain peaks from rocks they brought back from their trips to Colorado.

Later when Florence Deeble retired from teaching English, she built a rock garden in the backyard of her Lucas home that featured concrete “postcards” of holiday sites she had visited, including Mt. Rushmore. The Grassroots Art Center also includes the Florence Deeble Rock Garden and the Garden of Isis, an environment created by Lucas artist Mri-Pilar inside Deeble’s Lucas home. Both are a short walk from the center.

Like the Garden of Eden, the center sees thousands of visitors each year, most of whom are interested in the grassroots genre. Many visitors are surprised at the depth of the center’s collection and the enthusiasm of Lucas’ residents to preserve and celebrate grassroots art.

“Most people say they expected to see this in New York City not in Lucas, Kansas,” Schultz said.

Along with managing the museum, Schultz travels the state interviewing grassroots artists and photographing their work. She finds it difficult not to catch the grassroots spirit.

“If you’ve ever met a grassroots artist, you’ll notice that there’s always that element of having fun,” Schultz said. “They just love what they do. They are absolutely driven. They may get up at 2 a.m. and they’re 85.”

On the Grassroots Center’s website, grassrootsart.net, visitors to Lucas can take a walking tour of the town, including such grassroots art environments as American Fork Art, Kaufman’s Rock Garden, Sarah Rowden’s Hippie Hut and Ericka Nelson’s house, parking spot of The World’s Largest Collection of the World’s

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Garden of Eden

305 E. Second St. | 785-525-6395 garden-of-eden-lucas-kansas.com The Garden of Eden is open for tours: May-October daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; November-February weekends 1 to 4 p.m.; March-April daily 1 to 4 p.m.

Admission is $6 for adults, $1 for children 6-12, children 5 and under are free.

Call for special occasions or after hours tours.

Grassroots Art Center 213 S Main | 785-525-6118 grassrootsart.net

Open Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday 1-5 p.m.

May-September; Thursday-Sunday 1-4 p.m. April and October; and Thursday-Saturday 1-4 p.m.

November-March. Closed holidays.

Call for special occasions and after hours tours. Admission is $6 for adults, $2 for children 6-12.

Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things, a traveling collection of miniature items such as Cawker City’s world’s largest ball of twine and the world’s largest bottle of ketchup in Collinsville, Ill. The center has done its part over the

or the past year or so, the Lucas community’s artistic energy has been focused on Bowl Plaza, the town’s new public toilet and newest grassroots art environment.

The rectangular building was built to resemble a toilet tank with the entrance fashioned to look like an upturned toilet seat. The handicapped-accessible walkway leading up to the restrooms resembles rippling toilet paper and the center of the plaza is a swirling toilet bowl with various items being flushed. Along with the courtyard bowl, the restrooms will feature mosaic-covered walls and fixtures donated by Kohler. It should be completed this spring.

A community project, Schultz said, Bowl Plaza inspired local volunteers, as well as visitors who stopped to see the town’s other attractions, to help create and execute the vision. More than once, people passing through joined in to help with the project, others sent items and supplies for the project once they got home.

“That to me is just taking art and catching the spirit,” Schultz said. “It really gives you a shot in the arm.”

The Lucas community plans to open Bowl Plaza with a “First Flush” celebration on Saturday, June 2, according to porcelain artist Eric Abraham, a local volunteer who gave his time and talent to create Bowl Plaza’s environment.

Abraham bought the downtown building that once housed the town’s Chevrolet dealership nearly eight years ago and moved his Flying Pig Studio and Gallery there. The studio is named for Abraham’s signature airborne swine that populate many of his pieces.

A graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute, Abraham was looking at moving his studio from Wabaunsee to Lindsborg.

When a deal fell through for a building there, someone suggested that Abraham

look at Lucas. There he met Rosslyn Schultz and discovered the Grassroots Arts Center.

Now Abraham lives and works in the 3,600-square-foot dealership building, where he displays and sells his porcelain works, as well as his three-dimensional drawings. When he is away at art shows around the country, the Grassroots Center’s staff opens up his gallery to let visitors browse.

“They are really good to work with,” Abraham said.

The Lucas community and its focus on art has also afforded Abraham a bit more freedom than is available in other towns.

In other communities, Abraham said he would have to go through the city’s zoning process to display his work outside his gallery. In Lucas, it’s just more outdoor art.

“Everybody likes it (the art displayed outside the building),” Abraham quipped, “and those that don’t, they don’t say anything.”

Abraham is convinced that Lucas’s commitment to grassroots art and artists is what has kept it on the map.

“The Garden of Eden and the Grassroots Center bring people in,” he said.

“This town is still here because of the art.”

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T h e s p i r i t m o v e s K a n s a s c o m m u n i t i e s t o h a v e f u n w i th

By Cindy Snider

multi-day schedule of classes Sept. 25-29 will be led by psychic Christopher Moon. aunted houses, hotels and cemeteries have capSouth of Atchison some 88 miles, as the spirit flies, lies tured the imagination of Kansans who are eager to Osawatomie, a community with current living population of participate in a bit of “safe scary” fun. Chambers of 4,600. Oakwood Cemetery is the burial home to some of the commerce and historical sites throughout the state most prominent characters in Osawatomie history. The annual have responded in kind, with a trend toward providTalking Tombstones event at the cemetery is a favorite of history ing more haunting entertainment. buffs and those who want a mild scare mixed with lively firstTake Atchison, a town of nearly 11,000 living souls, tucked into person narratives depicting the figures who molded Osawatothe hills and bluffs along the Missouri River in northeast Kansas. mie’s lore and legend.

Most prominently known as the birthplace of Amelia Earhart, Led by Grady Atwater, administrator for the John Brown Atchison was dubbed “the most haunted town in Kansas” Museum State Historic Site, the evening event in late in the 1997 book “Haunted Kansas: Ghost Stories and October begins with a short walking tour of the Other Eerie Tales” by Lisa Hefner Heitz. cemetery, featuring unique headstones and both After the book was published, the Atchison famous and infamous gravesites. Members of Chamber of Commerce had no illusions that the Osawatomie Time Machine, a local troupe, a haunted theme could be the start of somebreathe new life into history with their reenthing big for their town. Atchison was alactments and portrayals of Kansas figures ready full of history, with 20 sites on the buried in the cemetery, Atwater said.

National Register of Historic Places. All Westward ho across the state to Hays, they needed to add was a little mystery more tombstones are talking. Graveside to the history. And that, they did.

Conversations at Fort Hays State Historic “The haunted theme just dropped Site is an educational event also schedinto our laps, thank you very much,” uled for late October. said Jacque Pregont, president of the “All the stories and first-person interAtchison Chamber of Commerce. “We pretations are based on facts that we have took the idea and ran with it.” about the individuals who died here at the Haunted Atchison Tours grew so fort,” said Bob Wilhelm, site administrator much in popularity they are now offered for the fort. “It’s educational, reflective and nearly year-round. Originally only during Graveside conversations melancholy, but not scary,” he said. the week of Halloween, the haunted tours at Historic Fort Hays The site of the oldest boot hill cemetery west are now offered every night the week before of the Mississippi, the city of Hays isn’t shy about Halloween, every weekend in September and welcoming the spirits of the deceased to tell their stoOctober and the first Saturdays of May, June, July ries on Halloween night. The first cemetery for Hays City and August. in 1867 was located on a hill just north of town. Staff members at “The tours pretty much sell out by the time the trolley rolls the Ellis County Historical Society Museum sponsor the special out,” Pregont said. “We evaluate it every year and make changes Halloween program held annually at the cemetery. Visitors can or additions to meet the demand. We keep the tours fresh. It’s a walk the site and listen to costumed narrators tell stories about new experience every year.” the violence and misfortune that claimed the horse thieves and The narrated tour of 20 haunted sites now includes motor outlaws who were buried with their boots on. coaches as well as trolleys. Most people want the trolley tour Topeka also has tested the spirit waters and hosted such because it’s “more romantic,” Pregont said. “I’m not sure how events as Tiptoe through the Tombstones, haunted tours of the romantic a haunted tour can be though,” she added, laughing.

Ward Mead Mansion in Old Prairie Town, and Haunted Trail to As the spirit moved, Atchison added other events to complethe Lost Lagoon at Lake Shawnee. In Baldwin City, brave souls ment its narrated trolley and coach tours. There are history and can board the Midland Railway’s Night Trains of Terror. mystery guided tours, private home visits (including the famous Sallie House), Slumber with the Spirits, ghostly dining experiences and a haunted cemetery walking tour. The book “Haunted Atchison: The Collected Stories,” was published by the chamber in September.

A new event in 2012, Haunted University, is for those who want to learn more about paranormal investigations. The

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Here is a sampling of spook y offerings for 2012 :

April 13 Wichita Ghost Tour, 8 to 10 p.m., 785-851-0856, ghosttoursofkansas.com

May-October Haunted Atchison Trolley Tours, 800-2341854, atchisonkansas.net

Oct. 19-20, 26-27 Night Trains of Terror, Midland Railway, Baldwin City, midland-ry.org

Oct. 27 Talking Tombstones,

Osawatomie, 7 p.m., 913-755-4384

Oct. 27 Graveside Conversations,

Historic Fort Hays, 7 to 10 p.m., reservations required, 785-625-6812, kshs.org

Oct. 31 Haunted Boot Hill, Hays, 18th & Fort Streets, 7 p.m., 785-623-2624, elliscountyhistoricalmuseum.org

Nov. 2 Lawrence Ghost Tour, 8 to 10 p.m., 785-851-0856

Hotels offer haunting experiences Beaumont Hotel Beau m on t

According to sources, an enraged proprietor in the late 1800s or early 1900s shot and killed a young, local cowboy named Zeke, who had become a little too attached to the proprietor’s wife. The ghost of Zeke supposedly likes to pull pranks around the hotel now. 620-8432422, hotelbeaumontks.com.

Drury Plaza Hotel Broadview Wic hita

The Broadview was the scene for the demise of some notorious gang members during the late 1920s, according to the book “Wichita Haunts” by Beth Cooper.

316-262-5000, druryhotels.com.

Eldridge Hotel

L aw ren ce

Built as the Free State Hotel in 1855, it has burned down twice. After reopening in 1985, it was said to have a portal into the spirit world, particularly in room 506. Guests have reported doors opening and closing on their own, breath marks on clean mirrors, and lights switching on and off. Some guests have encountered apparitions on the fifth floor, where an “elevator ghost” reportedly likes to open and close the elevator door. 800-5270909, eldridgehotel.com.

The Atchison Trolley at McInteer Villa, which is located at the corner of 13th and Kansas streets.

Tioga Suites

Ch a n u t e

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, part of this hotel’s history includes reports of paranormal activity.

Two teams of paranormal investigators have visited the hotel, and three rooms reported paranormal activity. Accounts from one hotel patron include seeing a lady and young girl dressed in vintage clothing, standing at the base of his bed. When he spoke to them, they disappeared. Among several other reports of ghostly sightings, there have been two instances of guest beds mysteriously being turned down.

866-698-4642, tiogasuites.com

Tuck U Inn at Glick Mansion Atch i son

The Glick Mansion was built in 1873

by George Washington Glick, who served

in the Kansas state legislature for 14 years beginning in 1862. He was elected governor of Kansas in 1882. Like Atchison, the “most haunted town in Kansas,” this inn reportedly has some ghosts who are generally benevolent. Strange sounds can be heard at night, doors open and close on their own and there is a sound of footsteps when no one is there. One patron reported that she was forcibly pushed out of her bed in Lizzy’s Attic on the third floor. 913-367-9110, glickmansion.com Ghostwriter Cindy Snider has braved not only Atchison’s haunted trolley tours but also lived to tell about staying in Lizzy’s Attic at the Tuck U Inn as well as the infamous Room 305 at the Midland Hotel. She had just been warned about that room by a local shopkeeper so was startled to find it assigned to her upon check-in.

Midland Railroad Hotel Wilson

Beware Room 305, say the locals.

That’s where Sheriff Bart hanged himself – or was murdered, according to his ghost. Paranormal investigators said they picked up evidence of Sheriff Bart’s presence and they carried on a spirited conversation with him. 785-658-2284, midlandrailroadhotel.com.

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Public gardens invite strolling among Kansa 5

Photos by Harland Schuster

Bartlett Arboretum, Belle Plaine Started by Dr. W.E. Bartlett as a park on the Belle Plaine city dump in 1910, the Bartlett Arboretum evolved to encompass 15 acres of formal gardens, trees, bridges and thousands of tulips planted in honor of Maxine Bartlett, who died as a young girl in 1918. The gardens were a casualty of rationing during World War II and remained closed until 1961 when they were reopened by the Bartlett family.

The gates were closed and a sale sign had been posted when Dixie Chicks founding member Robin Macy took a wrong turn – she prefers to call it a “divine accident” – after leaving Winfield’s Walnut Valley music festival in 1997. She bought the grounds and with the help of a cadre of volunteers has restored the gardens, which are the first landscape in Kansas to be accepted by the National Register of Historic Places. “It’s a great study of what will survive in Kansas weather for a hundred years,” she said.

The gardens are open to the public for Art at the Arb April 1415 ($5 donation), which features music, 35 artists and thousands of tulips. Treehouse concerts are planned for Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. The gardens are also open for groups by appointment. For information, visit bartlettarboretum.com.

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Botanica, the Wichita Gardens This urban oasis features 26 themed display gardens, water features, landscaped trails, sculptures and 4,000 species of plants both native and new to the region. The latest addition is the Downing Children’s Garden which incorporates whimsi-

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cal art by Kansas artists and a giant treehouse to invite children – and their parents – to explore nature. Other themed gardens include the Butterfly Garden, Woodland Bird Garden, Shakespearean Garden, Sensory Garden and Wildflower Meadow.

Hours are Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with extended hours April through October (Sundays 1-5 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday evenings until 8 p.m.). For more information about special events and lectures, visit botanica. org or call 316-264-0448.

Dyck Arboretum, Hesston 3 A trip to the Bartlett Arboretum was the inspiration for Harold and Elva Mae Dyck to begin planning an arboretum featuring Kansas plants and trees on 13 acres in their hometown of 3 Hesston. The first tree was planted in 1981, and the arboretum, which is operated by Hesston College, matured into one of the largest native plant gardens in the region with more than 600 varieties of native and adaptable trees, shrubs, wildflowers and grasses.

Another 18 acres to the south is under development.

The arboretum also hosts lectures, special events, the Prairie Window Concert Series and FloraKansas: Great Plains Plant Bazaar. Kansas’ largest native plant sale takes place this year April 26-30. The grounds are open daily sunrise to sunset. The

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5

as flora 1 visitors center and gift shop are open week2 days year-round and weekend afternoons from May 1 to Oct. 15.

For more information, visit dyckarboretum.com or call 620-327-8127 to arrange a guided tour.

train that will wind through a replica of downtown Overland Park.

Visitors can stroll more than five miles of hiking trails, including two 75-foot bridges that span Wolf Creek, or take a challenging hike along the limestone bluff. Open daily 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. from April 10 through Sept. 30, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Oct. 1 through April 9. Cafe open daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free, 913-685-3604.

Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens On 300 acres in southern Overland Park, these botanical gardens are dedicated to green – not only in the color of its gardens and open spaces but in its commitment to environmental and ecological issues.

Much of the facility is dedicated to preserving and restoring the region’s eight natural ecosystems, including the drymesic prairie, riparian woodland and the dry oak savanna. The arboretum’s gardens include the Erickson Water Garden, the Legacy Garden and Allie’s Glade, the Monet Garden, the Cohen Iris Garden, the Marder Woodland Garden, the Children’s Discovery and the water-efficient Xeriscape Garden. Future plans include adding a Train Garden, featuring a full-size caboose and boxcars, as well as a model

4

4

Ted Ensley Gardens, Topeka 1

Situated on the west side of Topeka’s Lake Shawnee, the Ted Ensley Gardens offer panoramic views of the lake and the surrounding countryside. The gardens got their start in 1978 when Theodore “Ted” Ensley, Topeka’s director of parks and recreation, had the idea to start a rose garden. Today the gardens feature more than 1,500 rose bushes, a rose garden, meditation garden, water and rock gardens, and annual and perennial beds.

Visitors to the gardens, located at the intersection of SE 37th and West Edge Road, can stroll through the gardens and visit the pergola and gazebo. The gardens are open daily 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., 785-267-1156.

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l 19

ven after 140 years, Dodge City still personifies the Old West.

Five flags have flown over the area south of the river that was part of Spanish territory: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas and the United States.

But the town that was founded in 1872 near Fort Dodge always retained its unique character – largely because of the characters who landed in Dodge City.

Many of those characters became known to the world through the longest running Western on television – “Gunsmoke,” which aired from 1955 to 1975 and made Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday and Miss Kitty, owner of the Long Branch Saloon, household names.

Dodge City ranked No. 8 on True West magazine’s Top True Western Towns of 2012.

“Dodge City is a Western legend – and more,” Bob Boze Bell, True West executive editor, said in making the announcement.

“The townspeople’s concrete efforts to maintain and honor local history, and to tell that amazing story, keep a crown on this ‘Queen of the Cowtowns.’”

The January edition of the magazine lauded the town for its new and updated markers on the longest clearly identifiable section of the Santa Fe Trail.

Visitors can learn more about Dodge City’s wild past at the Boot Hill Museum, which is housed behind a replica of Front Street. Located on the site of the original Boot Hill Cemetery, the museum’s 25,000 artifacts chronicle the area’s history starting with Native Americans, the Santa Fe Trail, buffalo hunting and the 1870s-1880s Texas cattle drives, which made it the largest cattle market in the world.

Photographs capture the local excitement when 50,000 people gathered to meet the train bringing Hollywood actors, including Errol Flynn and Humphrey Bogart, into town for the world premiere of the 1939 movie “Dodge City,” which was said to be the first movie to debut outside Hollywood.

Visitors can settle into a 1950s living room, complete with Naugahyde couch ended by horse heads, and watch a console TV play reruns of “Gunsmoke” to take a break from perusing the many artifacts from the show.

Exhibits also include the “Guns That Won the West” exhibit, which shows a 1770 French pistol and guns that belonged to Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp.

Visitors will also see the 1865 Fort Dodge Jail as well as a general store, cigar shop, dry goods store, barbershop, blacksmith and wheelwright, bank and restored church.

Arguably the town’s most important buildings – the original 17 saloons – are represented, and in the summer a nightly variety is show is presented in a replica of the Long Branch Saloon. During the day gunfight re-enactments take place on Front Street.

The train played an important role in settling the community and in the shipping of buffalo hides and bones. City officials convinced the Santa Fe Trail to build a

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The Long Branch Saloon (above) at Boot Hill Museum hosts nightly variety shows in the summer. The bronze statue “El Capitan” commemorates the 1875-1885 Texas cattle drives to Dodge City.

The restored train depot houses dinnertheater productions. Museum exhibits include an 1877 Colt Lightning pistol. photos (except depot) by harland Schuster

state-of-the-art depot and it opened in 1898, complete with a Fred Harvey Hotel and Restaurant, known as El Vaquero. The depot closed in 1970, but efforts began in 1994 to restore the historic depot.

The local theater company, Boot Hill Repertory, spearheaded fund-raising for the $12.5 million project, and the restored depot reopened in 2004 with a 162-seat dinnertheater. Renamed the Depot Theater Co., the group produces five major shows a year in addition to other performances and cabaret events.

A historic walking tour of Dodge City takes visitors past the bronze statue of the famous lawman Wyatt Earp and along the Trail of Fame, which has medallions for luminaries such as Doc Holliday, George Custer, Errol Flynn, Henry Fonda (who starred as Wyatt Earp in the 1946 movie “My Darling Clementine”) and Amanda Blake, who played Miss Kitty on “Gunsmoke.”

Dodge City Days was once again named a Top 100 Event in North America by the American Bus Association for 2012. This year’s event is July 27-Aug. 5. The 10-day event includes the Dodge City Roundup Rodeo Aug. 1-5, the 51st Dodge City Days Western Parade July 28, a two-day arts and crafts fair, parades, street dances, car show and fiesta.

For those wanting to get in on a modern-day poker game, Boot Hill Casino opened on the edge of town as the first state-run casino in 2009. Last year the United Wireless Arena and conference center opened adjacent to the casino, and this year a 108-room Hampton Inn will open on the property.

Boot Hill Museum and Front Street are open daily with gunfight re-enactments, country-style dinners and the Long Branch Variety Show nightly from May 28-Aug. 15, then weekends through Labor Day, 620-227-8188, boothill.org.

The Depot Theater Co., presents dinnertheater performances and other shows at the historic depot year-round, 620-225-1001, depottheaterco.com.

For more information, call 800-OLD-WEST or visit dodgecity.org. Trolley tours depart from the Information Center at 400 W. Wyatt Earp Blvd. May 30-Sept. 5.

– Cynthia Mines

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Cornucopia of Festivals Harvest celebrations evolved into an array of late summer and fall events

By Kim Hanke

N

othing says autumn in Kansas like the changing leaves, crisp air, and an abundance of fall festivals celebrating successful harvests, community and family.

Early Kansas settlers planned late-summer festivals to celebrate the end of wheat harvest. One of the longest-running is Wellington’s annual celebration, which started in 1900 as the Sumner County Jubilee and Wheat Carnival to celebrate a record-breaking harvest. This year the 112th Wheat Festival will be July 11-15.

Harvest the Excitement is the theme for the 51st annual Western Parade that will take place during Dodge City Days’ 2012 celebration on July 28. The 10-day event also features a professional rodeo, arts and crafts fair, and numerous Old West activities.

And residents in every Kansas county still take a break in late July or early August for their local county fair. The highlight of the Decatur County Fair in Oberlin the first full week of August is the city owned and operated carnival with its reasonably priced rides. To experience a county fair of yesteryear, visit Old Cowtown Museum’s Harvest of Progress: A County Fair on Oct. 6 in Wichita.

While the Kansas State Fair has agricultural roots and is timed for a relatively slow time for farmers, it is attended by thousands of city dwellers as well. Kansas’ 100th state fair will take place in Hutchinson Sept. 7-16.

Apples form the core for festivals in Louisburg and Topeka, and most years in Lucas, though this year the Adam’s Apple Festival on Labor Day weekend will instead be a celebration of Lucas’ 125th anniversary.

Centered around the Louisburg Cider Mill, the annual Ciderfest offers a fun atmosphere and learning experience as visitors watch the centuries-old process of making apple cider, from the initial stages to the actual press.

Other activities include hay wagon rides, pumpkin patch, 10-acre corn maze, straw castle, farm animals, live music, craft booths and a variety of food and drink, including cider donuts,

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Independence’s Neewollah celebration draws 70,000 people. The rest of the photos were taken by Harland Schuster at Wamego’s OZtoberFest.

hot or cold apple cider, and Lost Trail Root Beer, one of the sodas produced at Louisburg Cider Mill. This year’s dates are Sept. 29-30 and Oct. 6-7.

Cider Days in Topeka offers a variety of exhibits, demonstrations, food and entertainment. Take a step back in time with gunfighter and Civil War re-enactments, Native American chanting, pioneer demonstrations, Buffalo Soldier re-enactors, riding demonstrations and buck skinners. Other demonstrations have included cider making, basket weaving, rope making, candle dipping, fabric weaving, egg decorating, lace making, chair caning, apple butter cooking and soap making.

The two-day event also offers pony rides, petting zoo, local entertainers, craft exhibitors, clowns, magicians, face painters, mimes, square dancers, cloggers and ballet artists. The 2012 event is Sept. 22-23 at the Kansas Expocentre.

Pioneer life in Topeka also is celebrated at the annual Apple Festival the first Sunday in October in Old Prairie Town at Ward

Meade Historic site. The festival includes demonstrations by blacksmiths, quilters, musicians, craftsmen, and culinary artists as well as live entertainment, arts and crafts, and food vendors. The Prairie Mansion, log cabin and other vintage buildings on the six-acre historic site are open for viewing during the festival.

One of the oldest and most famous fall celebrations in Kansas is Independence’s Neewollah (Halloween spelled backwards), which native son William Inge used as the basis for a community festival in his play and movie, “Picnic.” Local lore claims Neewollah was started as a distraction to keep local kids from turning over the outhouses on Halloween.

The eight-day celebration the last week of October attracts 70,000 visitors each year to the southeast Kansas town.

Activities include three parades, arts and craft shows, musical and comedy acts, pumpkin contests, a chili cook-off, queen’s pageant, carnival, band competition, fun run, medallion hunt and food vendors.

Abilene has planned the 34th annual Chisholm Trail Day Festival for Oct. 6.

The celebration at Old Abilene Town will feature cowboys, living history, demonstrations and rides on the vintage carousel and historic steam-engine train.

In 2005, the community of Wamego started OZtoberFest to celebrate one of Kansas’ claims to fame and the newly opened Oz Museum. Since then it has grown into a community festival that celebrates what makes Wamego unique, according to Mercedes Michalowski, museum director. The 2012 festival is Oct. 5-7.

The Baldwin Maple Leaf Festival is scheduled for the third weekend in October, a peak time for the changing colors of the maple leaves. The two-day festival features a parade, 300 craft booths, carnival, petting zoo and pony rides, storytellers, music, quilt show and rides on the historic Midland Railroad.

Other long-standing late-summer and fall festivals include Threshing Days in Goessel, Anderson County Corn Festival in Garnett, Downtown Fall Festival in Fort Scott, Arkalalah Fall Festival in Arkansas City, and Oktoberfests in Atchison, Dodge City, Garden City, Hays, Caldwell and other communities. For 2012 dates plus dozens of other events, see the calendar listings on pages 31-33.

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Kansas City Renaissance Festival

Downtown Shops: Exit 224 on I-70, South on K-7 Hwy. to 32 Hwy. exit, Right on 32 (Front St.). Shops located on Front, Oak Street & 100 block of Nettleton Avenue.

I-70 Exit 224 www.bonnersprings.org National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame

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March 1-April 28 “Ledger Art of the Cheyennes

and Kiowas,” Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site, Republic, 785-361-2255.

1-Aug. 11 Abilene in the Fifties,

exhibition, Jeffcoat Photography Studio

30-May 13 Pastel National 2012 Exhibition, Wichita Center for the Arts, 634-2787.

Museum, Abilene, 785-263-9882.

20-24 NJCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship, Bicentennial Center, Salina, 877-725-4625.

April

27-29 Mid-American Farm Expo, Saline

County Expo Center & Bicentennial Center, Salina, 877-725-4625.

1-8 131st Messiah Festival of the Arts,

exhibitions and performances of Handel’s “Messiah,” bethanylb.edu.

Moveable feast lands in Liberal

6-8 “Blue Man Group,” Theater League

Broadway Series, 7:30 p.m., Century II, wichitatix.com, 219-4849.

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6-23 “Cabaret,” Salina Community

Theatre, 785-827-6126.

7 Easter Egg Hunt, 1 p.m., Eisenhower

Park, Abilene, 800-569-5915.

11-13 Spring Longhorn Cattle Drive, Moore Ranch near Dodge City, 620826-3649.

13-15 Spring Fling, Ulysses, Photos courtesy of Kansas Sampler Foundation

or the 23rd year, more than 100 Kansas communities will gather in one place for one weekend to celebrate all there is to see, do, hear, taste, buy and learn in Kansas.

Kansas musicians, artists, entrepreneurs, food vendors, attractions and communities will converge in Liberal May 5-6 for the 2012 Kansas Sampler Festival.

New this year will be the use of “wearable icons.” For example, someone from Liberal might walk the grounds dressed as a pancake to promote the annual International Pancake Day Race, according to Sally Fuller, local festival director. “This is something new that some towns will try,” she said. “It’ll add fun and color to the festival.”

Another addition this year will be pack goats and Mammoth donkeys from Paradise Ranch Adventures near Council Grove.

Started on the Penner Farm near Inman in 1990, the festival now moves to a different location every two years. The 2012 and 2013 festivals will be in Liberal.

The annual festival is a project of the Kansas Sampler Foundation, whose mission is to preserve and sustain rural culture.

Fuller thinks Liberal’s location in far southwest Kansas will be good for the festival because it will also attract

ulysseschamber.org.

14 Flint Hills Discovery Center Grand Opening, Manhattan, flinthillsdiscovery.org.

12-15 Tulip Time, Belle Plaine,

gosumner.com.

14-15 Civil War Encampment Weekend,

Fort Scott National Historic Site, 620223-0310.

18-21 William Inge Theatre Festival,

Independence, ingefestival.org.

This year’s Kansas Sampler Festival will be in Liberal May 5-6.

20 Cowboy Junkies in Concert, 8 p.m.,

attendees from Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. While the last two festivals had the advantage of being near the Kansas City metropolitan area, Fuller believes the rural location will be an advantage.

“When you live near a city there are a hundred things to choose from on a weekend,” she said. “That’s not the case here. When something like this comes to our area, people will go.”

The Liberal festival will be in Light Park at the corner of Kansas Avenue and 11th. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children 7-14.

For more information go to kansassampler festival.com or call 620-626-0170.

21 Civil War Day, Old Cowtown Museum, oldcowtown.org, 219-1871.

Stiefel Theatre, Salina, 785-827-1998.

21-22 Wichita Grand Opera presents Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale,” Mary Jane Teall Theater, wichitagrandopera.org, 268-4929.

22-23 Pioneer Days, Kiowa, 620825-4127.

24 Garrison Keillor, Stiefel Theatre,

Salina, 785-827-1998.

27-28 Martin and Osa Johnson Safari

Film Festival and Safari Days, Chanute, 877-431-3350.

27-28 Kansas Storytelling Festival,

Downs, 785-454-3808.

27-29 Kansas Birding Festival, Wakefield,

kansasbirdingfestival.org.

27-29 “Seussical,” Century II, mtypks.org,

262-6897.

27 Spring Gallery Walk and 42nd Annual

Smoky Hill Art Exhibition opening, 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Hays Arts Center Gallery, downtown locations, hasartsscouncil.org.

27 Trace Adkins in Concert, Stiefel

Theatre, Salina, 785-827-1998.

28 Barnyard Babies, National Agricultural

913-667-1703.

May

5 Tractor Cruise, National Agricultural

1 “Tribute to Musical Theatre,” Salina

Symphony, Stiefel Theatre, Salina, 785827-1998.

2 “Giselle,” Wichita Grand Opera, Century

II, wichitagrandopera.org, 268-4929.

4-5 Chisholm Trail Festival, Caldwell,

caldwellks.com.

4-6 Tragedy to Triumph. . . Five Years

Later, Greensburg, greensburgks.org.

Center and Hall of Fame, Bonner Springs, aghalloffame.com.

5 Cinco de Mayo, Garden City, 800-

28 Camp Wildwomen, hunting/fishing workshop for women, Horse Thief Reservoir, Jetmore, campwildwomen.com.

5 Marble Days Celebration, downtown

879-9803.

Bonner Springs, bonnersprings.org,

Center and Hall of Fame, Bonner Springs, aghoalloffame.com.

5-6 Kansas Sampler Festival, Liberal, kansassamplerfestival.com 6 Art in the Park, Lawrence, 785-

979-7039.

6-12 Bear Awareness Week, Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure, Salina, rollinghillswildlife.com.

8-12 “In the Heights,” Theater League Broadway Series, 7:30 p.m., Century II, wichitatix.com, 219-4849.

Continued on page 26.

28 Wichita Symphony Pops Concert: A Tribute to the Women of Motown Featuring Radiance, 8 p.m., Century II, wso.org, 267-7658.

785-472-4071 • ecofc@eaglecom.net

Historic Lecompton Territorial Capital of Kansas 1855

Pre-Civil War Sites Open Wednesday-Sunday: Territorial Capitol Museum and Constitution Hall Territorial Days June 22-23 Bald Eagle Rendezvous September 20-22 Christmas Vespers December 2 Tours: 785-887-6148 Lecompton Exit east of Topeka www.lecomptonkansas.com

www.indkschamber.org

620.331.1890

tourism@indkschamber.org

l 25

Calendar continued from page 25.

Wellington

Located in Sumner County, Wheat Capital of the World and only 14 miles from new Kansas Star Casino

112th Annual Kansas Wheat Festival July 11-15, 2012 This century-old tradition dates to 1900 when residents gathered to celebrate a record-breaking wheat crop.

Join us to salute the area’s rich agricultural history with days of activities. The only admission is a $2 button.

Or visit us year-round Stroll through our historic downtown, see a first-run movie at the Regent Theater or visit the Chisholm Trail Museum, Panhandle Railroad Museum or National Glass Museum (opening soon). Sample some of the region’s best barbecue, steaks and Mexican food, or step back in time at the old-fashioned Penny’s Diner.

Photo by Susan Treft

Live Well,

Live Wellington

Wichita Kansas Star Casino Wellington

Wellington Area Chamber of Commerce/ Convention & Visitors Bureau Just 14 miles on I-35 highway

wellingtonks.org | 620-326-7466

WELLINGTON’S

Chisholm Trail MuseuM HOURS: Spring Mid-April thru May

1-5 pm • Sat. & Sun.

Summer June thru October Fall

1-5 pm • Daily All of November 1-5 pm • Sat. & Sun.

ADMISSION:

Donations Graciously Accepted

(We are supported by donations.)

Across the street from the Sumner County Courthouse, the Chisholm Trail Museum contains over 40 rooms filled with over 20,000 artifacts and pictures, most collected locally, some dating back to the Civil War and the early-day cattle trail that passed west of Wellington.

502 N. Washington Wellington, Kansas 67152 620 326-3820

Chisholm Trail Museum 2010 Monday, March 01, 2010 12:05:05 AM

Schools Day, allschoolsday.com.

11-13 15th Sunflower Baloon Festival, Anthony, sunflowerballoonfest.com.

12 Barber County Wildflower Tour,

Medicine Lodge, 620-886-3721.

12 Ira Glass, Stiefel Theatre, Salina,

785-827-1998.

13 Wild About Moms, Rolling

Hills Wildlife Adventure, Salina, rollinghillswildlife.com.

18-19 Argonia Daze, Argonia,

gosumner.com.

18-19 Abbyville Frontier Days Rodeo

and BBQ, 620-727-4569.

19 Blue Sky Farm’s Special Day on the Farm: the Wonderful World of Miniature Horses, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Hays, 785625-6725.

19 Frozen in Time, Old Cowtown museum, oldcowtown.org, 219-1871.

19 Red Green’s “Live” Wit & Wisdom Tour, 7 p.m., Orpheum, wichitaorpheum. com, 263-0884.

19 Wichita Grand Opera presents Opera on the Lake, 6:30 p.m., Bradley Fair, Wichita, wichitagrandopera.org.

20 Run for the Wall, Veterans from all wars will stop in Junction City on their annual pilgrimage to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C., Junction City, junctioncity.org.

25 Vintage & Experimental Aircraft Fly-In, Amelia Earhart Airport, Atchison, atchisonkansas.net.

25-28 Little Britches Rodeo, Dodge City,

visitdodgecity.org.

26 Burns Route 77 Classic Car and Bike Show and Festival, Main Street, 100 burnks.com.

95 26-28 Fort Larned Living History Weekend, at best preserved Indian Wars fort75on the Santa Fe Trail, 620-285-6911.

26-Sept. 3 Star Wars: Where

Science Meets Imagination-National 25 Traveling Exhibit, Exploration Place, exploration.org, 316-660-0600.

5

1904 Pope Hartford Single - 10 hp - 78” wb

“You need to preserve your heritage, ... or you lose your way.”

26 l

11 99th annual McPherson County All-

28 Antique Tractor & Engine Show, 0 Lehigh, 620-483-4176.

28 Fidelisfest at Cathedral of the Plains, Victoria, stfidelischurch.com.

Star Wars exhibit lands in Wichita

T

he national exhibition “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination” will be at Exploration Place in Wichita May 26-Sept. 3. The 8,000-square-foot interactive exhibition allows visitors to explore the real science behind the fantasy technologies used in the Star Wars films and imagine how they could be used in real life. Highlights include Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder and robots C-3PO and R2-D2. Visit exploration.org for details.

May 30-

2 28th Phillipsburg Riverless Festival,

June 11 Beef Empire Days, rodeo on June 7, parade and chuckwagon on June 9, Garden City, 800-879-9803.

2 Chingawassa Days, Marion, chinga@

31-June 2 Flint Hills Rodeo, Strong City,

2 Great Planes on the Great Plains Fly In,

flinthillsrodeo.com.

June

785-543-2321. eaglecom.net.

Hays Regional Airport, flyhays.com.

2 National Biplane Fly-In, Freeman Field,

Junction City, nationalbiplaneflyin.com.

2-3 Butterfield Trail Ride, Russell Springs,

1-9 Wichita River Festival, downtown

locations, wichitariverfest.com.

1 ZooLaLA, Rolling Hills Wildlife

Adventure, Salina, rollinghillswildlife.com.

1-2 31st Annual Good Ol’ Days Street

Fair & Craft Show, downtown Fort Scott, fortscottgoodoldays.com.

2 Feast of the Fields and Wine in the

Wild at the Sunset Zoo, Manhattan, 800759-0134.

discoveroakley.com.

2-9 Grassland Heritage Festival, Elkhart, 620-697-2833.

3-17 “Fiddler on the Roof,” Music Theatre of Wichita, Century II, MTWichita.org, 265-3107.

4-20 “Man of la Mancha,” Great Plains Theatre, Abilene, greatplainstheatre.com.

Travel Kansas

and stay at these exclusive hotels & motels managed by

Kansas-owned and locally operated High Plains Management and Development, LLC

Burlington

Country Haven Inn | 1-800-942-8369

Coffeyville

Sleep Inn & Suites | 1-877-424-6423

Herington

Herington Inn & Suites 1-800-597-4581

Hesston

AmericInn Lodge & Suites 1-620-327-2053

Hillsboro

Country Haven Inn | 1-877-404-2836

Hoisington

Cheyenne Bottoms Inn & Suites 1-877-406-6022

Garnett

Garnett Inn, Suites & RV Park 1-877-448-4200

Continued on page 29.

Russell County “Alive with History, Culture, & Commerce”

Historical Water Tower

Lyons

Celebration Centre Inn & Suites 1-866-372-0882

Parsons

Sleep Inn & Suites | 1-877-424-6423 www.grannymaes.com Flatland Car Show

October 6 Russell County Economic Development & CVB (877) 830-3737 • www.russellcoks.org Russell Kansas

Spruce Street Inn, Coffeyville A circa 1906 Queen Anne Victorian Home at 702 Spruce St., 620-251-4527.

Visit Kansas Bed and Breakfast Association website, www.kbba.org, for more information.

l 27

r o w g e w ith us in M m o C arion County When you find yourself in Marion County, you will find communities enriched with deep historical heritage dedicated to preserving the past and embracing the future.

Located in central Kansas, Marion County is a great place for shopping, driving the Santa Fe Trail, exploring museums, having a picnic at any of our beautiful parks, swimming at the County Park & Lake or boating at the Marion County Reservoir. End the day with a meal at any of the 25 restaurants and relax at one of the more than 10 bed & breakfasts or motels. But first take a moment to watch the dramatic sunset and see stars that appear brighter than they do in the city.

Lodging

NorthShore Guest House 1475 240th, Marion 1-877-826-8728 northshore-guesthouse.com

Country Dreams B&B 2309 Clover, Marion 1-800-570-0540 countrydreamsbedand breakfast.com Country Haven Inn 804 Western Heights, Hillsboro 1-877-404-2836 countryhaveninn.com

The Old Goats Inn & Massage Garage 911 Marion Street, Florence 610-382-4191 theoldgoatsinn.weebly.com

Doyle Creek Bunkhouse 2704 110th, Florence 620-382-4228 doylecreek.com

The Outdoors Inn 25 Jerome St., Marion 620-382-3228 bbonline.com

Doyle Creek Mercantile & Corral A unique shopping experience Thursday-Saturday, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. or call for appointment Florence, 620-878-4567 www.doylecreek.com

Eight buildings in a villagelike setting tell the story of Mennonites who emigrated from the Ukraine in 1874 Open Tues.- Sun. May-September; Tues.-Sat. March-April, Oct.-Nov. Closed Dec.-Feb. except by appointment 200 N. Poplar, Goessel • 620-367-8200

Enjoy special events, shopping, museums and history at each of Marion County’s 12 unique communities: Burns, Durham, Florence, Goessel, Hillsboro, Lehigh, Lincolnville, Lost Springs, Marion, Peabody, Ramona, and Tampa

GrowMarionCounty.com

Marion County Economic Development • 200 S. 3rd, Suite 4 • Marion, KS 66861 • 620-382-8830

28 l

Calendar continued from page 27.

7-9 Echoes of the Trail Cowboy Gathering, Fort Scott, echoesofthetrail.com.

7-10 Smoky Hill River Festival, Oakdale

Park, Salina, riverfestival.com.

8-10 Santa Fe Trail Days, Larned,

larnedks.org.

9 Symphony in the Flint Hills, Strong City,

symphonyintheflinthills.org.

9 Route 56 Classic Cruiser Car Show,

Hillsboro Memorial Park, 947-2484.

9 Prairie Days Festival, Little House on the

Prairie, Independence, 620-289-4238.

9-10 Buffalo Bill Days, Tri-County Cruise

Car Show and Annual Quilt Show, Oakley, discoveroakley.com.

21-24 Country Stampede, Manhattan, 800-759-0134.

11-15 112th Annual Wheat Festival, Wellington, wellingtonks.org.

22-23 Territorial Days, Lecompton, lecomptonkansas.com.

11-15 “Honk!” Music Theatre of Wichita, Century II, 265-3107.

27-July 1 “9 to 5” Music Theatre of

13-14 Fort Harker Days and Frontier

Wichita, Century II, 265-3107.

29-July 15 “Oklahoma!,” Great Plains

Theatre, Abilene, 785-263-4574.

30 Bonner Blast, downtown Bonner

Living History, Kanopolis, 785-472-4071.

14 Tractor Daze and Mud Run, National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame, Bonner Springs, aghalloffame.com.

Springs, bonnersprings.org.

18-21 Pretty Prairie Rodeo, Kansas’ largest night rodeo, pprodeo.com.

30 Celebrate America, Old-Fashioned

Continued on page 30.

Independence Day Celebration, Old Cowtown Museum, oldcowtown.org, 219-1871.

One of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Art

Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery

July

9-11 Flint Hills Folklife Festival,

Cottonwood Falls, flinthillsfolklife festival.com.

10 5th Annual Antique & Classic Car

3-7 Sundown Salute – Largest Multi-day Independence Day Celebration in Kansas, Junction City, sundownsalute.org.

Show, Mennonite Heritage & Agricultural Museum, Goessel, 367-8200.

4 Freedom Safari!, Rolling Hills Wildlife

15-July 1 “Footloose-The Musical,”

4 88th Annual 4th of July Celebration &

Salina Community Theatre, 785-827-6126.

15-16 International Forest of Friendship Celebration, Atchison, atchisonkansas.net.

Adventure, Salina rollinghillswildlife.com.

Fireworks Extravaganza, largest ground fireworks display in Kansas, Peabody, peabodyks.com, 983-2174.

16 Bluegrass on the Lake, 5 to 10 p.m., Marion County Lake, 382-3240.

4 Old-fashioned Fourth of July, Sterling,

21-23 Common Threads Quilt Show

4-7 Wild West Festival, Hays Municipal Park and Ellis County Historical Society Museum, wildwestfestival.com.

2012, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Century II, wichitaquiltshow.com, 219-4849.

620-278-2737.

Sharing the arts with the world through the life and vision of Birger Sandzén.

401 N. First St. Lindsborg 1 to 5 p.m. Tues.–Sun. | Admission Free www.sandzen.org | 785-227-2220 Reopening April 1, 2012

A Top 100 Event in North America The 19th Annual

September 22 & 23, 2012 Lakeside Park, McPherson

(Centrally located, between Wichita and Salina on I-135)

Year of the Highland Athlete

National competitions in Caber, Sheaf Toss, Stone, Hammer Throws & More Celtic singers & dancers • Kids’ crafts & games Clan information • Massed pipe bands 16 venues of family fun • Saturday evening concert Children 12 and under admitted free

Ad funded in part by McPherson CVB grant

Photos © Laurence Ventress

S p e c i a l t r av e l k a n s a s o f f e r

$1 off admission (you may photocopy)

1-800-324-8022

www.macfestival.org l 29

102 miles of history is waiting.

Why are you?

Twice life-size Buffalo Bill Bronze Sculpture Fick Fossil & History Museum Monument Rocks Butterfield Trail Museum Smoky Hill Trail www. DiscoverOakley.com

785-671-1000 WesternVistasHistoricByway.com

Salina’s Smoky Hill River Festival in early June features art, kids’ activities and music.

Calendar continued from page 29.

25-29 “Singin’ in the Rain,” Music

20-Aug. 5 “Guys and Dolls,” Great Plains

Theatre of Wichita, Century II, 265-3107.

Theatre, Abilene, 785-263-4574.

27-Aug. 5 Dodge City Days, visitdodgecity.org.

20-21 Junction City Rodeo, Geary

County Fairgrounds, Junction City, junctioncity.org.

20-22 Pickin’ on the Plains Bluegrass

27-29 Kustom Kemps of America (KKOA)

Leadsled Spectacular Car Show, Oakdale Park, Salina dustomkempsofamerica.com.

Festival, Thomas County Fairgrounds, Colby, 785-460-7643.

August

21 National Day of the Cowboy, Heritage

Center, Abilene, 800-569-5915.

21 Sunflower State Games Adventure Race, Milford, adventureracekansas.com.

1-4 65th Annual Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo, Abilene, 785-263-4570.

2-4 Kansas’ Biggest Rodeo, Phillipsburg,

Kansas Largest night th 75

July18-21

Pretty Prairie • Starts at 8 p.m. all 4 nights

Foto Cowboy

• Get autographs before each performance • Wednesday/Thursday are Family Nights (kids 12 and under FREE) • FREE DANCE after rodeo all nights

www.pprodeo.com

30 l

Save on Advanced Ticket Purchases Call1-800-638-2702 after July 4

24-25 When Pigs Fly In & BBQ Contest,

kansasbiggestrodeo.com.

3-5 Goessel Country Threshing Days, 620-367-2229.

McPherson Airport, mcpherson chamber.org.

1-4 Watermelon Festival, Clyde, 785243-4303.

2 Old Settlers Day, Russell Springs,

25-26 Alton Jubilee, Alton, 785-984-2364.

discoveroakley.com.

Wichita, Century II, 265-3107.

25-26 Tumbleweed Festival, Garden City,

8-11 Tri-Rivers Fair, Rodeo & Draft Horse

800-879-9803.

Show, Saline County Livestock & Expo Center, Salina, 877-725-4625.

4-30 “Lion King,” Theatre League Broadway Series, Century II, wichitatix. com, 219-4849.

31-Sept. 3 Rocket Launch, Argonia,

8-12 “Legally Blonde,” Music Theatre of

gosumner.com.

10-18 Coffeyville Interstate Fair and

Rodeo, Coffeyville, fairandrodeo.com.

10-11 Herzogfest, Victoria, herzogfest.com.

10-19 “The Nerd,” Great Plains Theatre, Abilene, 785-263-4574.

11 Vintage Baseball Game, 1 p.m.,

September

7-8 KAN-OKLA 100 Mile Highway Sale, Coffeyville, kan-okla-highwaysale.info.

7-16 Kansas State Fair, Hutchinson,

kansasstatefair.com.

1-Oct. 14 Kansas City Renaissance

8 Mexican Fiesta, Garden City, 800-

Festival, Bonner Springs, weekends, Labor Day, Columbus Day, kcrenfest.com.

879-9803.

9-Oct. 21 Smithsonian Institution

Eisenhower Grounds, Abilene, 785263-6700.

1-3 Labor Day Parade & Festival,

Exhibition: “The Way We Worked,”

Florence, 878-4296.

Continued on page 32.

13-21 Civil War on the Western Frontier,

1-3 Lucas Celebrates 125th Anniversary,

Lawrence, 785-856-3040.

H e r i ngton

lucaskansas.com.

17 134th Emancipation Celebration/

Homecoming, Nicodemus, 785-839-4280.

...

17 Zoo Brew!, Rolling Hills Wildlife

Adventure, Salina, rollinghillswildlife.com.

17-18 Cawker City Twine-a-thon, 785-

781-4470.

17-19 Old Settlers Celebration, Conway

The Oasis on the Plains Located at Exit 53 on I-70 • Colby Visitor Center

Springs, gosumner.com.

• Prairie Museum of Art & History

18 Float Your Boat Cardboard Boat Races

• Kansas Biggest Barn

and Extreme Outdoor Water Festival, Milford Lake, junctioncity.org.

• Colby Aquatic Park

24-25 Annual Tiblow Days Festival,

downtown Bonner Springs, lifeisbetter. com, 913-422-5044.

Fun for all ages

Free information, Colby Convention & Visitors Bureau 350 S. Range #10, Colby, KS 67701 785-460-7643 or 1-800-611-8835

Sept. 22, 2012

For more info, call 785-258-2115 e-mail tricountyherington@sbcglobal.net or visit www.tricountycofc.com

conservatively speaking

has it all . . . and then some

BAKER ARTS CENTER H DOROTHY’S HOUSE H LAND OF OZ H MID-AMERICA AIR MUSEUM ROCK ISLAND DEPOT H CORONADO MUSEUM H PANCAKE DAY HALL OF FAME HOST OF THE 23RD ANNUAL

100 95 75

HOST OF THE 24TH ANNUAL

KANSAS SAMPLER FESTIVAL A PROJECT OF THE KANSAS SAMPLER FOUNDATION

MAY 5 & 6, 2012 —

AND RETURNS

— MAY 4 & 5, 2013

25

in LIGHT PARK at the corner of 11th & Kansas

Discover what there is to see, do, hear, taste, buy & learn in Kansas.

5 0

Adults: $5 • Children 6-12: $3 • 5 and under: free // Weekend Saver Pass: $8 Adults / $5 Child

1-800-LIBERAL • tourism@cityofliberal.org • www.visitliberal.com • www.kansassamplerfestival.com

l 31

Calendar continued from page 31.

Coronado Quivira Museum, Lyons, 620257-3941.

12-16 41st Annual Walnut Valley Festival and National Flatpicking Championships, Winfield, wvfest.com.

15 Fall Fest/Oktober Fest, Garden City,

800-879-9803.

15 Hillsboro Arts & Crafts Fair, 620-947-

3506.

15 32nd Annual Art in the Park and Craft

Show, Marion, 620-382-3425.

21 BBQ, Bikes & Blues Festival, Garden City, 800-879-9803.

21 Hot Air Balloon Event, Garden City,

800-879-9803.

22 Fair on the Square and Cars in the Park, Lyons, 620-257-2842 22 Rails n Trails Festival, Herington,

tricountycofc.com.

22 Anderson County Corn Festival,

Garnett, accornfest.com.

Harland J. Schuster

20-22 9th Bald Eagle Rendezvous, fur trading living history encampment at Bald Eagle Park, Lecompton, 785-887-6148.

The Abilene IronCutters will meet the Wichita Cowtown 9 in the fourth annual vintage base ball game to be played on the grounds of the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene at 1 p.m. Aug. 11. Players wear uniforms from the 1860s and play according to rules of the period.

dance, athletic competitions and bagpipe competition, McPherson, macfestival.org.

28 Oktoberfest Celebration, Frontier Park, Hays, 785-628-2624.

22 Caldwell Fall Festival, gosumner.com.

28-29 Pioneer Harvest Fiesta, Fort Scott, pioneerharvestfiesta.org.

22 Fall Fest, downtown Concordia,

28-30 Flatlander Fall Festival, Goodland,

concordiakansaschamber.com.

flatlanderfestival.com.

22 Salina Autumnfest, Smoky Hill

28-29 Jammin’ in JC Blues & BBQ

Museum Street Fair, Marathon and German Car Show, Salina, 877-725-4625.

Festival, Junction City, 785-238-8069.

22 Fall Festival, Fort Scott, fortscott.com.

22-23 Scottish Festival, highland

29-30, Oct. 6-7 Louisburg Ciderfest,

louisburgcidermill.com.

October 5-6 Dalton Defender Days, Coffeyville,

620-251-2550.

5-6 Gordon Parks Celebration, Fort Scott,

gordonparkscenter.org.

5-7 Columbus Hot Air Balloon Regatta

29 Oktoberfest, Dodge City, 620-255-5834.

and Columbus Day Festival (Oct. 6), columbusdayballoons.com.

29 Old Settlers Day, Marion, Central Park,

5-7 OZtoberFest, Wamego, oztober

marionks.com, 620-382-3425.

fest.com.

6 Oktoberfest Arts & Crafts Festival,

Atchison, atchisonkansas.net.

6 34th Annual Chisholm Trail Day

Festival, Abilene, 785-263-2681.

6 Harvest of Progress: A County Fair,

Old Cowtown Museum, Wichita, oldcowtown.org.

6 Flatland Car Show and Sanctioned BBQ

Contest, Russell, russellcoks.org.

6 Goessel Harvest Festival, 620-367-8111.

6 Lincolnville Octoberfest, 620-924-5208.

6 Nicodemus Pioneer Day, Nicodemus,

785-839-4280.

6 Fall Fest, Ulysses, ulysseschamber.org.

32 l

chestnutstreetdistrict.com.

26-27 Halloween Haunted House, Smoky Hill Museum, Salina, 877-725-4625.

13-14 Antique Engine & Steam Show,

27 Trick or Treat on the Farm and Boooo

Yesteryear Museum, Salina, 877-725-4625.

Barn, National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame, Bonner Springs, aghalloffame.com.

23 Mulvane Christmas in the Country,

31 Legends of Old Boot Hill Cemetery, 7 p.m., 18th & Fort, Hays, 785-628-2624.

23-Dec. 31 Seelye Mansion Christmas Tours, Abilene, 785-263-1084.

9 Taste of Downtown Hays, 6 to 8:30 p.m.,

13 International Lineman’s Rodeo,

National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame, Bonner Springs, aghalloffame.com.

13 Kansas State Cornhusking Contest,

Oakley, discoveroakley.com.

13 Pumpkin PaZoola, Rolling Hills Wildlife

Adventure, Salina, rollinghillswildlife.com.

November 3 Marion County Textile Trunk Show,

tallgrassfilmfest.com.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Marion Auditorium, 620-382-3206.

20 Belleville Autumn Festival, 866527-2355.

17 Parade of Lights & Christmas Festival, downtown Salina, 877-725-4625.

19-27 Neewollah, Kansas’ largest

19- Dec. 30 Christmas in Historic Lecompton, 785-887-6148.

18-21 Tallgrass Film Festival, Wichita,

celebration, neewollah.com.

24-27 81st Arkalalah Fall Festival,

Arkansas City, arkcity.org.

26-Nov. 4 “Dial M for Murder,” Great

Plains Theatre, Abilene, 785-263-2681.

discoveroakley.com.

23 Christmas Parade, Junction City,

785-762-2632.

Mulvane, gosumner.com.

27-29 “Rock of Ages,” Theater League

Broadway Series, Century II, wichitatix. com, 316-219-4849.

Continued on page 34.

21-Nov. 26 Christmas Traditions of Southwest Kansas, Stauth Memorial Museum, Montezuma, 620-846-2527.

23 Christmas Lights Parade, Oakley,

l 33

Calendar continued from page 33.

30 Christmas Past, 7 to 9 p.m., Historic

Fort Hays, 785-625-6812.

December 1 Lighted Christmas Parade, Lyons,

620-257-2842.

1-29 Drive-through Christmas Light Show

(weekends), Yesteryear Museum, Salina, 877-725-4625.

1-2 FrostFest, Hays, chestnutstreet district.com.

1 Night of Christmas Magic, with horse-

drawn trolley rides and tree lighting, downtown Abilene, 785-263-2231.

2-31 “They Also Ran: The Presidential

Hopefuls,” exhibition, Stauth Memorial Museum, Montezuma, 620-846-2527.

2 Arts & Music Stroll, 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.,

downtown Marion, 382-3206.

2 Christmas in the Cabin, Heritage Center,

Abilene, 785-263-2681.

8-9 Candlelight Tours of Fort Scott

National Historic Site, nps.gov.

History Comes Alive in Ulysses & Grant County

10 Cathedral Christmas Concert, 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., St. Fidelis Church, Victoria, 785-628-4258.

V

isitors who take the Cimarron Cutoff from the Santa Fe Trail find themselves at the Lower Spring campsite nestled in the heart of the Cimarron River valley, a site now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Stop and Stay Awhile Grant County offers superb hunting and shopping. Dining options include Kansasfed beef, a wide variety of the BEST Mexican food and catering for visiting groups.

Above: Jeff Trotman portrays early settler Jedediah Smith

along the Santa Fe Trail..

8

Photo by Laurel Kenney Jr.

Historic Adobe Museum

An interpretive center for the Santa Fe Trail which includes the Hotel Edwards. 300 E. Oklahoma, (620) 356-3009.

Open daily (except major holidays).

wonders of Kansas!

H I S T O RY

For information on planning your visit call (620) 356-4700; or visit us on the web at www.ulysseschamber.org

KANSAS SAMPLER FOUNDATION ©

mention this ad for visitor discounts

34 l

Get your plaid on and enjoy the Celtic music, food, bagpipe bands, clan booths and Highland athletics at the 19th annual McPherson Scottish Festival Sept. 22-23.

Listed by town or county, does not include calendar listings.

Abilene . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3, 5, 10, 23, 32

Florence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Inman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Arkansas City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 23

Fort Scott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 30

Junction City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Arlington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 10

Garden City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 33

Kansas B&B Association . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Atchison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 16, 17, 23

Garnett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Index continued on page 36.

Baldwin City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 17, 23

Girard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Beaumont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Goessel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 28

Belle Plaine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 19

Grant County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Bonner Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Greensburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 27

Buhler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Hays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 17, 23

Caldwell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Herington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27, 31

Chanute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Hesston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 19, 27

Coffeyville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Highway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24, 4

Colby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Hillsboro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28, 35

Columbus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Holton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Council Grove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Hutchinson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Dodge City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 20-21, 22, 23, back cover

Independence . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 22, 23, 25

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Dover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Durham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 9, 10, 28 Ellsworth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Hillsboro

RICE COUNTY COURTHOUSE

Arts & Crafts Fair

The Midwestern Creative Art Market

Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Exhibitors from 16 states German Food Fest • Kaffeehaus

For more information, call 620-947-3506 Or write: Hillsboro Arts & Crafts Association 109 S. Main, Hillsboro, KS 67063

Three Golf Courses Sterling Lake

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Indoor Horse Arena Unique Shopping

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STERLING Old Fashion 4th July 4, 2012 LYONS “Fair on the Square” September 22, 2012

l 35

Index continued from page 35.

Oberlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Kansas Sampler Foundation . . . . 24, 31

Osawatomie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 17

Kanopolis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Overland Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Lawrence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Peabody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28, 36

Leavenworth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Pittsburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 9, 10

Lecompton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Pretty Prairie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Liberal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24, 31

Rice County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Lindsborg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Russell County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Louisburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 36

Salina . . . . . . . . . Inside front cover, 30

Lucas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-15, 22

Sterling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Lyons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27, 33, 35

Sumner County . . . . . inside back cover

Manhattan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 34

Topeka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 19, 22

Marion County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28, 36

Ulysses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

McPherson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29, 34

Yoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 9, 10

Montezuma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 10

Walton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Mulvane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Wamego . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 22, 23

Newton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Wellington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 26

Oakley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Wichita . . . . 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 27 Wilson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 35

r o w with us in M g e m o C arion County Marion County is poised and ready for growth with two colleges, great schools, business parks and downtown areas where new businesses are constantly emerging and current businesses are expanding.

Marion County is a Rural Opportunity Zone (ROZ) and a prime location for business development Key economic development incentives:

• •

State income tax exemption for up to five years for individuals who move to a ROZ county from outside the state.

Student loan forgiveness for up to $3,000 per year ($15,000 max benefit) for individuals who graudate from an accredited post-secondary institution and move to a ROZ county.

GrowMarionCounty.com

Marion County Economic Development • 200 S. 3rd, Suite 4 • Marion, KS 66861 • 620-382-8830

36 l

sumneR county

just close enough, just far enough away

{ kansas star casino - mulvane }

Kansas City

Manhattan 70

ulvane }

{ old oxford mill - oxford }

Topeka { spring house - conway springs }

35

hutchinson wichita

{ chisholm trail - caldwell }

mulvane

sumner county

Independence

wellington

oklahoma border { salter house museum - argonia }

Check out all Sumner County has to offer at

www.gosumner.com

620.326.8779

Park

missouri border

40