KANSAS! Magazine | Winter 2012

kansas’ kansasmag.com

$4.99

vol 68 issue 4

artistic mark on the

World’s Fair

peop edi t i ole n

contents features

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Reasons We Love Kansas

Winter is a time to rejoice in all the things we love, and for KANSAS! magazine, that’s everything with a wonderfully unique Kansas connection Written by Gloria Gale

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Kansas’ Stylish Trendsetters

17 The Trendsetters

These fashion-forward trendsetters have built their brands with Kansas roots Written by Katy Ibsen & Jess Lindsey

25 Kansas’ Finest

We honor the state’s finest tourism gurus Written by Kim Gronninger

34 A Worldly Display

Kansas leaves an artistic mark on The World’s Fair Written by Nancy Vogel

48 The Night Writer

Max McCoy continues to churn out page-turners, inspired by Kansas Written by Cheryl Nelsen

on the cover

Kansas at the World’s Fair

from the editor

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his People Edition of KANSAS! is overflowing with only a sample of the good folks who make Kansas a great state to visit and live in. We’re proud to present four fantastic Kansas ambassadors with a Kansas’ Finest award. They are raising the bar for hospitality to offer unique experiences.

This season’s Our Town takes us underground to the Ellinwood tunnels.

Step back in time at this historic attraction and hear colorful stories of the Wild West. Reminisce about the good old days as you try family recipes from some well-known Kansas personalities—we highly recommend the doughnuts!

Tour the state via some of Kansas’ most iconic storefronts—just in time for the holidays. In our Trendsetter feature, you’ll meet three Kansans who are setting a stylish attitude for our Midwest fashionistas.

We know you’ll find many reasons to praise Kansas this winter, but we can all agree the people are No.1!

Thanks for reading,

Jennifer Haugh, Editor

Painting by Louis Copt

KANSAS!

Send your story ideas to or to KANSAS!, 1020 S. Kansas Ave., Suite 200, Topeka, KS 66612. ksmagazine@sunflowerpub.com

find us on facebook: facebook.com/kansasMagazine follow us on twitter: @kansasMag

kansasmag .com • kansas!

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departments

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The Making of KANSAS!

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Letters

14 Kansas Events 30 Our Town: Ellinwood

An underground world reveals Kansas’ wild history Written by Patsy Terrell

38 Tour Kansas: Shop This Way

Kansas has no shortage of iconic stores to spend an afternoon and find a treasure … or two Written by Kimberly Winter Stern

42 Gallery 52 Taste of Kansas: Family Recipes Dishing it out from Western Kansas Written by Cecilia Harris

56 Milestone: Junior League of Topeka

52 48 2

Taste of Kansas: Family Recipes

The Night Writer

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GO MOBILE! Scan our QR code with your smartphone for the latest from KANSAS! magazine.

the making of

peop edi t i ole n

EDITOR’S PICKS

People behind the scenes

Contributing Photographers

MASTER CHEF Evan Williams, of Evan Williams Catering in Lawrence, was tasked with the challenge of bringing our Taste of Kansas story to life.

Her unique touch, beautiful presentation and appreciation for food was the perfect ingredient to honor some of Kansas’ family recipes. Photographer bonus—sampling the product. www.evanwilliamscatering.com

DOUBLE TAKE

Kansas can be smaller than you think—at least for cowboy Brent Harris. This season the Dodge City native found his way into our pages not once, but twice. You can read about his chef skills in our Taste of Kansas story (on p.52) but also learn more about what makes him one of our Kansas’ Finest honorees (on p.28).

As we put the magazine together, Managing Editor Katy Ibsen, earmarks attractions for her own travels. This season includes:

Oz Winery – Wamego “Clever labels and a chance to find out what the Yellow Brick Road tastes like!”

Freelance Writers

Mill Creek Antiques – Paxico “I love antiquing, and I’ve heard Paxico has some amazing finds.”

Pineapple Post – Plainville

Gallery Photographers

“I’ve shopped C.S. Post in Hays.

Now it’s time to shop Pineapple Post.”

shutterbugs Hats off to our Kansas’ Finest photographers! Once we received the names of our award winners, we needed four photographers in four locations—thank you again for your willingness and quick availability: Joyce Harlow, Cory Keller, Tim Sigle and Josh Roesener.

Mount Sunflower – near Weskan “As the highest point in Kansas, at 4,039 feet, it’s a perfect hike for this former Coloradan.”

louis, louis Painter Louis Copt was commissioned to create a beautiful cover piece for us that was inspired by Kansas’ appearances in various World’s Fairs. His quick sketches blew us away, and the end product … speaks for itself. Hold on to this one; it will remain a treasure in your KANSAS! magazine collection. www.louiscopt.com

kansasmag .com • kansas!

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letters Highest Praise Mary Jo Whitaker Swietek: Just received my Kansas! magazine, and this is really a great issue. Makes me want to go to all the places you featured. Good job on the stories.

t h e

o f

K a n s a s

Kansas farm and ranch women are as comfortable out on the range as in front of one

PhotograPhy by Jason Dailey Kansas’ leading ladies, Lori Deyoe, Cherie Schenker, Debbie LyonsBlythe and Abby Amick.

farm tough: kansas’

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Fall

eat:

kansasmag.com

vol 68 issue 3

Leading Ladies

Powerhouse

Steaks

4tours haunted

fo e d i od tio n

Loving

Congratulations on this issue of your magazine, which I consider your very best. I have been receiving this magazine for many, many years. I love the advice on things to do and see in Kansas. Take a bow; you deserve it. … Why wouldn’t many of us love Kansas? There are many things to do and see.

Mary Alden Clarke Topeka

facebook Warm Fuzzies Toni Elizabeth Kurasch: A dear friend gifted me with your gorgeous (& informative) magazine!

Colleen G. Carroll: A great magazine full of beautiful pictures, info on many facets of Kansas and good ideas for trips within the state. Makes a perfect gift for newcomers to the state!

Artistic Works by Lu: I am so blessed that the studio was mentioned in Kansas! magazine and Midwest Living magazine. Both did articles on our great hometown, Leavenworth. What a wonderful place to live!

Blacksmith Coffee Roastery: Thanks to Kansas! magazine from Blacksmith Coffee Roastery for publishing the great article about Kansas coffee roasters by writer Amy Bickel, with excellent pictures

by Ze Bernardinello, in the Fall 2012 issue! We raise our cups to you!

Sue Kimball Stringer: I received my Kansas! magazine on Saturday. The whole issue is great, but, I especially love Lou Ann Thomas’ article and Jason Dailey’s pictures for “The (Real) Farmwives of Kansas” article, the Native Stone Scenic Byway committee members featured Abby Dechant Amick, and the Taste of Kansas bits about the Alma Bakery & Sweet Shoppe and Alma Creamery. All great assets of the Native Stone Scenic Byway!

Rhonda Fleming: The best magazine! Thank you!

Kellie Etherson: Making snickerdoodles! Many thanks for the wonderful recipes!

Nancy Stewart-Lawrence: The Ghost Stories of Historic Delano was mentioned in this month’s magazine. … Thank you so much for including us in this cool magazine!

send your letters to: Editor, KANSAS!, 1020 S. Kansas Ave., Suite 200, Topeka, KS 66612 or e-mail ksmagazine@sunflowerpub.com

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winter issue 2012 Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Jennifer T. Haugh editor

Sam Brownback governor

Robin Jennison Secretary

Becky Blake

Director, tourism division

www.sunflowerpub.com lawrence, kansas

design & production

Katy Ibsen

managing editor

Jenni Leiste Designer

Jason Dailey photographer

Bert Hull

general manager

KANSAS! (ISSN 0022-8435) is published quarterly by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism 1020 S. Kansas Ave., Suite 200 Topeka, KS 66612; (785) 296-3479; TTY Hearing Impaired: (785) 296-3487.

Periodical postage paid at Topeka, KS, and at additional mailing offices.

Newsstand price $4.99 per issue; subscription price $18 per year; international subscription price $22 per year.

All prices include all applicable sales tax.

Please address subscription inquiries to: Toll-free: (800) 678-6424 KANSAS!, P.O. Box 146 Topeka, KS 66601-0146 e-mail: ksmagazine@sunflowerpub.com Website: www.KansasMag.com POSTMASTER: Send address change to: KANSAS! P.O. Box 146, Topeka, KS 66601-0146.

Please mail all editorial inquiries to: KANSAS!, 1020 S. Kansas Ave., Suite 200, Topeka, KS 66612 e-mail: ksmagazine@sunflowerpub.com The articles and photographs that appear in KANSAS! magazine may not be broadcast, published or otherwise reproduced without the express written consent of Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism or the appropriate copyright owner. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Additional restrictions may apply.

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Reasons we ❤ KANSAS Written by Gloria Gale

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T R AI L

One of the great bodies of water in the Midwest is the Kansas River, nicknamed the Kaw. Flowing 170 miles between urban and rural areas, the linear river provides unique recreational and natural resources for the state of Kansas. It is also the longest prairie-based river in the world.

Recognizing the river’s significance, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently designated the Kansas River Water Trail as part of the National Water Trail System. The July 14 event, preceded that day by Salazar taking a boat trip on the river, culminated in front of the Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan. Laura Calwell, Kansas Riverkeeper, says, “One of our goals has been to facilitate an access ramp every 10 miles on the river to afford more recreational opportunities. Currently we’re close to meeting that goal.

The National Water Trail System designation gives us a lot of credibility. As one of 10 designated Water Trail rivers nationally, we can be very proud of this honor.” kansasriver.org

Winter is a time to rejoice in all the things we love, and for KANSAS! magazine, that’s everything with a wonderfully unique Kansas connection. Share your Reasons to Love Kansas (see page 13).

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Photographs: (Clockwise from left) Lisa Grossman (2), Dennis McIntire, Todd Davis, Screenshot

nps.gov/watertrails

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zoom zoom

“Stan the Man” Engdahl loved motorcycles.

As a five-time Harley-Davidson National Racing Champion, Engdahl won 600 trophies during his 60-year career doing what he loved. Inspired by the legendary biker, the Kansas Motorcycle Museum opened in 2003 in Marquette with the help of volunteers from across Kansas. Today, the museum features over 100 vintage and rare models in addition to posters, photos and racing memorabilia. Though Stan passed away in 2007, his widow, LaVona, continues as curator of the museum. Since 2003, nearly 10,000 people from all over the world have stepped through the museum doors in a year— something LaVona and board of directors at this not-for-profit museum find especially gratifying. ksmotorcyclemuseum.org

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hogwash

Tinsel time rocks the heartland

There’s a lot of pork on the plate these days. Celebrating the essence of the pork scene, the Kansas Pork Association found a couple of pals, Chris Petty and Mike Epler, to get the word out.

Petty and Epler travel the state in search of news and views on the palate of pork. Their site, In Pursuit of Pork, is a wealth of porkdriven commentary on their tastiest adventures. Petty and Epler want to hear from you. Get saucy and start hollering about your best bacon bets. inpursuitofpork.com Facebook: facebook.com/KansasPork

Twitter: @KansasPork

Experience the magic of the holidays at two historic theatres. The Historic Hutchinson Fox Theatre is designated on the National Register of Historic Places and has garnered its share of national and state accolades over the decades. Mr. American Pie, Don McLean, is scheduled to perform December 8. hutchinsonfox.com Downtown Salina’s historic Stiefel Theatre is a Kansas landmark that opened as a lavish art deco movie theater with 1,275 seats in 1931. The once embellished interior has been refurbished to its original glory. Currently, the theatre, also known as the State Movie Palace of Kansas, is operated as a not-forprofit foundation bringing world-class entertainment to the heartland. This holiday season Stiefel presents Kenny Rogers on December 2 and Aaron Neville on December 8. stiefeltheatre.org

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high art

It’s been 12 years since artist and teacher Cameron Cross painted his 80-foot-high, 45,000-pound painting, 3 Sunflowers in a Vase, located in Goodland. Cross, a native of Manitoba, Canada, decided to paint his colossal picture beginning in 1996 as part of an international seven-picture series called The Big Easel representing Van Gogh’s famous sunflowers. After 12 years the heavy-duty acrylic and fiberglass painting had succumbed to wear and tear. Sherman County Economic Development Director Michael Solomon says, “You don’t realize just how faded the painting was after being in the elements. The huge painting had been melted, pelted and was generally in poor condition.” Cross recently spent 12 days welding and refurbishing the landmark, seen from Interstate 70 near Goodland.

“It’s amazing just how many people have noticed this painting over the years. We’re happy it’s back in great shape,” says Solomon. goodlandks.us

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breathtaking

ride on

Lisa and Cecil McKenzie create beautiful handblown glass vases, bowls, glasses, ornaments and more by using the properties of chemistry and physics, fluidity, density and expansion to manipulate the hot glass. “It takes about 24 hours to make our clear glass from sand and for our furnace to achieve the 2,000-degree working temperature,” says Lisa about their Emporia glassblowing studio. Lisa learned the art of glassblowing from Cecil, who has been working with the medium since 1975. Together the couple produce pieces that are both works of art and functional objects. “It’s an exciting process to be able to turn gathers of glass into works of art,” she says. The McKenzies are on the road quite a bit. “We sell our work at juried art shows around the country and travel to around 20 per year. We love what we do,” says Lisa. www.mckenzieglass.com

“There’s this unique bond that exists between a bicycle and owner,” says David Rainey, owner of Groody Brothers. Rainey and his brother Mark, both bicycle mechanics, have found their niche restoring and powder-coating bicycles. “We’re a grassroots business based in Kansas City, Kansas. I find that people who are avid cyclists really have a fondness for their bikes that probably stems from their childhood. We want people to maintain that connection, so we disassemble, strip the frames with media and then give them a fresh new powder coat.” The average cost to strip and recoat a bike is $120. groodybros.com

Photographs: (Clockwise from top left) Michael Solomon (3) Shutterstock, Kris Kuksi, David Rainey, Courtesy of McKenzie Glass.

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Facebook: facebook.com/GroodyBros

Facebook: Mckenzie Glass

Reasons we ❤ KANSAS Dave Kendall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

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Reasons we ❤ KANSAS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 9

Haunted Humanity

Kris Kuksi is a collector—an obsessive collector. The Hays artist arranges tiny toy soldiers, machinery and pop culture refuse into chaotic landscapes. He believes the modern world bedevils us—the viewer. His sculptures bubble up from his past, saying, “Oh yes, I was a strange kid, but one who truly wanted to be normal.” As an adult Kuksi says, “I start with an tiny idea, a sketch follows, then I build. Model parts, toys, wood, plastic, metal are arranged, cut up, beheaded, burnt, glued and eventually painted.” One of his portrait paintings has been accepted into an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Never one to pat himself on the back, according to his biography, he is astounded that a kid from a small town in Kansas can grow up and reach the world. Kuksi.com Facebook: kriskuksiart Twitter: @KrisKuksi

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VOTE!

2012 marks the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage in Kansas. The ratification in Kansas came eight years prior to the national amendment. Kansas was one of eight states to provide equal voting rights to women at the time. kshs.org/kansapedia/women-s-suffrage/14524

12 holly jolly

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Calling all oenophiles

If you’re anything like us, the Twelve Days of Christmas is prime shopping time. Therefore, save yourself some time and order KANSAS! magazine subscriptions for family and friends this year. kansasmag.com

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Ciao Bella

Facebook: casa somerset bed and breakfast

Facebook: authentic wine barrel furniture

6,500

Why hop across the pond when a little bit of Italy lies right in the heart of Kansas at Casa Somerset?

Innkeepers Michael and Christine Hursey designed their welcoming bed-and-breakfast in Paola encompassing their love of wine, slow food and the essence of Tuscany. Their restful retreat beckons with gourmet food prepared by skillful chefs, four comfortable rooms with a Tuscan feel and the rolling Kansas countryside to explore.

Your whims are what matters to the Hurseys—they want to pamper you. casasomerset.com

Repurposing California wine barrels into fashionable furnishings is the brainchild of Eudora resident Andy Wingert. The endeavor and inspiration starts in his garage where 160-pound oak wine barrels are dismantled stave by stave, sanded, shellacked and reworked into utilitarian objects. He’s so good at his craft, he can look at a barrel and just see the coat rack, Lazy Susan, cutting board, end table, planters or settee waiting to emerge. Wingert’s barrels are anything but run-of-themill and make excellent conversation points. Catch him at wineries and craft shows. awbarrels.com

Reasons we ❤ KANSAS

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like

During production of the winter issue we noticed that our KANSAS! Magazine facebook had almost reached 6,000 fans. By the time of press we had soared past that number— and for good reason. Now help us spread the fun and get 6,500 likes!

Facebook: facebook.com/KansasMagazine

Photographs: (Clockwise from top left) Shutterstock, Andy Wingert, TravelKS, Screenshot, Shutterstock (2), Courtesy of Casa Somerset.

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Gotta Feed Everybody

Who knew the talented Peterson brothers, Kendal, Nathan and Greg, could sing? Thanks to YouTube, more than 7 million people do! When the boys aren’t working on their Assaria farm, the three are scoring a hit with hip-hop one-liners they’ve crafted into “I’m Farming and I Grow It.” The inspiration came from Nathan while he stopped at Sonic and heard “I’m Sexy and I Know It.” He then penned his own lyrics about farming to the tune, cajoled his brothers to croon and 12-year old sister, Laura, to record it. If you ate today, thank a farmer, is the Petersons’ mantra, and it’s now all over the web. “We’ve been blown away by the response,” says Nathan, who isn’t sure what’s next for the mellifluous trio. American Idol ... are you listening?

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Catch the ‘fever’

Facebook: facebook.com/PetersonFarmBros

You can’t win if you don’t play—the Kansas Lottery, that is.

Maximize your chances and purchase $1 scratch tickets at any one of 1,800 retail outlets statewide. It’s a win-win. Present your nonwinning tickets and get reduced rates on public attractions, stores and discounts throughout the state. Cabin Fever tickets launched in September. travelks.com/cabinfever

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a bird in the hand

The upland game bird hunting season is near—are you ready?

This fall, hunters from around Kansas and neighboring states will embark on the thrill of the hunt.

For information on seasons, bag limits, licenses and permits, go to ksoutdoors.com. After a day in the field, settle into one of many Kansas lodges to share tall tales. Lakeside Lodge, near Waconda Lake in Cawker City, features full-size kitchens, washer, dryer and plenty of room to maneuver. lakesidelodgekansas.com Ron and Charlene Engler are your hosts at Two Elk Lodge Bed and Breakfast in Kinsley. They’d be happy to give you tips to maximize your hunting experience. twoelklodge. com Otter Creek Lodge in Edmond is Jim and Sherry Showers’ pride and joy.

Pheasant, deer, turkey, quail and fishing. http://sekansaswhitetails.com

kansasmag .com • kansas!

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keeper of the plains

Audrey Kalivoda recognized Kansas as more than a flatland when she decided to document her travels across the state in a documentary titled Kansas: “The Center of it All.” “I started out as a photographer and wound up a videographer,” Kalivoda says of her adventures over the past 10 years with the moving image. She mastered a 45-minute presentation of Kansas history from prehistoric through modern times that took her nearly two years to complete. “I grew up in Brantford and still visit Kansas often,” says the Tennessee transplant. Her portrayal of Kansas, narrated by Kansan Jerry Minshell, she says, “imparts a vivid picture of Kansas and why it’s such a fascinating place to discover.” mesquite90.com

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Out in the country

firelakecamp.com Facebook: fire lake camp

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kpr

Kansas Public Radio turns 60! The station began in 1952 and has run strong with the support of listeners and the community for the past 60 years. Various events between now and March 2013 will celebrate the station’s milestones. http://kansaspublicradio.org/60th-anniversary Facebook: facebook.com/KansasPublicRadio Twitter: @KPRNEWS

Reasons we ❤ KANSAS

Photographs: (Clockwise from top) Audrey Kalivoda, Erok Johanssen (3) Julie Green/Danelle Photography (3)

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Bob and Julie Zoller are hopeless romantics. Now that they’ve moved to Paola, they’re smitten with their newest adventure on their farm, Fire Lake Camp.

Breathe in their clean fresh air, relax by Fire Lake and eat locally produced food on their sublime 20 acres. The Zollers extend the invitation to join friends for a farmfresh dinner, rehearsals, a picnic or just a stroll around their lovely property to see their bountiful garden.

Their lavender fields and asparagus plots are a treat to pick when in season.

Visitors can also take a piece of Fire Lake Camp home with them through their unique collection of recipes.

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Art booms in the East

Actually, art booms all over Lawrence as the city expands the popular Final Fridays into the newest venue for established and up-and-coming artists in the Warehouse Arts District. The area, approximately four blocks east of downtown, will showcase galleries, events and pop-up art spaces to complement the bustling activity on Massachusetts Street. “There’s a huge need for affordable housing and arts events spaces in these historic buildings. Why tear them down when we can utilize them in a constructive way?” says Tony Krsnich, one of the developers of the Warehouse Arts District.

“People are working really hard to put this district on the map.

There’s always room for art. This district should be an exciting addition to the art scene,” says Adam Smith, owner of the Invisible Hand Gallery.

REASONS WE LOVE KANSAS

Send your “Reasons We Love Kansas” to

Facebook: facebook.com/warehousearts

ksreasons@sunflowerpub.com

or to Reasons, KANSAS!, 1020 S. Kansas Ave., Suite 200, Topeka, KS 66612.

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winter 2012 KANSAS EVENTS

The Nature of Dogs SALINA November 3-March 13, 2013 Mary Ludington brings to life man’s best friend in this 63-piece traveling photographic exhibit.

Kansas Governor’s Ringneck Classic OAKLEY November 15-18 Annual Kansas governor’s invitational pheasant hunt in northwest Kansas.

rollinghillswildlife.com

kansasringneckclassic.com

Veterans Day

Raymond Craft Sale & Flea Market

JUNCTION CITY November 18 A Kansas City classic featuring the best of Kansas City brass players at the C.L. Hoover Opera House in Junction City and sponsored by Central National Bank.

Begins at 4 p.m. jcoperahouse.org

Seelye Mansion Christmas Tours

The second-largest Veterans Day celebration in Kansas is in downtown Ottawa.

(785) 418-4237

MEDICINE LODGE November 12

RAYMOND November 17 A variety of vendors join to sell their crafts and wares. Concessions and pie make the event extra-delicious. Begins at 9 a.m.

(620) 534-2865

A day of honoring Barber County veterans, including a veteran recognition ceremony at the Family Life Center & Veterans Memorial. Begins at 1:15.

ABILENE November 23-January 13, 2013 Tour the Mansion all decorated for Christmas. Call for hours. seelyemansion.org

Cuba Hometown Christmas CUBA November 24 Experience Christmas in the community of Cuba. Begins at 4 p.m.

(785) 729-3632

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Photographs: Shutterstock

OTTAWA November 9-16

Fountain City Brass Band

winter 2012 KANSAS EVENTS Santa’s Christmas Parade MARYSVILLE November 24 Santa comes to town in a parade that will include music, cars, floats and more.

Begins at 11 a.m. marysvillekansaschamber.org

19 Annual Lighted Christmas Parade th

Annual Tree Trimming and Music NICODEMUS December 8 Christmas arrives on the prairie at the Nicodemus Township Hall/National Park Service Visitor Center. Decorate the community tree and enjoy music. Begins at noon.

17th Annual Kaw Valley Eagle day LAWRENCE January 19 The event is free, open to all ages and will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

(785) 842-0475 kawvalleyeaglesday.com

(785) 839-4280

The Statehood Ball KINGMAN December 1

Dolly Holly Day Tours

A full day of festivities sponsored by the Kingman Area Chamber of Commerce.

Community breakfast at the VFW Hall begins at 7:30. Parade 6 p.m.

FORT SCOTT December 15-22

kingmancc.com

Burlingame Country Christmas

Evening trolley tour of homes and neighborhoods decorated for holiday season. Admission required. Rides at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. fortscott.com

COTTONWOOD FALLS January 26 The Flint Hills Victorian Dance Society’s Statehood Ball is dedicated to the preservation of Victorian-style dance.

Dance instruction begins at 7:30, Grand March at 8. Admission required. flinthillsvictoriandancesociety.com

BURLINGAME December 1-2 Enjoy a craft show, great food and Christmas goodies. Enjoy a lighted Christmas Parade. Begins at 11 a.m., parade at 6 p.m. Dec. 1. burlingameks.com

Old Fashioned Christmas LINDSBORG December 1, 8 Celebrate an Old Fashioned Christmas at the Old Mill Museum, which will be filled with the sights and sounds of an oldfashioned prairie Christmas. Admission required. visitlindsborg.com

Little Apple New Year’s Eve Ball Drop

Fasenacht

MANHATTAN December 31

HAYS February 17

Opening Reception and Winter Gallery Walk, a regional fine art competition.

Join several thousand of your best friends in the heart of Aggieville to ring in the New Year. Begins at 10 p.m.

haysartscouncil.org

littleapplenewyears.com

German-style Mardi Gras celebration to enjoy good food before Lent arrives at the Munjor Parish Hall.

Learn about ancestral activities before the season of penance. Begins at noon.

Five State Photography Exhibition HAYS December 7

sunflowerchapterofahsgr.net

t

tr end the

s e t t e r s These fashion-forward trendsetters have built their brands with Kansas roots Photography by Jason Dailey and Ze Bernardinello

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‘‘

Build a brand.

Then build products that evolve season after season.

Connect products with people.

Repeat.”

– Matt Baldwin

K

ansas’ style is transcending from the ol’ overalls, wide-brimmed hat and cowboy boots to a sophisticated, worldly fashion. That’s right, various trendsetters in Kansas are leaving a mark all their own in a fashion industry that is smitten with their Midwest roots. Here are a few of our favorites and their Kansas ties.

Kansas Trendsetters: matt baldwin

Baldwin men’s shop Midwest designer is taking denim to new heights

Some would say Matt Baldwin is leading the pack among men’s fashion with his denim line, Baldwin Denim.

Working with wife Emily, the native Kansans have created a leading couture line spanning coast to coast.

Celebrities such as Jason Sudeikis and George Clooney are donning his fine clothes, and magazines are eager to get an interview with the Midwest designer.

We confirm that Baldwin is only doing what he loves.

“I’m simply passionate about what I do and am blessed to do just that,” he says.

Baldwin grew up in Wichita, where he recalls playing every sport he could. The youth’s appetite for adventure led him on a journey that took him to New England, Colorado, California and eventually to Kansas City.

By then, he had been in the clothing business since 1998, merging design and his love for athletics. “Initially I started in action sports,” explains Baldwin, “then the boom of the contemporary market popped off and we started our first store [Standard Style] in KC in 2003.”

With strong momentum, the Baldwins were peddling denim long before launching a brand, noting he and his wife opened their first store at the right place at the right time.

“In 2009 I saw a huge need for an All-American-made jean that had above-average performance and value to

the customer—products that are made with integrity, focused on design and quality,” he says. “We started with three fits of dry denim (fabric is just off the loom, not treated) and have grown the product assortment out of listening to the needs of our growing customer base.”

When asked about how the Midwest has influenced his work in the fashion world, Baldwin references its ideals. “It’s been an amazing place to learn the true values of life. Work ethic, not being entitled; honesty and integrity; and a love for people have all been instilled in me growing up around my family and the community in the Midwest,” he says.

As for what he tells fashion insiders about his Midwest roots, “Thank God for technology, and Kansas City has always been cool.”

What’s next for Baldwin? Women and home. His brand launched its women’s line at the spring 2013 New York Fashion Week, and the Baldwins will open a new Kansas City store featuring women’s wear and home.

Needless to say, this Kansas trendsetter is one to watch. baldwindenim.com Lawrence-based writer and editor Katy Ibsen can appreciate a lifestyle filled with only denim.

What local family activities do the Baldwins enjoy?

Photography by Jason Dailey

Work Life Balance

For Matt Baldwin and his wife and business partner, Emily, raising a family was the reason for returning to the Midwest. Though they travel across the United States to prepare for such famed events as New York Fashion Week or opening the Los Angeles showroom, the pair agree that family is important.

+Kansas Highlights

+(Sigh) Missouri Highlights

The American Royal World Series of Barbecue

Sunday brunch at Westport Café & Bar

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

americanroyal.com

westportcafeandbar.com

kauffmancenter.org

Sporting KC soccer games at Livestrong Park

Mexican food at Port Fonda

First Fridays in the CrossRoads District

livestrongsportingpark.com

portfondakc.com

kccrossroads.org

KU basketball games in Lawrence

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

kuathletics.com

nelson-atkins.org

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Kansas Trendsetters: Annie Hurlbut

Peruvian Connection Peruvian Connection creator values her Kansas roots

Annie Hurlbut may possess one of the most interesting debuts into the fashion world. The Kansas girl turned international fashion mogul started Peruvian Connection as an anthropology student at Yale with just one sweater and an endless supply of passion.

The summer between her freshman and sophomore years, Hurlbut embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to conduct fieldwork in Peru for one of her professor’s colleagues.

“When I got to the Andes, I just absolutely fell in love,” says Hurlbut. “I fell in love with the native weaving, I fell in love with the textiles, the alpaca, fur—I think that first trip I bought a fur blanket for my parents.”

Little did Hurlbut know in 1976, but that passion would turn into an international fashion house with roots in Tonganoxie.

of people requesting the catalog,” Hurlbut says. “At that point we had a little black-and-white brochure that was really designed for wholesale, so we quickly converted it to retail piece.”

Soon after that, an aspiring fashion designer, Suzanne Schwrader, insisted on helping with the designs, despite the fact that Hurlbut couldn’t afford to pay her.

“It was so great to have somebody who actually knew about specs and what fashion trends were,” says Hurlbut. “I was into textiles, I didn’t know that much about fashion.”

More than the early press and gaining a designer, Peruvian Connection grew because of its unique product. “The fibers itself is probably the key to why we had any success early on,” says Hurlbut.

Comparing alpaca fibers to cashmere, another popular, luxurious import cloth, Hurlbut adds: “The finest grades of alpaca are every bit as soft, but they wear beautifully.”

Touch of Textiles

For Hurlbut, even with the advancement of designers, an education in fashion and new seasons, the textiles were always at the core.

“I still loved the textile part of it. I loved color combinations, I loved fibers,” she says. I loved business, too, but I loved the textiles.”

As Peruvian Connection began to bring more designers on board, it started focusing on Hurlbut’s appreciation for the native items.

“That sort of textile—the ethnographic and historical textile—became Woven start the muse, the inspiration for and informed It was the markets in Cuzco that reand shaped our collection from the beginally captured this underlying interest. Here, ning.”

Hurlbut encountered local, natural alpaca The palette remains the same but has fibers woven into bright, functional sweatalso expanded with all seasons as the label ers that were equally highland authentic – Annie Hurlbut introduced Pima cotton, which is grown in and haute couture. She bought a kneePeru and as luxurious as the alpaca. Hurllength sweater as a 50th-birthday gift for her but notes, “We were lucky to have this second luxury fiber to work mother, Biddy. “I was looking for something that was super soft and with.” unique and relevant,” she says.

That gift proved a hit with her mother and other party guests, who suggested Hurlbut talk to George Turbovich, then a buyer in Midwest success the folk art department at Halls department store on the Country Today the fashion house has six stores in San Francisco, WashClub Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. Soon, Halls had commissioned ington, D.C., Kansas City, Missouri; Santa Fe and Thames, England. the young student for more Cuzco sweaters.

The website and catalog reach international shoppers and is even Hurlbut’s reaction was one of excitement and uncertainty. printed in German with euro prices and in English for U.K. sub“OK, I am an anthropologist. I don’t know anything about what scribers, with prices in pounds sterling. In fact, 50 percent of their is a critical measurement. I didn’t know how to make a garment,” sales are outside the United States. says Hurlbut. “I had no idea.” But she learned—deciphering sizes And 25 years after its founding, Peruvian Connection still keeps through friends of different shapes and sizes to fulfill her first order. its world headquarters out of Hurlbut’s family farm in Tonganoxie.

As Hurlbut attests, her home state also provides a nurturing environment to grow her business.

Making a go “Kansas gives you nerve. There’s no ‘no’ here,” she says. “It’s a Reality set in as she and her mother began the mail-order busiwide-open, positive environment for doing something like that.” ness out of the kitchen on their family-owned Canaan Farms near Having paved the road for many other Kansans, Hurlbut is Tonganoxie. “It was really a two-person operation early on,” she proof that a passion can be a dream-come-true on the prairie. says. peruvianconnection.com An interview with a New York Times style writer during the National Fashion Boutique Show in New York transformed the mothLawrence-based writer and editor Katy Ibsen hopes to one day er-daughter team’s idea of what their business was all about. “When actually meet an alpaca. the article hit in 1979, we suddenly had a mailing list of 5,000 names

Photography by Jason Dailey

“Kansas is so much a part of this success story, without the opportunities afforded by this state— which just has made it easy to do business.”

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Kansas Trendsetters: Jack Kellogg

favorite places to visit in the Wichita area: Wichita-Sedgwick County, The Historical Museum http://wichitahistory.org

Wichita Art Museum wichitaartmuseum.org

Old Town More than 100 businesses make up this area. oldtownwichita.com

The Yard Store yardstore.com

Scotch and Sirloin scotchandsirloin.net

Nifty Nuthouse niftynuthouse.com

Cero’s Candies ceroscandy.com

Hatman Jack’s

Photography by Ze Bernardinello

A well-stocked hat shop draws customers from around the world Jack Kellogg will guess your head size. He’ll reminisce with you about the hat your grandfather wore.

He’ll educate you on hat-wearing etiquette. And, if you’re lucky, he’ll quote you one of his witty phrases.

“You cannot peddle from an empty wagon,” he quips—a saying his grandfather used to tell him.

Kellogg is the man behind Hatman Jack’s, a hat shop and tourist destination located in Wichita’s historic Delano district. The 3,400-square-foot building includes 1,500 square feet of retail storefront supported by storage for off-season hats, tools, equipment and materials for hat making and restoration in the remaining space.

“We clean, make and sell hats,” says Kellogg, who founded his hat company in 1976. “We’re a throwback, and we intend to never change that.”

Whether it’s a $30 straw fedora, a $500 hat that’s custom-made by Kellogg, a top-of-the-line $1,500 western or anything in between, Hatman Jack’s has it.

But just as important as the inventory itself, Kellogg and his staff will make sure you have a good time during your visit, and they thoroughly enjoy finding you a hat that makes you look good.

“Hats are all about proportions,” says Kellogg. “If it’s not proportioned right, it’s not going to look good.”

Kellogg uses a head-measuring tool from 1876— one of multiple old yet state-of-the-art pieces of equipment that he has in the shop—along with his trained eye to accurately size each customer’s hat. According to Kellogg, a hat should be made to fit each person’s unique head. Because of that, Hatman Jack’s doesn’t have an online store—it’s all done in person.

“Hats are a funny fascination for people, and I love seeing that,” says Kellogg. “When they walk in and see a hat on the wall that takes them back, reminds them of a hat their grandfather wore, they get emotional, get a little teary thinking about that hat.”

Kellogg loves being a part of that emotion and being able to custom-fit a hat that will carry on a tradition of style or start an entirely new one for a customer. “I’m working on three generations,” says Kellogg. “I

have 40-year-olds walking in here talking about how they would come into the store when they were little.

[Hats] stir strong impressions and emotions.”

Kellogg originally learned the trade as a teenager and bought out his mentor’s hat business at age 17. He has since acquired equipment and tools from several additional hat shops as well as numerous high-profile customers as word spread of his unique collection and talent. Merle Haggard, Luciano Pavarotti, Charlie Daniels and Alan Jackson are customers, and Kellogg provided hats for multiple movies and television shows, including much of the lineup for Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

High-profile or average Joe, hat people are unusual people, according to Kellogg.

They “have more personality than your average bear,” says Kellogg, who more often than not can be found wearing a hat. “More attention is given to a person wearing a hat. You must be confident and willing to accept that attention. We see a lot of confident personalities come through here.”

Regardless of a hat’s purpose, fashion or function, Kellogg says he’s up for the challenge of matching you up with the right gear.

In typical Kellogg fashion, he adds, “If your hat’s not becoming to you, you should be coming to us.” hatmanjacks.com Jess Lindsey is a Wichita-based writer who wears a variety of metaphorical hats and enjoys good literal hats as well.

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We honor the state’s finest tourism gurus Once again we celebrate Kansas’ Finest tourism advocates. These Kansas devotees are going above and beyond in promoting the state, its attractions and their love for our Midwest abode.

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Photo: Tim Sigle

Steve “bud” Hund

Owner of Mill Creek Antiques Paxico Favorite Kansas Attraction: The people

In 1971, Steve Hund bought an antique stove to heat a cafe where they can interact with the locals. A June Meatloaf farmhouse he was renovating, inadvertently kindling a part- Festival and Car Show packs crowds, as does a September event time job as a wholesale stove supplier. When his railroad job featuring blues bands and barbecue that drew 4,000 visitors in ended seven years later, he used a $2,500 loan to buy a main 2012.

People often seek his advice street building, applying $300 on how to transform their own left over to purchase antiques to Whether he’s salvaging a town or a stove, Hund says, towns. “You need a small group complement the overflow from “My ambition in life has always been to of people who don’t give up in his farmhouse. restore something, pass it on and then spite of criticism and just forge “I’ve always said that if you ahead. You don’t need a giant have $100 and a pickup truck, look for another project.” attraction,” he says. you can have a lot of fun,” says Hund is happy to oblige Hund, who spent 15 years trying to persuade others to purchase buildings and revitalize Paxico’s customers looking for signs, historic firearms, lamps and other downtown. Hund’s passion even led him to stand in front of bits of Americana. “Kids used to sit in the car and play video bulldozers to plead his case for protecting the town’s saloon, games or talk on their phones while their parents shopped, but now they come in and want to hear the stories behind the general store and depot.

His persistence paid off, resulting in a community merchandise,” he says, adding that college students and other renaissance. Now local businesses and two art galleries entice young people often want “something different from what their visitors off Interstate 70 to shop awhile and sit a spell in a parents bought at a new furniture store.”

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Photo: Cory Keller

Terry Tietjens

Owner of the Seelye Mansion Director of Historic Abilene Inc. Director of Governor’s Council on Tourism Abilene Favorite Kansas Attraction:

Kansas Museum of History (Topeka)

Visitors to Terry Tietjens’ home are encouraged to experience turn-of-the-century splendor through sensory exploration. Whether tourists play a tune on a pump organ, sit on antique furnishings or send a bowling ball down a lane purchased at the 1904 World’s Fair, they get a glimpse of how the affluent Seelye sisters grew up.

“This is my home, and I don’t want it to be roped off like an historic site,” says Tietjens, who bought the Seelye Mansion in 1982. “The more you can get people involved in activities, the more they will enjoy it.”

He shared the space with Marion and Helen Seelye until their deaths in 1988 and 1992, respectively.

Although Tietjens makes tours fun and informative throughout the year, they are most festive during the holiday season. With 80 Christmas trees, 100 poinsettias and 700 nutcrackers on display, the home’s charm is accentuated further by the irresistible allure

of fresh-baked cookies made from Seelye family recipes.

Marion even taught Tietjens how to make the cinnamon rolls, which he makes for patrons of the Hitching Post Restaurant in Abilene’s Old Town.

With “too much hay to bale and too many cows to milk,” Tietjens’ childhood vacations consisted of day trips to fort communities and the Kansas Museum of History. As an adult, he became an accomplished musician and traveled extensively throughout Europe “where if something isn’t 500 years old it’s not worth talking about.”

Those family trips and independent excursions gave him a lifelong appreciation for preservation efforts. Tietjens has been involved in multiple ventures to boost Abilene tourism, including creating the Kirby House Restaurant and helping establish the Great Plains Theater Festival, which performs in the Tietjens Center for the Performing Arts.

“Saving history for another generation is the right thing to do, and what better place to do that than in Abilene?”

“I plan to spend every dollar I have doing something for my community because it comes back to me many times.”

-Terry Tietjens

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Photo: Josh Roesener

Brent Harris

Marshal of the Boot Hill Museum Dodge City Favorite Kansas Attraction:

Boot Hill Museum with special affection for Old Cowtown Museum (Wichita)

Dodge City native Brent Harris loves promoting his hometown’s history as the marshal of the Boot Hill Museum. His multifaceted role ranges from maintaining facilities to carpenter to performing lead parts in the Long Branch Variety Show and regaling visitors with stories about the city’s colorful cowboy past. Now in a new role as Boot Hill Brand Ambassador.

Harris began working for the museum 15 years ago when his career in health care marketing ended.

Harris’ life would take a traumatic turn years later when a flash fire at a bull fry festival burned his face, arms and chest, requiring a 10-day hospital stay and two-month recovery period. The community rallied, proclaiming Harris the “face” of Dodge City, an honor that has led to his mug on multiple promotional products as well as national and international travel opportunities to promote Kansas tourism.

He takes the ambassador role seriously, whether he’s emceeing a Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame event or deputizing a foreign exchange student returning for a high school reunion. His most gratifying responsibility, however, is talking with visitors, many of whom praise

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the “beauty and splendor” of prairie sunsets and wide-open spaces.

“Many guests almost chastise me and ask me if I know how easy it would have been for them to miss the museum,” says Harris.

“Cowboy heritage is part of America’s DNA. harris rarely leaves Dodge City and Kansas are a treasure to the the state now unless world.” he’s traveling He first discovered the treasure while somewhere to studying French in Switzerland in 1969. promote it.

“I thought I’d be perceived as a hick from Hooterville, but when people found out I was “You can have from Dodge City, they were excited,” he says. a life or you “Too many people in Kansas take our state for can work granted.” at Boot Hill Keenly aware of the economic Museum, but implications of tourism, Harris believes Kansas “has the potential to increase travelers you can’t have both,” from all over the world.” he asserts.

Photo: Joyce Harlow

Marilyn Helmer

Owner of Village Lines / Founding board member for Kansas Originals Lincoln Favorite Kansas Attraction:

Midland Railroad Hotel (Wilson), Louisburg Cider Mill and Denmark

One of Village Line’s featured books, The Tar Party of Twenty-six years ago an acquaintance invited Marilyn Helmer to open a business in Lincoln. She first focused on 1911, recounts a story about a schoolteacher wrongfully promoting an aging local poet with readings and open houses tarred for “supposedly teaching the boys more than the three but eventually created a shop featuring Kansas foods, artists R’s,” says Helmer, who edited and marketed the book. When Kansas native Marlin Fitzwater, former press and authors of travel and historical books.

Village Lines, whose name represents “I’ve had such a rich secretary for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, was working on his fictional account community cohesion and artistic expression, life, but I haven’t of the same incident, Esther’s Pillow, he offers wheat weavings and limestone art made a dime,” came to Lincoln to supplement his research. along with fresh baked goods, signature soup says Helmer, laughing.

He returned to the shop after his book’s mixes and packaged products, including a publication, drawing a crowd of people to an growing line of gluten-free options made by open house in his honor.

Kansas companies. Popular selections include Annually Helmer conducts a tour of Lincoln County, chocolate-covered sunflower seeds and sunflower seed cookies, samples of which often await visitors who can “take telling settlers’ stories and showcasing points of interest to help residents and tourists develop an appreciation for one for each hand.”

The cookie tradition is so ingrained that a soldier the town’s role in history. Some Lincoln tourists visit land returning from a second tour of duty in Iraq stopped by the their ancestors homesteaded before succumbing to Native store to grab a cookie and recapture a bit of her childhood American conflicts or other prairie calamities. before visiting her family. “When we get deliveries from Topeka-based writer Kim Gronninger’s favorite Kansas FedEx, I can hear them lift the glass lid,” says Helmer, who attraction is Liberty Theatre. sometimes offers slices of MarCon pies instead.

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our town

ellinwood

An underground world reveals Kansas’ wild history Photography by Jennifer Haugh

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Ellinwood Underground Tour

Tours available daily on the hour 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Sunday Tickets: Age 10 and older $6, 9 and younger $2 Reservations encouraged. Call (620) 564-2400

T

ake a step back in time by taking a few steps down in Ellinwood. This unique destination reveals an underground world that was once bustling with commerce.

Spanning a two-block business district and extending into other areas of town with about eight blocks of tunnels, Ellinwood celebrates a heritage of underground businesses that thrived for about 60 years.

German immigrants who settled Ellinwood, in the southeast corner of Barton County, began constructing the tunnels in the 1870s. In their native land, buildings all had basements that were joined to provide extra commercial space, so the immigrants duplicated that concept on the Kansas prairie.

The tunnels were hand-dug and walls created with stone hauled by wagon from La Crosse, about 50 miles away. The settlers had expected to find trees but upon arrival realized the lumber would have to be brought in. They did find a clay deposit and began making bricks to use in construction.

The businesses underground were all geared toward men.

“The ladies in town did not come down here. The women who did work underground were called ‘soiled doves,’ and worked in the dance halls and such,” says Richard Casagrande, a San Antonio transplant who fell in love with and bought the building and tunnels three years ago after several visits to Ellinwood.

OPPOSITE The cow town of Ellinwood holds a unique attraction among those interested in Wild West history—underground tunnels.

ABOVE LEFT A staged barbershop is among the popular attractions under Ellinwood’s main drag. RIGHT Various storefronts above ground add to the appeal of Ellinwood as a destination.

“The men in town liked to come down here, though. They would bring their families in to shop on Main Street, then they could come down to the barber shop to have a drink, get a shave and a haircut, and have a smoke and visit with their friends, just like Floyd’s barber shop in Mayberry,” says Casagrande.

In its heyday, it was probably a little rougher than Mayberry, though.

Casagrande says in the 1880s there were about 100 wagons a day passing through Ellinwood. If each of them had three or four men on them, it was a lot of potential business—fitting considering the Ellinwood underground boasted 11 saloons.

Today visitors begin their tour in the harness shop, which is largely intact.

In the 1920s, harness shops were obsolete due to the proliferation of the car, so the owner just locked it up and left it. Although the tunnels were used for business into the 1930s, the underground area was essentially untouched for another 50 years until Adrianna Dierolf inherited the Dick building at 2 North Main from her grandfather Matt Dick, who built it. She also inherited the tunnels underneath, which she had not been allowed to see as a young girl. She hired someone to open an entrance and discovered the harness shop looking much like it would have decades earlier.

Dierolf began giving tours in 1981.

In addition to the harness shop, Jung’s Barber Shop, Bath House and steam laundry is still on display. Jung set up shop in 1887 when the building was new and offered a variety of services to the men who patronized his business.

“You can see he sold tobacco, cigars, whiskey and beer,” says Casagrande. “He had a card game going, you could have your boots shined, if you had bad tonsils you could have your tonsils removed, and if you had an infection you could have yourself bled by the leeches.”

The barber pole included white for bandages, red for blood and blue for veins, for those who couldn’t read. Adding to the shop’s character, 12 bullet holes and one 40-caliber bullet are embedded in the wall near the

kansasmag .com • kansas!

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our town

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT An old keg remains in the saloon where old-time visitors would take a rest.

Richard Casagrande, owner of the tunnels, shares a blueprint of the underground world. Various alcoves played host to different services, such as a blacksmith.

ellinwood

e ls e w h e r e

ellinwood stuffed pheasant hanging up for decoration—their origin unknown.

Back then visitors could also take advantage of the services of the local ladies in the evening … if they so desired. Additionally, “A beer costs 5 cents, a bath costs 15 cents unless you wanted to use dirty water and someone else’s towel, in which case you could get a bath for 5 cents,” says Casagrande.

The bathroom still has two tin tubs, as well as a claw-footed tub that would have come about after the turn of the century. “They dumped the tub out on the floor and water washed across the floor, and cleaned all the spit and tobacco off the floorboards,” says Casagrande. It drained into a well with gravel and sand, which would filter the water. “They’d gone green in the 19th century,” he says.

Ellinwood is at the juncture of the Santa Fe Trail and the Arkansas River. When the railroad arrived, Ellinwood was a popular stop, and wagons were still coming through. One of three tunnels came from the train station into the underground business district. Another connected the school, and a third the brewery—one of the first businesses built in Ellinwood.

“You know, it must have been very luxurious,” says Casagrande. “Just think if you were coming into Ellinwood and it was 10 degrees outside and the wind was howling and the snow was blowing, you could come down into the basements and the fires would be burning and it would be nice and warm and snug, and you could get a drink to warm yourself up.”

Hutchinson writer Patsy Terrell is always on the hunt for cool, interesting restaurants and locally owned shops mostly above ground.

Ell i n w o o d

Ell i n w o o d

Eats

Shops

John Henry’s Restaurant (620) 564-3676

The Ellinwood Emporium (620) 564-2498

Lone Wolf Restaurant (620) 564-2829

Starr Antiques (620) 564-2400

Eagle Lanes Bowling Alley

Gunn’s Antiques & Collectibles (620) 388-2562

(open September-May)

(620) 564-4000

Ellinwood is on the Wetlands and Wildlife National Scenic Byway, about a 10-minute drive from Great Bend.

A W o r l d ly

Kansas leaves an artistic mark on The World’s Fair Photography courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society

While it’s hard to imagine in modern day, the once popular World’s Fairs brought entire nations together to celebrate art, manufacturing, products and industrial advancements.

More formally known as Expositions, the fairs provided accolades to products that had international roots. Lasting more than a month, but less than a year, these expositions welcomed travelers from around the world—including a few famed Kansans.

As we look back today at these grand events, we find one thing to be true among Kansas’ participation—art. painting: The Spirit of Kansas In 1893 “The Spirit of Kansas” was displayed at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Planned for the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ journey to the New World, the exhibits opened in 1893, and Mary Pillsbury Weston’s large painting of a prairie goddess on a spirited white horse first appeared there.

The woman on the horse holds a dove high with her right hand, possibly signifying peace. The state flower of Kansas, the sunflower, decorates the rider and horse. The horse, sporting a sunflower in its bridle, gallops past a partially coiled snake.

(Readers may note a similar pose in the statue of Justice by Bernard “Poco” Frazier in the Kansas Judicial Center across from the Statehouse.) Clouds part and rays emanate from above as the future appears to be one of peace, not war. Evil is to be trampled as the horse and rider race away from the dark clouds of the past toward a brighter future.

Kansas, the 34th star in the Union, attained statehood in 1861. By the time of the World’s Columbian Exposition, the

state was still young, therefore the pastels, muted red and blue patriotic colors, indicate the youthfulness of the figure who is wrapped in stars and stripes.

Born in New Hampshire in 1817, Weston eventually made her way to Kansas, first residing in Manhattan before settling in Lawrence. Her relatives founded the Pillsbury Flour Enterprise, and members of her family were early emigrants to Kansas. She completed the painting for exhibit in Chicago in 1893; a creator of silhouettes in her young years, Weston died not long after painting “The Spirit of Kansas” in 1895.

According to curator Blair Tarr at the Kansas Museum of History, a viewer with an umbrella punctured the painting during a viewing at the fair, but it was decided not to repair the damage when restoration took place. Instead the story travels with the painting. The mark can be seen above the end of the rider’s tresses.

Keeping with the artistic expression of Kansas’ World’s Fair appearances, our cover was painted by well-known Kansas artist, Louis Copt. He used the image of the Kansas Building at the Columbian Exposition as inspiration along with John Steuart Curry’s painting, “Our Good Earth.”

The Kansas Building Also in the Kansas Museum of History are photographs of the exterior and interior of the Kansas Building at the Columbian Exposition. Produce of the land, featuring watermelons, can be seen in the interior, and the exterior shows people lined up to enter the building. In the exterior view, a Hutchinson fountain and rock salt can be seen. Kansas exhibits of jellies and apples are in scenes from the horticultural building.

One item formerly on display at the museum is the World’s Fair Window. This stained-glass window is a half-circle at least 6 feet in diameter and appeared at the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase.

The window “served as the transom over

the main entrance at the Kansas Building at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition held in St. Louis in 1904,” according to the Kansas State Historical Society “Cool Things” podcast.

With the state seal at the center of the window, the Kansas motivation paralleled that of St. Louis. “St. Louisians wanted to show the world that they were a real city, not a lawless cow town. They also wished to display the cultural and economic advancements made in the West since the Purchase,” according to the Kansas State Historical Society.

Records show that 15 states participated in constructing “buildings,” made of papier-mâché, and some funding came from Congress. According to the

Kansas State Historical Society, Kansans and St. Louis residents identified together in their desire to prove themselves.

“After 40 years of statehood, Kansans were having great success in agriculture, mining, education and horticulture.” The displays were a form of show and tell.

In Kansas’ own building this window greeted visitors. Progress, the theme of the exposition, can be seen in the symbols on the state seal: “The farmer in the foreground dutifully works the productive soil; a wagon forges westward across the prairie; and the steamboat suggests commerce and transportation,” according to the Kansas State Historical Society.

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Columbian

Theatre

painting: American Woman and her political peers Another progressive painting appeared at the World’s Columbian Exposition. “American Woman and Her Political Peers” provides a realistic look at the nature of women’s political struggles of the time. The large painting was designed and commissioned by Henrietta BriggsWall of Hutchinson; artist W. A. Ford carried out her instructions. The painting, almost 5 feet by 4 feet, stands as a landmark in the quest for suffrage.

At the center is Frances Willard, a longtime president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the first dean of women at Northwestern University. In the painting she represents women seeking the right to vote, and around her are four of her “peers.” These peers, all men, represent the “undesirable classes” that were also forbidden the right to vote: a convict in a striped shirt, a man out of his mind, a Native American in tribal dress and a person intellectually disabled.

As highlighted by the Kansas Historical Society, Briggs-Wall said, “It strikes the women every time. They do not realize that we are classed with idiots, criminals and the insane as they do when they see that picture.

Shocking? Well, it takes a shock to arouse some people to a sense of injustice and degradation.”

Kansas women were eligible to cast ballots in school elections the year the Civil War began (1861). The state’s progressive attitude toward women’s suffrage resulted in an amendment, granting women the right to vote, to the Kansas state Constitution eight years prior to the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted the same right.

After the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition closed, J.C. Rogers, a banker from Wamego, purchased several pieces of art that had hung in the rotunda of the U.S. Government Building at the fair.

He also purchased architectural elements, artifacts and buildings from the fair. He shipped his purchases to Wamego. Many of the items, including the artwork, were used to decorate his theater, now known as the Columbian Theatre, Museum and Art Center.

Clint Stueve, executive director of the Columbian Theatre, values these treasures. “We at the Columbian Theatre are very proud of our part in the story of the Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. We currently hold the world’s largest collection of decorative arts from the Chicago World’s Fair.”

Writer Nancy Vogel grew up on historical farmland that once belonged to Charles Robinson, first governor of Kansas.

columbiantheatre.com

Cool Things Podcast listen to the original podcasts on these World’s Fair items online.

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“American Woman and Her Political Peers” kshs.org/p/cool-thingsamerican-woman-and-herpolitical-peers-painting/10294

“The Spirit of Kansas” “World’s Fair Window” kshs.org/p/coolkshs.org/p/coolthings-the-spirit-ofthings-world-s-fairkansas/10146 window/10104

Tour Kansas

Shop This Way

Kansas has no shortage of iconic stores to spend an afternoon and find a treasure … or two Photography by Jason Dailey

Kansans have an intense loyalty to the ethos of the Sunflower State. It’s a captivating and original charm that, fortunately, is impossible to recreate on either coast.

The Heartland’s flavor is its own brand of hospitality, style and authenticity, with convivial shopkeepers who curate stores peddling merchandise ranging from fancy-

At c h i s o n :

Nell Hill’s nellhills.com

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schmancy tabletop accouterments to Oz-themed bottles of wine.

Kansas has the corner on freewheeling retail attractions. Shoppers, start your engines—the little something-something you didn’t know you needed is waiting for you at one of these iconic Kansas stores.

Mary Carol Garrity has built a creatively inspired empire on setting trends and selling them to designsavvy customers from across Kansas—and the country. Nell Hill’s, named in honor of Garrity’s beloved maternal grandmother, is housed in an old bank building in the style maven’s hometown of Atchison.

Garrity purchased the structure in 1981, whipped it into comfy-cozy shape and started peddling her brand of affordable, timeless design of home accessories, kitchen gadgets, aprons, candles, dinnerware and furniture, plus lots and lots of pillows—to eager shoppers who make regular pilgrimages for seasonal delights.

Although Garrity’s reach expands far beyond the original Nell Hill’s, with a collection of popular books, sumptuous fabrics, a line of interior paint sporting colors such as “Heartland Ghost” and “Winter Wheat” and a sprawling home interiors store in Missouri, she remains true to her vision.

Atchison’s Nell Hill’s is two stories of merchandised-to-the-max rooms oozing with shopability. Regulars make a day of it to peruse carefully handpicked wares for the perfect mantel vase, bedside table lamp or plump, overstuffed ottoman for a hearth room. And just like the seasons transition, so do the rooms at Nell Hill’s. Christmas is a magical time at the store, when snowmen, Santas and glittery baubles tempt shoppers.

Garrity innately knows what people want for their homes and lifestyles, and she shows no signs of slowing down a momentum that has earned her the title of the Martha Stewart of the Midwest.

Ha y s

C.S. Post & Co. cspost.com

Pla i n v i ll e

Pineapple Post (785) 434-2769

C.S. Post & Co. in Hays and Pineapple Post in Plainville are marvelous modern-day general stores fueled by design guru and community revitalizer Chuck Comeau and his wife, Shirley. Chuck, a native of Plainville, launched wildly successful furniture and design lighting company Dessin Fournir in 1993, traveling between the Kansas burg and the urban sprawl of Los Angeles to realize his dream. Pining for a return to his Kansas roots, Chuck began moving the company to Plainville in 1996. In 1997 he collaborated with friends Norman and Sandy Keller and, along with Shirley, opened C.S. Post & Co. in Hays. Located in the Chestnut Street District, C.S. Post & Co. is a field of dreams: build it, and they will come … shop.

Packed with meticulously vetted home and lifestyle jewels from accent tables to cachepots and kitchen supplies, C.S. Post & Co. catches the imagination of shoppers, both in-store and online. The store’s allure is a magnetic GPS pulling the city set on their way to second homes in Vail and Aspen off Interstate 70 for a look-see and a design epiphany.

Comfortable, eclectic and chic-chic-chic, C.S. Post & Co. sweeps shoppers up in an imagine-your-bedroom-this-way or your-diningroom-that-way sort of frenzy. C.S. Post & Co. sells more than mere objects, accessories and furniture. Chuck and company’s design pointof-view ensures C.S. Post & Co. customers, who quickly become evangelistic fans, have highquality choices to enhance their lifestyle and home aesthetics.

Pineapple Post is a 30-year-old fine gifts, decorative accessories and interiors store in tiny Plainville, 25 miles outside Hays. Imagined and opened by Shirley, on-trend Pineapple Post relies on its small-town roots, quaint prairie locale and well-chosen merchandise to draw customers.

Perched in the corner of a building where trailers were once manufactured, the store shares space with Chuck’s Dessin Fournir—a business built on the philosophy of preservation.

Downtown Plainville is an ideal picture of revitalization, with thriving cafés and shops such as Pineapple Post drawing people from the region. Brides-to-be and their grooms register for dinnerware and kitchen items, and informed shoppers come to Pineapple Post for unique, quality picture frames—Shirley stocks nearly 400 styles.

There are everyday items for the home, beautiful gifts, candles and seasonal items as well, but Pineapple Post’s magnetic attraction is really in Shirley’s passion to give customers an authentic shopping experience—one that surrounds a lifestyle of design to enhance home, heart and soul.

To that end, receipts are handwritten—no computerized cash registers are at Pineapple Post. The atmosphere is inviting, almost languid, encouraging shoppers to leisurely browse. And while the selection is as appealing as any store in iconic big-city shopping meccas, the parking is infinitely more accessible in Plainville. And Shirley likes that curb service.

kansasmag .com • kansas!

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Tour Kansas

lawr e n c e

Love Garden sounds lovegardensounds.com

In today’s social media-drenched world, the number of “Likes” on a Facebook page, along with posts and retweets on Twitter, speaks volumes. That’s just what quirky Love Garden Sounds sells in its Lawrence, Massachusetts Street location—volumes of likable stuff, including new, used and vintage records, CDs, stereo equipment and T-shirts, barware and stereo covers emblazoned with the store’s logo.

Located along Lawrence’s storied stretch of restaurants, eclectic shops, intimate concert venues and bars, Love Garden is at home in Jayhawk country. The store’s clientele is diverse, ranging from preppy students to 21st century hippies and businessmen and women to ’60s-era music aficionados and the just plain curious. The collection of music for sale is as varied as the Kansas weather, with genres from punk to opera, country to indie, classic rock to everything in between.

Zippy Hester and Kory Willis opened Love Garden in 1990 on the second floor of another Mass Street business. In 2009 the store moved to its current street-level location and is now owned by Kelly Corcoran, who has kept the funk of Love Garden and the tradition of its beloved shop cats, which started with Cayenne, a tortoiseshell beauty in the store’s early days. Today two four-legged creatures roam Love Garden: Mickey Roy, a handsome and hefty yellow cat who wedges himself amongst rows of CDs for a snooze, and Sam, a petite tabby who acknowledges chin scratches and head pats with the cool aloofness expected from a feline.

Customers patronize Love Garden not only for the well-curated selection of tunes and the advice from the dozen or so employees whose knowledge of music is downright encyclopedic, but also for the cats. Paws down, Mickey and Sam are the best ambassadors a business owner could hope for.

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The central Kansas plains have a herd of colorful wild horses that don’t require feed, drink, exercise or rounding up. In fact, the 31 inanimate, fiberglass equines have a job as important as any chamber of commerce: greeting the public. The Wild Dala Horses of Lindsborg quietly and majestically stand on street corners as a symbol of the town’s rich Swedish heritage—many citizens have ancestors from the old country.

Pioneers who settled Lindsborg in 1868 brought Scandinavian traditions, heirlooms and trinkets to remind them of home, including the wooden red horses that originated in Sweden’s Dalarna province.

When the 1800s symbol of Swedish craftsmanship and handiwork was chosen by the National Crafts Union for display at the Paris Exposition in the 19th century, the Dala horse was exposed to an international audience.

Lindsborg

Hemslöjd’s Dala Horse dalahorse.com

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Wa m e g o

Oz Winery ozwinerykansas.com

The Dala Horse is a whimsical fixture in Lindsborg, a town also known as “Little Sweden.” Taking the generations-old craft and spinning it into cherished modern-day artistry, the Dala Horse is most commonly used as a welcoming house sign, in etched beverage ware and candleholders. The Dala Horse signs are manufactured in Lindsborg

by Hemslöjd—which means “handicraft” in Swedish. Dala horse figurines are handmade in Nusnäs, Dalarna, Sweden and imported from Nils Olsson Hemslöjd and Grannas Olsson Hemslöjd. The 28-year-old gift shop, which includes a workshop, catalog and online store, is the country’s top producer of the popular Dala Horse—and lovingly refreshes vintage figures.

Noah Wright and Brooke Balderson were inspired by elements from one of America’s most recognizable musicals and children’s tales, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, threw a dash of pre-Prohibition legacy and marketing finesse into the brew and named their Wamego enterprise with two letters synonymous with the notion of home.

The couple and co-owners—he is head winemaker and she is pastry chef and manager—have skipped down the yellow brick road of success since opening Oz Winery in 2007. They sell more than 24,000 bottles of wine annually bearing smile-inducing names such as “Ding Dong the Wine is Red,” “Witch Gone Good” and “Surrender.”

Balderson is a born-and-bred Kansas girl and fourth-generation Wamego business owner; Wright is the wild card, growing up in western Massachusetts and discovering the Sunflower State’s myriad delights when he arrived at Kansas State University for graduate studies. The two met on a blind date in college and later married, deciding to return to Balderson’s hometown after living in Pittsburgh. Since Kansas was the third-largest grape-producing state in the nation prior to Prohibition, the budding

entrepreneurs settled on reviving the tradition, despite not growing their own grapes.

Situated on Wamego’s Lincoln Street, not far from the town’s fabled Oz Museum, Oz Winery pulls in the curious, the thirsty and wine experts traveling on Interstate 70. The attitude at Oz is a winning combination of serious winemaking and tongue-in-cheek marketing. Case in point: Wright’s grandmother named a sweet Vignoles “Fraidy Cat,” and the most popular bottle is “Squished Witch,” a fruity, semi-sweet Ives Noir.

Wright keeps tabs on the winemaking, while Balderson whips up savories and sweets for wine tastings and parties at Oz’s brightly decorated store. Together, they help remove the intimidation factor some wine novices have when learning about wine and promote the adage that there really is no place like home.

The only thing missing from Oz Winery’s on-fire brand is Toto—but of course the cuddly canine has its own bottle of vino: “Run Toto Run.” Cheers!

Overland Park-based writer Kimberly Winter Stern enjoys shopping around small-town shops in Kansas because she’s guaranteed service with a smile and a treasure—or three—to cart home. kansasmag .com • kansas!

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gallery

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Edgy scenes reveal winter’s frosty radiance.

(Opposite)

Cattail Sunset Harland J. Schuster, Ottawa County (From top)

Mount Sunflower Marciana Vequist, Wallace County Shoreline Scott Bean, Pottawatomie County

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(Above)

Episcopal Church Cross Megan Hughes, Geary County (Opposite, from top)

Kansas Varietied Megan Hughes, Riley County Nature’s Sculpture Bill Fales, Sedgwick County

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(Right)

Winter Pod Brad Neff, Shawnee County (Opposite)

Full Moon Rise Jason Soden, Greenwood County

gallery

Send your scenic photos to Gallery, KANSAS!, 1020 S. Kansas Ave., Suite 200, Topeka, KS 66612.

Visit kansasmag.com for submission guidelines and deadlines.

statement of ownership

kansasmag .com • kansas!

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the

Night

Writer Max McCoy continues to churn out page-turners, inspired by Kansas

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Photography by Eric Benjamin

first novels were not published, but he says his break came when he attended his second Tallgrass Writing Workshop in Emporia. There he met Don Coldsmith and Jim Hoy, Kansas authors of western novels, and Greg Tobin, then an editor at Doubleday publishing.

AP accolades Also rewarding to McCoy is the work he did as an investigative reporter. He won Associated Press awards for two pieces printed as special sections in the The Joplin Globe. One was for “The Killing Season,” a story about the double murder of two missing teenage girls from Oklahoma. For that story McCoy interviewed a killer on death row in Texas. “Ordained by Hate” exposed white supremacists in the Ozarks.

“There’s an idea that investigative reporters mostly bluster about and confront people. Generally I spend very long hours at the courthouse looking at open records requests, filing public document requests and talking to sources,” says McCoy. Although he currently is not an investigative reporter, he teaches inFor a man who has worn several hats in vestigative reporting to his students, and that process of detailed research his various careers, a cowboy hat might be overlaps into his novel writing process. the most reflective of Max McCoy’s recent “I tend to do a lot of research for my books that are set in a success as a writer of western noir. historical time period. An author who sets a novel in a particuHe is shaping and molding lar time and place has an obligation to the reader to try to the minds of today’s colle“Writing get as right as possible, what that time and place was like,” gians. fiction, for McCoy says.

Although each of his me at least, For his first western novel set in Coffeyville, The careers requires unique Sixth Rider, he consulted fire protection maps so that abilities, a thread runs is more like he would know every business that existed in the town through them all—writentering a square in 1892. For I, Quantrill, a western novel written ing—and McCoy has wodream from Quantrill’s viewpoint, he traveled to Wakefield, ven a unique life tapestry. state.”

Kentucky, where William Clarke Quantrill was captured, It’s not as if McCoy, 54, -Max McCoy as well as other relevant sites to his rebellious journey. was involved in each of these Red Shuttleworth, a western writer colleague, says, “Max careers one at a time. While he McCoy’s westerns, like those by Cormac McCarthy, ride far bewas a police reporter for the Pittsyond genre. His trilogy contains truths, profundities both good and ill burg Morning Sun in 1980 and in the early about humanity, a pin-point present sense of the 19th century—and he ’80s he began freelancing for pulp [fiction] writes like an angel.” magazines and eventually larger publications.

At night after finishing his newspaper work he’d write novels. His late-night habit of writing from midnight until 4 a.m. has continued now that he is an assistant professor of journalism at Emporia State University.

“It does present certain problems when you are a college professor and have 8 a.m. committee meetings or classes. I’m still learning how to juggle that,” McCoy says. “I haven’t slept a whole lot.”

Advising the ESU student newspaper, The Bulletin, is one of the hardest jobs he’s had.

“You can’t get in there and do it for them; you have to encourage them. It is one of the most difficult things to do well, but it’s also one of the most satisfying things,” says McCoy. Kansas background Growing up in Baxter Springs, McCoy knew from the age of 8 that he wanted to write fiction and he liked journalism. A couple of his

Author, reporter and professor Max McCoy teaches a class at Emporia State University on investigative reporting. kansasmag .com • kansas!

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KANSAS galleries There is plenty to see and do in Kansas.

Be sure to call ahead for complete directions.

thames glass

Handmade solid glass snowman, 4” x 7”, many different characters.

See entire collection.

Avoid a “meltdown”, come early for best selection.

www.artglassexpressions.com Look for us on Facebook search “Art Glass Expressions”

LAWRENCE, KS

Fine Arts Unique • Affordable • Functional Featuring the original handmade works of local, regional and national artisans.

Pottery • Blown Glass • Jewelry • Woodwork • Textiles & much more!

825 Massachusetts street, Lawrence Ks • 785.843.0080

www.phoenixgalleryks.com

Home of National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson Gallery hours 10-5 M-S | 12-4 Sunday

www.smallworldgallery.net

Paintings, Glass Art, Jewelry, Photography, Pottery, Wood Carving, Wheat Weaving and more.

125 N. Main St. • Lindsborg, KS 67456 785-227-3007 • www.courtyardgallery.com

The first book, of a new series Of Grave Concern, An Ophelia Wylde Mystery, will be released in 2013. McCoy will be taking his readers—likely a new demographic—in an entirely new direction.

Set in Dodge City in 1878, it features Ophelia Wylde, a female protagonist who never picks up a gun. She is a spiritualist with a pet raven who talks to the dead.

“Even though I’m not a believer, I’ve always been interested in the paranormal,” McCoy says of the characters and activity in the novel.

“Writing fiction, for me at least, is more like entering a dream state, but you have to prepare for that dream state by gathering as much information and as much feeling for the place and subject you are writing about as possible,” McCoy says.

KANSAS

destinations & attractions

Bonner Springs

Topeka

Baldwin City Winfield

There is plenty to see and do in Kansas.

Be sure to call ahead for complete directions.

Lawrence writer Cheryl Nelsen enjoys writing about people in Kansas—especially other writers.

The Santa Claus Express Dec 1&2, 8&9

Take an hour long train ride with Santa Claus on “The Santa Claus Express!” See Santa in his own special car, take pictures of your kids with Santa! Enjoy Hot Cocoa and a cookie!

According

Author to 18 novels with major New York publishers, Max McCoy subjects are as diverse as his career.

Among his novels, four are original Indiana Jones adventures written for Lucasfilm; The Moon Pool is a critically acclaimed thriller; and two books from his western noir Hellfire trilogy won Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America.

to the editor

Honored under the same association is McCoy’s first western novel about the Dalton Gang’s raid on Coffeyville’s banks in 1892, The Sixth Rider. It won the 1991 Medicine Pipe Bearer’s Award (now called the Spur Award).

“Editors have different criteria for judging an author’s work. Mine is relatively simple: I do a lot of my reading on the New York City subway. If I miss my subway stop because I’m too engrossed in a book or a manuscript, then an author has done his job well,” says Gary Goldstein, senior editor at Kensington Books. “I remember with the manuscript for Max’s western Hellfire Canyon, I looked up and the train was pulling into the 205th Street station in the Bronx.”

Goldstein and other readers of McCoy’s books are a part of why McCoy writes.

Come share Christmas with us.

The one mile drive takes yout through Pratt’s oldest and most scenic park, illuminated by thousands of lights and animated displays.

Lemon Park Lights will be lit from dusk to 11pm nightly from the 1st Saturday before Thanksgiving through January 1st.

Although he describes writing as a difficult process, he says, “I enjoy the accomplishment of it; I enjoy sharing a vision; I enjoy having an audience that seems to respond to what I write.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION 620-672-5501 • www.pRATTkANsAs.ORg

taste

of kansas

Family Recipes Dishing it out from Western Kansas Photography by Jason Dailey

Filed in an old-fashioned recipe box or tucked between the pages of a favorite cookbook, treasured family recipes often find their way to the dinner table during the holiday season. But three well-known Kansas chefs prepare the dishes of those who came before them on a weekly, if not almost daily, basis.

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recipe Recipe courtesy of

Dutch oven king Brent Harris definitely feels a kinship to those who came before him as he rustles up a meal over an open fire in his outdoor kitchen. Passionate about history and the Wild West way of life, the man with a handlebar mustache works at the Boot Hill Museum and has been branded “The Face of Dodge City” as the community’s ambassador whose picture appears on billboards and other promotional materials. He became interested in early-day cooking on the trail many years ago while working at the museum.

“I happened upon the old-time chuckwagons and did some research on that,” he says. “What kind of things did they cook and how did they cook them just seemed fascinating to me.”

Shortly thereafter, he was given a Dutch oven. Today he does much of the cooking for his family with a cast-iron skillet, using recipes that stay true to those used on the trail more than a century ago. Harris built a fire pit in his backyard and for better flavor typically uses wood instead of charcoal briquettes as fuel. The seasoned cast iron of the Dutch oven also creates a unique taste, but there’s a trick to cooking in the vessel.

“To get good, even heat, every five minutes you turn the pot a quarter turn counter clockwise and the lid a quarter turn clockwise,” he advises.

A typical meal might be Chicken Fried Steak and Gravy in a cast-iron skillet or Shepherds Pie in the Dutch oven. And Cobbler Dump for dessert is a must.

“Part of the beauty of the Dutch oven is the top heat that you get,” he says. “On that cobbler dump, the top heat melts the butter down through the brown sugar and caramelizes it.”

To teach a new generation old ways, every year he prepares the dessert in front of a chuckwagon during the museum’s Christmas event. boothill.org

Brent Harris Chicken Fried Steak a n d G r av y 3 to 4 tenderized round steaks, 3 to 4 inches in size or about 4 to 5 ounces each 1 sleeve (4 ounces) saltine crackers 2 to 3 eggs ½ cup all-purpose flour Vegetable oil Salt and pepper, to taste Gravy: ¼ cup all-purpose flour 1 beef bouillon cube 2 to 3 cups milk Salt and pepper, to taste Place crackers in a plastic bag and crumble finely with rolling pin. Add pepper to flour to taste and mix thoroughly. Place flour and cracker crumbs in separate round cake pans.

Whisk eggs thoroughly in a medium bowl.

Dredge each steak separately in flour pan covering both sides. Dip each steak separately in whisked eggs. Dredge each steak in cracker crumbs covering both sides. Set steaks on waxed paper and allow to rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Lightly salt and pepper to taste.

In a large cast-iron skillet, heat vegetable oil at ½-inch depth to medium-high heat. Place steaks arranged loosely in pan and cook to a medium golden brown on both sides; do not overcook.

To assure even heat, because of the nature of heat provided by coals, turn the oven ¼ turn counterclockwise and the lid ¼ turn clockwise every 5 minutes.

Remove steaks to plate and keep warm.

Prepare gravy in same skillet.

Remove excess oil leaving approximately 3 tablespoons of oil and all remaining crumbs. Add flour and bouillon cube, blending thoroughly to a paste. Add milk; season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir mixture over medium heat until it reaches a mediumthin consistency. Remove from heat immediately as cast iron retains heat and will continue to cook.

Serve over steaks and mashed potatoes.

Serves 3-4 kansasmag .com • kansas!

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taste

recipe

of kansas

Recipe courtesy of

Jacque McMillan

doughnuts 1 pint milk ½ cup shortening ½ cup sugar 1 package yeast ½ cup warm water ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon vanilla ½ cup cold mashed potatoes 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 6 cups flour

From pheasants to doughnuts In the wee morning hours, Jacque McMillan and her motherin-law, Maxine McMillan, knead the dough for doughnuts made from a recipe passed down from Maxine’s grandmother. Anxious to bite into the hot, glazed sweet results are hungry clients who come to the McMillan Outfitting lodge near Stafford for guided hunts of the area’s white-tailed deer. Jacque and her husband, Tom, operate the outfitting business, and their outdoors lifestyle is featured in a television series, Tom’s Wild Life, on the Great American Country channel.

“What’s neat about this recipe is that it actually has mashed potatoes in it,” Jacque says. “It makes for a good texture.”

Maxine published her grandmother’s doughnut recipe in a cookbook, We Cook in Camo, which features many of her recipes as well as several from Jacque and other family members.

Rifling through the cookbook, readers find a recipe for Pheasant Casserole that came from Jacque’s own mother and is often prepared for visitors who, although intimidated by the perceived “wild” flavor, agree to take a shot at tasting a wild game dish.

“All wild game prepared correctly can be favorable to the palate,” Jacque says. “It’s all about how you prepare it and present it to folks.” mcmillanoutfitting.com

Glaze: 1 32-ounce package powdered sugar Boiling water 2 to 3 tablespoons cream and vanilla to taste Bring milk, shortening and sugar to a boil; cool.

Dissolve yeast in warm water; cool. Add baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and mashed potatoes to yeast mixture.

Combine milk mixture with potato mixture. Let rise 30 minutes.

Add salt, eggs and flour; mix and knead for five minutes. Let rise until double in bulk; punch down. Roll out dough to 1-inch thickness. Cut doughnuts and/or holes; let rise.

Fry in a deep fat fryer at 350 degrees until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel and glaze while hot.

Mix powdered sugar, boiling water, cream and vanilla.

Drop drained, hot doughnuts into glaze. Lift out doughnuts and drain on a cooling rack placed on freezer or waxed paper to catch dripping glaze.

Serves 12

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Food prepared and styled by Evan Williams of Evan Williams Catering. w i nt er 2012

recipe Recipe courtesy of

Nancy moore

P o pp y S e e d C a k e 1½ cups milk ½ cup poppy seed 1 teaspoon vanilla 6 egg whites ¾ cup butter 2¼ cups sugar 3 cups flour 3 teaspoons baking powder ¾ teaspoon salt

Moore please Nancy Moore recalls childhood memories of her aunt when she served sticky buns for breakfast during visits at her home during the summer. “I serve them to my guests experiencing the life of a working cowboy on a cattle drive at Moore Ranch near Bucklin.”

“I still have the hand-written recipe card with her name at the top, so I think of her every time I make it,” says Moore, who grew up in Hoxie and Colby.

Moore is proud to carry on family traditions such as fixing her greataunt’s recipe, dating to 1910, for Poppy Seed Cake to celebrate the birthdays of ranch guests and family members.

“The poppy seed cake is different because it has a custard filling and frosting,” Moore says. “It’s not like the icing we have on cakes today.”

At Christmastime, Nancy always prepares one special recipe, just as her extended family members have done for generations. “My grandmother has it written down as Date Nut Roll,” she says. “She has written on the top ‘old recipe 1930.’” The recipe notes to use “half a pound of nuts, minimum, or use as much as you can afford,” a sign of the Depression-era times. moorelonghornranch.com Of Czech descent, Abilene writer Cecilia Harris fondly remembers her jovial Aunt Anna Kasl every time she makes Anna’s kolache recipe.

Filling/Frosting 2 ¼ cups milk ½ cup poppy seed 6 egg yolks, beaten 3 tablespoons cornstarch ½ teaspoon salt 1¼ cups sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla Soak overnight milk, poppy seed and vanilla for cake; also soak overnight milk and poppy seed for frosting. In lieu of soaking, microwave each mixture for about 2 minutes, stir and let sit for 5 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour two 8-inch baking pans, tapping out any excess flour.

Separate 6 eggs (the whites will be used in the cake, and the yolks will be used in the frosting).

Cream together butter and sugar. Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Alternately blend flour mixture and cake’s soaked poppy seed mixture into the creamed butter and sugar.

Beat the egg whites until stiff; fold into batter.

Pour batter into two greased pans and bake for 30 minutes. Cool 5 minutes and remove from pan.

While cake is baking, make the filling/frosting. In a double boiler, cook until thick the poppy seed mixture, egg yolks, cornstarch and salt. Add vanilla and stir. Slightly cool. Spread this between layers and over the top and sides of the cake. (This is like a custard filling/frosting and will not have the same consistency as regular frosting or icing used on cakes. It does not become hard or stiff.)

Serves 24 kansasmag .com • kansas!

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milestone Junior League of Topeka

Junior League of Topeka celebrates a 75-year legacy in 2012. The women’s organization is committed to promoting philanthropy to improve communities. JLT’s mission is to work to improve the self-esteem of the community’s children.

Founded in 1932 as the Junior Charities of Topeka, the organization changed its name and joined the Association of Junior Leagues International in 1937. Over the past seven decades the organization has raised $1.4 million and countless volunteer hours to build a better Topeka. Among their successes, they established the Volunteer Center of Topeka in the 1960s, brought Meals on Wheels to the community in the 1970s and founded the Topeka Community Foundation in the 1980s. In the 1990s JLT brought the Everybody Wins! When Adults Read with Children program to the area. And today JLT is working on its first diaper bank to serve Shawnee County children in need.

Congratulations on a fine legacy and worthy celebration. jltopeka.com

KANSAS museums There is plenty to see and do in Kansas.

Be sure to call ahead for complete directions.

Manhattan

Wamego

Abilene El Dorado Wichita

Bonner Springs Topeka Lecompton

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Historical Lecompton Civil War Birthplace Where slavery began to die

ABOUT US

PERMANENT EXHI

The Wyandotte County Historical Museum opened in 1956. The first Visit Constitution Hall & museum was located Territorial Capital in Memorial HallMuseum in downtown Kansas City,

10-5 pm Wed-Sat • 1-5 pm Sun Kansas. In 1962, the Wyandotte Tours (785) 887-6148 • www.lecomptonkansas.com

County Commission approved a 99-year lease with the Wyandotte County Historical Society for land in the Wyandotte County Park. An effort by the Society and the Museum was started to collect artifacts and archives for a new museum facility and in December 1962, the Society broke ground for the first stage of a new museum.

In 1967, the Museum was opened to the public in the Wyandotte County Park in Bonner Springs, Kansas. The Museum houses the Trowbridge Research Library, two permanent exhibition galleries and an auditorium.

Trowbridge/Barker Gallery

East Gallery

The West Gallery features early Wyandotte County history; Native American collections, including 2000 year old Hopewell artifacts, a 300 year old dug-out canoe found on the Kaw River and the stories of the three immigrant tribes of Wyandotte County- the Shawnee, Delaware and Wyandot. In addition to the museum displays, hands-on educational stations include an a r ch a e o l o g i c a l d i g box, Native American language station, corn grinding and a pot shard puzzle.

The East Gallery f and cities in Wy Metropolitan hor fire engine, onebarbershop, you c of Wyandotte Cou an actual KCK fire

advertise

631 N. 126tH Street BoNNer SpriNgS, KS 66012 913.573.5002 www.wycomuseum.org Summer Hours Monday–Friday:

9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday:

9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

in KANSAS! Magazine

TROWBRIDG

For details contact Historic photog Bert Hull records, marriag newspapers, o (888) 497-8668 record sunpubads@sunflowerpub.comcemetery materials house

can assist visitor Wyandotte Coun