It’s Family Day weekend at Pittsburg State University.
Knowing full well the town will be loaded with family, friends, fans and alumni, not to mention a visiting football team from St. Joseph and a visiting junior college team from Hutchinson, perhaps the local business community could capitalize on this event.
I’ve yet to see one sign/marquee in town welcoming family and friends for Family Day.
I wonder how many places in town can make an effort to throw something on their signs as soon as this hits the newsstand Friday morning.
8 Wonders of Kansas Customs
Two weeks into the 8 Wonders of Kansas Customs and the votes are rolling in with over 3,900 votes received and ballots submitted from all 50 states and 24 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.
Soda fountains on the 8 Wonders of Kansas Customs
One of the few readers of this weekly travel column was nice enough to ask a question in regards to last week’s column listing the 24 finalists in the contest. A reader inquired about the 37 operating soda fountains in Kansas and wanted to know more information.
As it turns out, this reader was interested in visiting at least one, if not more, of the 37 operating soda fountains and wanted to know the whereabouts on all 37 operational soda fountains. This reader, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was making an effort to try to visit at least half of the 24 finalists and figured a soda fountain treat during her travels would make the trip all the more special.
Well, I don’t have enough space in this column to list all 37 operational soda fountains, but I can list a handful that is a close drive from Crawford County.
Those soda fountains include:
• A short 40 minute trip to Chetopa will lead you to Riggs Drug, located at 426 Maple. It is open Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. and Saturday’s 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Football fans traveling to Chanute for today’s Pittsburg High game should leave early and stop by the Cardinal Drug Store in downtown Chanute, 103 East Main. Cardinal Drug is open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday’s 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Hamilton, a small town located on Highway 99 in Woodson County as you head north toward Emporia, features Holmes Sundry (101 East Main, open Monday-Friday, 6 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday 6 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday 7 a.m.-2 p.m.) that has a 1920’s soda fountain on a marble base, stools, original syrup pumps and water spigots.
• Howard, located west of Independence in Elk County, has an old fashion soda fountain located inside Batson’s Drug (102 North Wabash, open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.). The soda fountain was rebuilt in 1953 and features a back bar, mirrors and speckled Formica top.
• Over in Independence, The American Soda Fountain and Sandwich Shoppe (205 North Penn, open Monday-Saturday, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.) features 15 stools and a 1970’s jukebox.
To see a complete list of information on all 37 operational soda fountains in Kansas, log onto www.8wonders.org.
2010 Kansas Calendar of Events
Less than a week away from the deadline, and apparently there are no events scheduled for 2010.
The Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau are still seeking information for the 2010 Crawford County Calendar of Events to be published in the Kansas Department of Commerce Division of Travel and Tourism annual statewide Calendar of Events listings.
The statewide Calendar of Events listings are published separate from the Kansas Visitors Guide, but are included as an insert to be distributed along with the Kansas Visitors Guide.
The Division of Travel and Tourism prints 400,000 copies of its Calendar of Events annually and all event listings in the Calendar of Events are free.
Events included in the Calendar of Events are community fairs and festivals such as the Frontenac Homecoming, Arma V-J Homecoming, Little Balkans Days Festival, Walnut Festival and Homecoming, Cherokee Homecoming, Arcadia’s Old Settlers Days Festival, McCune Fall Festival and Girard Fall Festival, special celebrations in connection with holidays such as the Hepler Ruritan Fourth of July Rodeo and Celebration, Crawford State Park Fourth of July Celebration, Girard Fourth of July Celebration and Pittsburg’s Fourth of July Celebration as well as annual events such as the Jock’s Nitch Softball Classic, the Southeast Kansas Old Time gas Engine and Tractor Show, the Four-State Farm Show, Crawford County Fair, Festa Italiana and Greenbush Day.
Information on each of these events should include the dates for 2010, contact information and a general description of each event.
The deadline to be included in the 2010 Kansas Calendar of Events is Tuesday, Sept. 29. To submit event information, please e-mail it to the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau at chull@pittsburgareachamber.com or call 1-800-879-1112.
Upcoming events
It’s Family Day at Pittsburg State University, another big game beckons with Missouri Western in town and all these activities are scheduled as well; be sure to get out and about and enjoy these events in Crawford County this week and on into next week:
• The art work of Matthew Burke and his display “As Above, So Below” is on display at the University Gallery inside of Porter Hall on the campus of Pittsburg State University. The display will be open now through Oct. 13. For more information, contact Pittsburg State University at (620) 231-7000.
• Today and continuing through Sunday, the annual McCune Fall Festival and Homecoming will take place in McCune. Today’s events include a youth fair, free bean feed, kiddie tractor pull and softball tournament. Saturday’s events include a baby show, youth fair, Fall Festival King and Queen Coronation Ceremony, sports events, grand parade, alumni reception, volleyball and horseshoe tournaments, all-school alumni reunion, antique tractor pull and live music by Loosen Up performing at Smitty’s. Sunday’s events include the community church service, church noodle dinner and the 33rd annual demolition derby at 2 p.m. For more information, contact City Clerk Diane Nutt at (620) 632-4299, mccunecity@ckt.net.
• This weekend will be the opening weekend at Hickory Creek Farms for its Fall Family Fun Days on the Farm. Saturday’s and Sunday’s this weekend and continuing through October, Hickory Creek Farms, will be open to the public from 1 p.m.-7 p.m. Located north of McCune in rural Crawford County, Hickory Creek Farms features activities for the entire family including farm animals in the Critter Corral, Hay wagon Rides, a pumpkin playground, a corn tub, a giant sand pile, the Hickory Creek Farm Express and a six-acre corn maze. For more information and directions to Hickory Creek Farms, log onto www.hickorycreekfarms.com or call (620) 632-4294.
• Sunday, the Southeast Kansas Symphony Orchestra will perform its Symphony at Sunset at 6 p.m. at the Mined Land Wildlife Area located 2.3 miles west of 20th and the 69 Bypass. Tickets are $25 per person and are available at the PSU Ticket Office, (620) 235-4796. Parking assistance will begin at 5 p.m. For more information, log onto www.seksymphony.org.
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.
