With the Kansas Tourism Conference just around the corner, there is still time to register online if local members of the travel and tourism industry are interested in attending.
The conference, scheduled for Oct. 18-20 in Overland Park, features a Sunday night social function at the Overland Park Culinary Center that will be a cake baking contest between members of the travel and tourism industry across Kansas.
For more information or to register, log onto www.tiak.org.
8 Wonders of Kansas Customs
Three weeks into the 8 Wonders of Kansas Customs and the votes are rolling in with over 4,000 votes received and ballots submitted from all 50 states and 27 countries.
Voters have until midnight on Oct. 20 to submit ballots and can vote up to three times per e-mail address or can vote by paper ballot.
Paper ballots are available at the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce, 117 West Fourth Street, at the Franklin Community Center and Heritage Museum and various locations throughout Arma.
Crawford County has a finalist in the contest, the Kansas custom of walking to school, on the longest sidewalk in the United States to connect two towns between Franklin and Arma.
For more information on the 24 finalists in the 8 Wonders of Kansas Customs contest or to vote, log onto www.8wonders.org. You must vote for eight of the 24 finalists in order for your ballot to count, please be sure to vote for the Franklin-Arma Sidewalk.
Baseball pocket schedules
With baseball season winding down, the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau is liquidating its stock of pocket schedules for the Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Tulsa Drillers, Springfield Cardinals and Northwest Arkansas Naturals.
Leftover pocket schedules can be picked up for free at the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau located inside the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce, 117 West Fourth Street, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
The CVB still has pocket schedules for Pittsburg State University football, University of Kansas football and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Upcoming events
The fall festival season really gets going this weekend with festivities in regional destination such as Fredonia, Coffeyville and Neosho, Mo. But never fear there is one fall festival scheduled this weekend right here in Crawford County, get out and enjoy:
• Today and continuing through Saturday, the annual Girard Homecoming is get underway today at 9 a.m. with a poetry reading at Girard High School titled “Three from Osage Street.” Other events today include a community pep rally at the downtown square at 1:45 p.m., a tailgate party at 5:30 p.m. and Homecoming football game at 7 p.m. Events on Saturday begin at 7:30 a.m. with the 5K run and mile fun run and walk, followed by the Lions Club Pancake Feed, arts and crafts vendors, food vendors, gas engine and tractor display, car show, mobile health unit, parade, cake walk, quilt show, children’s games, inflatables, cake auction, 3-on-3 basketball tournament, live music, greased pig and chicken surprise contest, pedal tractor pull, another poetry reading by Kay Zettl Myers, Bret Waller and Tom Lisenbee “Three from Osage Street” at 2 p.m., women’s games, a car bash, jaws of life demonstration, beer garden, school tours, alumni banquet, street dance and movie night. For more information, contact the Girard Area Chamber of Commerce at (620) 724-4715.
• Saturday and Sunday, the Wood Farm Pumpkin Patch will celebrate its opening weekend of the fall. An agritourism attraction located southwest of Pittsburg, Wood Farm Pumpkin Patch features pumpkins for the picking and a large pumpkin display. Children’s activities including a small corn maze, hay bale maze, pumpkin chunkin’ slingshots, hay rack rides, corn box, Jack-O-Lantern Express Train and petting zoo. Hours are Saturday 10 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sunday’s Noon-6 p.m. Located at 1122 South 200th Street. For more information, contact Laura Wood (620) 249-5223, or e-mail woodfarmpumpkinpatch@mobil1.net.
• Sunday, the Mirza Shriners will host its First Sunday Breakfast open to the public the first Sunday of each month at the Mirza Shrine Temple, 110 West Fifth Street in Pittsburg from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. For $6, diners can get all you can eat pancakes, biscuits and gravy, sausage, bacon and much, much more. For more information, contact the Mirza Shriners at (620) 231-4180 or log onto www.mirzashriners.com.
• Next Monday through Wednesday, the Kansas Association of Family and Community Education will host its state conference at Memorial Auditorium. For more information, contact the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau at (620) 231-1212.
Craig Hull is the director of the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau. It is the purpose of the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau to promote travel and tourism in Crawford County, Southeast Kansas and the Midwest. He can be reached at chull@pittsburgareachamber.com or at 1-800-879-1112.
PITTSBURG —
