Autumn Wonderland

Autumn....ahhh, the sound of leaves crunching under your feet, geese squawking overhead , crisp clear cold air, and pumpkins everywhere. Instead of a winter wonderland, I think you could consider this time of year in Kansas an "Autumn Wonderland!"

To add to this natural entertainment a group of hardworking and industrious souls have taken tourism to new heights with their investments in creating corn mazes and pumpkin patches for us to enjoy. It seems a new one crops up every year somewhere in the state. One of my favorites is located in southwest Kansas near Sublette at the Steve Weidner farm. At one time he grew over 60 variety of pumpkins and squash! The highlight though is the trebuchet he built to catapult pumpkins and other squash over the priaire where they splatter everywhere much to the delight of onlookers.

Shannon and Grady Martin are an energetic couple who, besides raising four incredible kids, running the Stone Barn Mercantile, opening up four new lodging cabins called Stone Creek Cabins have also started operating a Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch! Oh, and Grady works on jet engines for his day job and runs a herd of cattle on the side and Shannon is a grant writer extraordinaire!

Thank goodness for people like them, the Weidner's and many others who enjoy the autumn season so much they want to enhance it even further for us to enjoy!

Come and Get Kansas-Now!

KE#36, WenDee Rowe LaPlant

Doing It Her Way

Judy McGill has a fabric, quilt, button, and notions shop in the middle of a residential area in the town of Dexter, pop. 350. Creek Water Wool Works is in a gray metal building set at an angle. It's what's inside that counts.

When you first walk in you see the rows of colorful bolts of fabric. It almost makes me wish I knew how to sew! Judy doesn't have a lot of fabric quantity but she sure has quality. She also has a big basket full of colorful buttons!

You'll see a section of one wall dedicated to books. Creek Water also serves as the town library. Judy sees a problem and believes in doing something about it. Customers and townspeople bring in books they no longer need. Dexter only has school four days a week so for awhile Dexter high school girls would come in on Friday and learn to quilt.

Judy loves living rural and does things like give discounts to people that live in the country. She and some friends have put a quilt together out of scraps to give the Dexter fire department. When the volunteer fire department next fights a house fire they can give the family something made with love to warm them. She's always thinking of how she can contribute to the community.

Rural life works well for Judy. Thanks to all the Judy's around the state. You make our small towns great places to live. You are the definition of community.

Hope this helps you "Get Kansas". Yours, KE #2 Marci Penner

Gathering is Good

There is a restaurant in Dexter called The Gathering Place. Dexter, located in Cowley County, has a population of about 350. It's open Friday & Saturday 7 a.m.-3 p.m.; Sunday noon-2 p.m. It's located downtown
at 105 S. Main.

Every community needs a gathering place. This one is really homey and inviting. The women that work there are very friendly, they love to cook from scratch, and they give their customers wonderful attention. I'm not sure if there are multiple owners or if they just have a great working arrangement but because there is a main core, if one needs to attend a game or go to an appointment, the others take up the slack. It works really well. That might be a secret to success.

When you think about it, a place to eat has always been the gathering place dating back to when the west was being settled. It's really hard on a community when the restaurant closes because they lose that place to find "community." The restaurant is where you hear the news, where you make plans, where you get nourished, where you see friends or check out the strangers in town.

There is nothing that can replace a small town restaurant. Some are in historic buildings, some have the classic waitress, and many have good old-fashioned made-from-scratch food. But all of them struggle to make it, especially in towns of 2,000 or less. Some buy processed food when they'd like to bake and cook from scratch but revenue prohibits that. That's where we can help! When you're out and around the state if you have a choice please eat at a local cafe!

We should appreciate and support these local cafes. Hats off to all the people who keep them going. It's hard work but what a value a cafe is to a community.

Here's a special thanks to the women at The Gathering Place in Dexter: Vickie Drake, Lynn Killingsworth, Kelly Killingsworth, and Janice Reeves.

Get Kansas! Kansas Explorer #2 Marci Penner

Some Neat Results of the 8 Wonders

Yesterday we announced the 8 Wonders of Kansas Art winners. To some cities, this becomes more than just a contest. It's an affirmation. I'd like to send you to two newspaper web sites, the Hays Daily and the Fort Scott Tribune to read about Oakley and Fort Scott.

In our quest to simply educate the public, some other really terrific things have happened like self-esteem building for an entire town and helping them realize that they do have something great to offer.

http://www.fstribune.com/blogs/1268/entry/21612/

http://www.fstribune.com/story/1472450.html

http://www.hdnews.net/Story/8wonders102308

The 8 Wonders help you "Get Kansas", Thanks for checking in, KE #2 Marci Penner

PANCAKE QUEST IS NOW OFFICIAL

Okay, who stole this week? Fess up! Good grief, today is Friday and I didn't get done half of what was on my "to do" list.

It's been a whirlwhind since last Saturday in Dexter at the B.Y.O.L.C. I know Moss the Boss already yakked about that fabulous event so I'll just tell you about the pancakes!

Just in case you haven't heard, I am now on an official "Explorer Quest!" Yes, that's right. Add another one to the list. I'll be spending the next few years trying out pancakes at a local eaterie in each of the 105 counties of Kansas. I think I have this love for pancakes because of my mother and grandmother, each of whom made the best pancakes I've yet to eat. Now Mom made hers with buttermilk and cooked them on the griddle of the old Chamber stove. You know the one that Rachel Ray uses on her cooking show! That stove is just the best! (You can see one in Morland at the community center too!) Grandma Bare made Buckwheat Pancakes every day of her married life and served them with honey or blackstrap molasses. She sometimes added soybean grits to the batter! She'll turn 94 in November so maybe there's something to that!

I can now add Cowley County where I discovered one of my top five pancake breakfasts so far at The Gathering Place. One of my criteria for fantastic pancakes is that they are served with piping hot maple syrup. Three adorable ladies who share ownership and cooking duties Friday-Sunday also made the experience a wonderful one. Stop in sometime not only for the pancakes but for their delicious home made meals inlcuding chicken fried steak made the Explorer Way and Sunday fried chicken! We loved the eclectic collection of vintage dishes used to serve the meals at The Gathering Place. It made for a very special experience!

Behind the scenes with the 8 Wonders of Kansas Art

This morning at 7:30 a.m. I started sending out congratulations to the following finalists that were the top 8 vote getters for the 8 Wonders of Kansas Art contest.

• Birger Sandzen, Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery, Lindsborg
• Blue Sky Sculpture, Newton
• Buffalo Bill Bronze Sculpture, Oakley
• Garden of Eden/Lucas, Grassroots Arts Mecca
• Gordon Parks, Fort Scott
• John Steuart Curry Murals, state capitol, Topeka
• Keeper of the Plains, Wichita
• St. Mary's Catholic Church, St. Benedict

It's fun to notify these folks. I got the word to Fort Scott just in time for them to announce it at a chamber coffee. St. Mary's Church didn't make it in the overall 8 Wonders of Kansas round so they were elated -- and should be. They have such a beautiful and artful interior! Everyone was excited. Of course, there are the 16 finalists that didn't make it but most have really good attitudes about having had the opportunity to be in the contest and to benefit from the exposure.

We've been busy sending out news releases to media. Lawrence Journal World already has it online. TV stations and many newspapers are asking for pictures. WenDee handles all the picture requests. Thank goodness. I've done several interviews already. Our web designer friends at LogicMaze (Hutchinson) have been there to help with all sorts of details. Somehow it all comes together!

In the weeks leading up to this announcement, Mom has been counting and counting paper ballots --1,524 of them! What would we do without her? It was very nice that 7,625 came in through the online voting mechanism. Schools have been telling us how they've used the contest with their students. Students have voted, nursing homes, too. Votes came from 46 states and nine foreign countries. It's all good.

Especially for the more rural towns, being a finalist in any of these contests is really an affirmation for them and provides an impetus to capitalize on this asset that they have in their town.

The whole state has a lot to offer when it comes to art and we hope that the contest helps make that point!

Get Kansas! KE #2 Marci Penner

See First Barn Logo near Dexter!

On Saturday, October 18 more than 100 people gathered at the base of the Stone Barn Mercantile 1/2 mile north of Dexter on K-15 to watch Augusta artist Kerry Unrein put the finishing touches on the first mural completed for the Kansas Barn Alliance's sesquicentennial project.

The Kansas Barn Alliance requires that a sunflower (of any design), the word Kansas, and the years 1861-2011 be included in the painting. Barn owners Grady and Shannon Martin and artist Unrein decided to add a Kansas-version of Mount Rushmore to this barn. The faces belong to Dwight Eisenhower, Amelia Earhart, Bob Dole, and former Governor Robert Docking. Docking lived and worked in nearby Arkansas City for many years.

It was a nice, sunny day and our lawn chair discussion included ideas for barn logos in other counties. One county is thinking of adding a silhouette of their courthouse. Another is considering using one symbol for each of the five towns in the county. The barn alliance is doing this to honor barns and the 150th birthday of Kansas. The plan is to have the logos completed by 2011 so the public can drive around the state in the sesquicentennial year and see the variety of drawings. What a great idea!

After the drawing, people meandered around the Martin's farm to pick pumpkins, walk through the corn maze, shop in the Stone Barn Mercantile, and look at the newly-opened log cabins. The Gathering Place, Henry's Candy, and Creek Water Wool Works were popular stops in Dexter.

This was the last 2008 destination for the Kansas Sampler Foundation's "Bring Your Own Lawn Chair" series. I think we made a dent in the public's awareness of issues and opportunities in towns of less than 500 population and we look forward to doing it again next year. A big thanks to the many Kansas Explorers Club members who formed the core of the lawn chair sitters!

Get Kansas! KE #2 Marci Penner