Discover Eudora is an official publication of the City of Eudora, the Eudora School District and the Eudora Chamber of Commerce, with editorial, design and advertising placement provided by Sunflower Publishing.
City Liaison Zack Daniel
Chamber Liaison Meagan Cox
School District Liaison Albania Andrade
Editor Gina DeBacker
Art Director Alex Tatro
Copy Editor Leslie Clugston Andres
Advertising Angie Taylor
Photographers Fally Afani
Jason Dailey
Carter Gaskins
Cindy Higgins
Writers Fally Afani
Cindy Higgins
Nick Spacek
Rochelle Valverde
www.eudorakansaschamber.com
President Meagan Cox www.cityofeudoraks.gov
Mayor Tim Reazin
City Manager Kevyn Gero
www.eudoraschools.org
School District
Superintendent Stu Moeckel www.sunflowerpub.com
Director Bob Cucciniello
Publisher Bill Uhler
All material and photographs copyright Sunflower Publishing, 2025.
For editorial queries: Gina DeBacker (785) 832-7106 gdebacker@sunflowerpub.com
a community guide. on the cover.
For advertising queries: Angie Taylor (785) 832-7236 ataylor@sunflowerpub.com
Cardinal U helps students tackle higher education courses early
10 | Gassers and Gushers
In search of gas and oil, entrepreneurs rushed to Eudora and surrounding cities to find farmland on which to dig exploratory wells 16 | Breaking
New Ground
City leaders are looking to the future of Eudora with two new housing developments 26 | A Conversation with … Eudora Chamber of Commerce members Jamie Knabe and Karen Price talk about supporting the community and fellow entrepreneurs
| An Anchor for
The new nonprofit Anchored Collective serves as a resource hub for the Eudora community 04 | Cramming for College
Aaron Thakker (left) and Robby Giffin stand inside their recently opened community resource hub, Anchored Collective.
by Jason Dailey
Photo
Story and photography by Fally Afani
Cramming for College
Cardinal U helps students tackle higher education courses early
This spring semester marks the start of Cardinal U, and high school students have embraced the opportunity to tackle collegelevel general education requirements.
When it came time for Eudora High School senior Errol Siemon to start preparing for college, it felt a little overwhelming. There were applications to fill out, college visits to plan, and, of course, the remaining high school work to stay on top of. As an athlete, he has the extra responsibility of preparing for his post-graduation athletic career. “I’m going to play football next year, so recruiting’s been hard, and then trying to figure out what I want to major in has been difficult,” Siemon says. However, a new program offered through Eudora High School is helping Siemon alleviate some of that stress. Cardinal U helps students gain college credits before they graduate.
“I think it’s a pretty good experience before college,” Siemon says. “It’s helping me a lot to get future classes out of the way.”
Through partnerships with four regional colleges—Johnson County Community College, Emporia State, Allen Community College and Baker University—Eudora High School students are tackling college-level general education requirements before moving on to their postgraduation plans. Jessica Johnson, an assistant principal of Eudora High School, director of Cardinal Academy (an alternative way for high school students to complete their high school graduation requirements) and director of Eudora Schools Virtual Learning Program, says it’s about sending students into the world with the best preparation possible.
“It’s an opportunity for students to earn college credits and career technical credits and certifications,” Johnson says. “What we did was try to identify the classes that the Kansas Board of Regents considers transferable across the state and focus on the introductory courses students will need.”
The idea was a natural expansion of what was already happening at the Eudora School Virtual Learning Program and Cardinal Academy, where students were already given these same opportunities but on a smaller scale. Through Cardinal U, Eudora administrators now enabled students who want pre-college credits to receive
Errol Siemon and other Eudora high school students work to earn pre-college credits via virtual classes offered through Cardinal U.
help from Eudora High School instead of going through the process alone. For the first time, some classes are virtual and some are available during school hours. Some students are even working toward technical careers after high school through Peaslee Tech, a technical training center in Lawrence.
This spring semester marks the start of Cardinal U, and students have embraced the opportunity. “During the fall, I tracked the students who had arranged to take classes independently,” Johnson says. “There were 14 students taking dual credit courses independently at that time. This allowed me to see how counselors had worked with students in the past, and we developed a program that would be similar but have a more strategic approach since we knew there was a possibility of more students. We have 60 students enrolled at the high school taking dual credit courses through Cardinal U.”
That’s a remarkable number for the first year. Better yet, these students get valuable life experience beyond the classroom—they are learning how to “adult.” “We’re already talking about navigating the online world of communication. When you are a college student, you are expected to communicate and advocate for yourself,” Johnson says. “They have an hour a day designated for this class—they’re set up right outside my office so they can come in and ask questions.”
Johnson wants the school to serve as a hub for these students, providing support for any issue, big or small—whether it’s helping a student find a textbook so they don’t have to pay for it out of pocket or help students draft emails to college professors. “My hope is that this helps better prepare them when they go to college because I think about how overwhelming that can be,” Johnson says.
But Siemon, who is currently taking
There are already 60 students enrolled at the high school taking dual credit courses through Cardinal U.
psychology and communications courses through Cardinal U, doesn’t feel as overwhelmed these days. “It’s a good experience before we get to college,” he says. “It’s a basis of what we’ll be facing in college.”
And as Johnson explains, that was the goal all along. “There’s a lot of soft skills they’re learning, and that’s been a good growing experience for them,” she says. “That’s the hope we can offer, regardless of where students are and what they’re wanting to do. That way, they’re not leaving high school feeling lost.”
System-Wide
General Education Framework “Buckets”
The Kansas Board of Regents has seven “buckets” for general education requirements. Students can transfer these requirements between post-secondary institutions system-wide, so Eudora High School juniors and seniors can take courses in the following buckets and receive both high school and college credit.
• English
• Communications
• Mathematics & Statistics
• Natural and Physical Sciences
• Social & Behavioral Sciences
• Arts & Humanities
• Institutionally Designated Area (i.e., societal issues, local needs and institutional priorities)
Jessica Johnson, assistant principal of Eudora High School, wants Cardinal U to serve as a resource hub for high school students. "My hope is that this helps better prepare them when they go to college," she says.
Road Map to Success
A look inside the school district’s new strategic plan and how it lays the groundwork for student achievement
The Cardinal U program is just one way the school district is helping Eudora High School students prepare for a future beyond graduation. After a series of listening tours during the 2023–2024 school year, the district developed a strategic plan to serve students over the next five years.
“We were able to land on what we felt were the three pillars of our strategic plan: Culture of Belonging, Instructional Excellence and Future Prepared,” says Eudora superintendent Stu Moeckel. “We want to be able to hold ourselves accountable and provide a vision for the next five years by picking some measurable goals that we believe resonate with what families and the community want to see from our schools.”
The strategic plan for 2024–2029 outlines that vision with three areas of focus. Through a Culture of Belonging, the district aims to provide a welcoming community where each student is known by name, strength and need. “We want people to feel like they belong in Eudora schools,” Moeckel says. “That starts with teaching students how to treat each other and work together.”
Through Instructional Excellence, the district intends to improve student performance through enhanced instructional coherence and highimpact instructional practices. “It’s really about how we move that needle
as far as raising student achievement,” Moeckel says.
Finally, through Future Prepared, the district intends to help graduates be prepared for their future. “We want students to have the most opportunity possible. We want them to be able to get out there and job shadow, and we want to create opportunities for them to be as prepared as possible for the future they choose,” Moeckel says.
example, putting intentional effort around creating family partners when it comes to kindergarten readiness.”
Programs such as Cardinal U fit into this strategic plan by preparing high school students for the future, but district leaders intend to go beyond technical solutions. “There are a lot more granular things that are happening,” says Heather Hundley, the director of school improvement. “There are a lot of different avenues in which we’re working to meet this promise. For
Ultimately, the strategic plan will serve as a road map for the next five years. “We know there are some wildly ambitious goals in this plan, but even if we fall short of our goals, we have set a vision to increase student achievement,” Moeckel says. “If we make this vision not just a possibility but a reality, then our students and their families will be so much better for it.”
To read the strategic plan, visit eudoraschools.org/ourpromise
—Gina DeBacker
Story and photography by
Cindy Higgins
Gassers and Gushers
In search of gas and oil, entrepreneurs rushed to Eudora and surrounding cities to find farmland on which to dig exploratory wells
Located just south of Eudora, a pump jack extracts petroleum from the ground.
For more than a century, petroleum wells have operated around Eudora. Several wells (and their storage tanks) are visible as you drive south from Eudora on back roads.
“The number of producing wells can vary from year to year when some are taken offline or others are brought back,” says Mike Killion, research lead programmer with the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas.
At the start of the 20th century, discoveries of natural gas and oil launched a land rush among speculators who wanted to lease farmland in Eudora and other cities in Kansas. Lawrence Oil, Coal and Gas Company sent its “dowser” or “oil witch”—someone who uses a divining tool, such as a forked stick or a rod—to find oil and gas extraction sites around Eudora. A dowser suspected oil or gas was underground whenever they could easily push their divining stick into a soft spot in the frozen ground.
The Gassers
In 1905, the dowser sent to Eudora found a likely site on Eudora resident B.J. McBride’s farm, 3.5 miles south of Eudora. The exploratory borehole tapped into a substantial gas reservoir. To celebrate the discovery, the Wide Awakes, a Keystone Corner club, held a dance by the well.
This natural gas discovery led to drilling on the west side of Eudora, in a pasture owned by livestock farmer E. W. Kraus, and a 352-foot-deep well in Eudora resident Fred Moll’s pasture, adjacent to the town’s eastern limits. Both produced natural gas in 1905. “The gas [from Moll’s well] was ignited Tuesday night and burned high and bright, illuminating the immediate vicinity as bright almost as day,” wrote the Eudora Weekly News.
In 1906, more “gassers,” or wells that
produced natural gas, were found under Eudora pastures. These supplied local citizens with light and heating fuel through pipelines owned by Kansas Natural Gas Company.
Some residents turned to wildcatting companies, or companies that drilled exploratory wells in unproven areas. (One such company later went broke and destroyed most of its wells.) Eudora resident Herb Lawrenz bought a well dug on his land by a wildcatting company in 1936 and used it to fuel his lights and heat until water drowned the gas in the rusted well. Other residents around Eudora bought similar wells to fuel their lights and heat.
Yesteryear’s inactive wells, including dozens of gas wells a mile or two east of downtown Eudora, have been capped and plugged to stop toxic substances from escaping.
Today, Atmos Energy in Olathe supplies natural gas to Eudora customers. “We don’t pull from smaller wells,” says Aaron Bishop, manager of Atmos public affairs. “We are a local distributing company and buy gas from suppliers, which we keep in storage facilities dispersed in our service areas.”
The Gushers
Some wells produced both natural gas and oil, but other reservoirs held primarily one or the other. The first notable oil discovery in Eudora was on H. Thoren’s farm, 5 miles south of town. Initial oil production ranged between five and 10 barrels a day.
In 1917, as more people drove automobiles, several companies leased hundreds of acres around Baldwin, Eudora and further southwest into Douglas County in hopes of finding even more oil. Once the companies obtained these leases, they would transport a steam-powered (later gas-powered), wheel-mounted drilling rig to discover whether their hunches would pay off.
Explorative drilling in the Eudora area, especially around Clearfield, slowed around 1920 with volatile wartime barrel prices before finally tapering off after 1927. A few decades later, in the 1950s, Kansas Geological Services dug more than a dozen 4-inch test holes east of Eudora. Most revealed reservoirs with too low an oil yield—or no reservoir at all.
Sinclair Pumping Station
Located 2 miles south of Eudora at 1019 E. 2200 Rd., the Sinclair Pumping Station operated from 1923 to 1940. Residing on 38 acres of now privately owned land, this two-story concrete building was one of many petroleum pumping stations along a Sinclair Oil Corporation pipeline. (Sinclair Oil established pumping stations at 45-mile intervals from Montana’s north-central oil fields all the way to Chicago.) Inside the building, two McIntosh & Seymour diesel engines with 1,200 horsepower pulled triplecylinder pumps, which pushed 800 barrels of oil an hour through 9- to 16-inch diameter pipelines. Because oil in the Sinclair pipeline needed a boost through the hilly Eudora country, the engines had double the power of most of the other Sinclair stations and were cooled with water from ponds built just north of the station.
Gabe and Katelyn Spurgeon, with their three children Grayson, Thomas, and Olivia at South Baldwin Farms
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Did You Know?
Oil and anthracite coal fueled Eudora homes well into the 1930s. Although electricity became a reliable fuel option in 1917, many Eudora residents continued to use oil-based lights, and most burned coal (or wood) for heat.
In 1984, oil well exploration escalated locally, driven by seismic surveys, in which geologists broadcast acoustic waves, then measure and analyze their reflection (echo). Of an estimated 100 wells drilled between Baldwin and Eudora, several struck oil at depths of nearly 700 feet within the Cherokee sandstone formations.
As of last year, Douglas County had 360 active wells. Many produce minimal oil but can increase output with high-pressure saltwater injections that force petroleum to the surface. Environmental scientists have criticized this method for wells southwest of Eudora because it can contaminate fresh water sources and cause sinkholes, according to the Sustainability Action Network, which monitors Kansas Corporation Commission permit requests.
Above: Oil storage tanks sit just south of Eudora. Below: This photo, printed in a 1923 issue of Petroleum Age, shows off a McIntosh-Seymour diesel engine pushing oil through the Sinclair pipeline station.
Story by Nick Spacek Photography by Jason Dailey
Breaking New Ground
City leaders are looking to the future of Eudora with two new housing developments
With two new projects underway, developers
GW Weld, owner of Cornerstone Property Management, and Dustin Baker, managing partner of Alcove Development, are focusing on the future of housing in Eudora to meet the community’s needs.
Weld and Baker are partnering to build an apartment complex at 10th and Peach Street. It will offer
two options: Paschal’s Landing, with 36 income-restricted units, and 10 Union Lofts, with 96 market-rate units.
Meanwhile, Baker has a separate development in the works. That area, south of K-10 off the Church Street exit, will expand the Shadow Ridge subdivision by 149 lots, plus an additional 30 lots for maintenance-provided senior living.
The Benefits
Paschal’s Landing and 10 Union Lofts marry need and opportunity, Weld says.
“We haven’t had a new multifamily development in over 30 years in Eudora,” Weld adds. When the land became available, he explains, he and Baker felt that its proximity to K-10 and its location across the street from Eudora Elementary made it appealing for young families and seniors alike. “As we talked with stakeholders about the needs of our seniors— we’re pretty connected with the Senior Foundation of Eudora—we realized the affordable part of this project is a real need in the community.”
It’s a point Zack Daniel, Eudora assistant city manager, echoes. “There’s just not a lot of new housing stock available for seniors if they want to stay in town but also want to downsize,” Daniel says. “We have an active senior foundation in Eudora that has been proactive in reaching out to developers and pointing out the gaps in the housing market, which they’re hoping some of these projects can fill.”
The Costs
Although Paschal’s Landing and 10 Union Lofts will offer Eudora families much-needed housing options, the project will require the city and the developers to invest in infrastructure. The main cost, Daniel says, is the sewer infrastructure.
“This is a beneficial spot for the city to be in because we don’t have a sewer provision in that area right now,” Daniel explains, adding that this development will upgrade and expand existing sewer systems to accommodate both the new Paschal’s Landing development and future development to the east. “It’s being conceptualized that the project will pay for that, and we want to make sure this project sets the city up for future developments.”
The city of Eudora is in conversation with the developers about how to handle the split. “We city officials recognize that the utility infrastructure is pretty important,” Daniel says. “Whether it comes to residential development, industrial development, commercial development or what have you, it’s all going to need sewer infrastructure.”
Weld agrees. “We are extending a sewer line that’s going to become public infrastructure,” he adds. “It is a huge value add to the city. It opens up other ground for development.” He further explains that
The development of a new apartment complex at 10th and Peach Street will include Paschal's Landing, with 36 income-restricted units, and 10 Union Lofts, with 96 market-rate units.
he and Baker are working with the city to recoup some of those costs, which they’re fronting through property tax abatements such as RHID (see sidebar at right). That tax abatement is especially important to the Shadow Ridge expansion, Weld adds, because that development will require a new road.
The Incentives
Smaller cities like Eudora often realize they can’t afford to shoulder the entire cost of new infrastructure that development requires. “Oftentimes, the development isn’t profitable enough to pay for some of those costs,” Weld says. “That’s why it’s great when cities have incentive programs at their disposal to close the gaps.”
Incentives such as RHID or similar tax abatement initiatives are put on a structured timeline, he explains, and the infrastructure that’s built will remain in place long after the initial tax incentive periods expire. “At the end of the day, the city has a lot more revenue come in from property taxes,” Weld says. “The more housing we build, the more we can support retail and commercial developments in our town.” By attracting businesses that generate sales tax revenue, the city can strengthen its capacity to fund more infrastructure projects.
The Concerns
Planning all of this can be complicated, Baker says, pointing to the Shadow Ridge development as an example. One of the issues was working with both the school district and the city on the extension of 23rd Street. “Although our preliminary plat had been approved, we heard concerns from the city,” Baker says. “They wanted us to take a time out and really think about the long-term future planning of this entire area.”
Baker sat down with the city and the school district to work on a solution that worked for everyone—a process that took some time. The preliminary plan was approved in March 2023 but then put on pause. Baker was asked to put it through the stakeholder process one more time and to address their concerns with more viable solutions before resubmitting.
Important Terms to Know
RAISE stands for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity. Formerly known as Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER), it is a discretionary grant from the United States Department of Transportation designed for surface transportation infrastructure projects that have significant local or regional impact. It was recently renamed Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD).
RHID stands for Reinvestment Housing
Incentive District, a program administered by the Kansas Department of Commerce that aids developers in building housing by financing public infrastructure improvements.
A home in disrepair sits on the soon-to-be-developed site of Paschal's Landing and 10 Union Lofts. With their proximity to K-10 and Eudora Elementary, the new development should appeal to young families and seniors alike.
The development team is still ironing out the details, Baker says. One such detail is the specifics of the extension of Fir Street. The plan is to extend it northward from its current endpoint in the older section of the subdivision so that it connects to 20th Street. “This is a fairly large project for that subdivision, and we’re working with the stakeholders to come up with a solution that benefits everybody,” Baker says. “Not only will Shadow Ridge benefit from an extension of Fir Street, but so will the other surrounding property owners.”
Many variables come into play when you own property near newly developed areas, Baker says. Alcove Development is trying to be considerate with the city. “We received a $21 million RAISE grant [in 2023] from the Federal Highway Administration, which we’re still in the process of finalizing,” Daniel says. “That is specifically meant to address some of the road and utility infrastructure concerns.”
Traffic concerns along Church Street, particularly regarding access to the high school and the middle school, are one of the main issues being addressed with the Shadow Ridge development. The project designs should complement the road and provide upgrades in the area, reducing traffic on the existing roads entering Shadow Ridge from the south.
The Eudora school district is reviewing options for northern access to the middle and high schools—and now to the Shadow Ridge development—and is looking for ways to increase and enhance access in general, whether via trails or pedestrian crosswalks.
“When it's the first new development in a while to come in, then those are the kind of considerations that city staff has,” Daniel says. “We don’t want to look at this in a vacuum. We want to make sure we’re setting up infrastructure to support the project in front of us and potential projects down the line.”
The Shadow Ridge subdivision, located south of K-10 off the Church Street exit, will be expanded by 149 lots, plus an additional 30 lots for maintenance-provided senior living.
Calendar of Events
APRIL
1
Coffee Connections
Eudora Chamber of Commerce hosts an informal monthly gathering of members and guests. eudorakansaschamber.com
5
Wild West Saloon Gala
Eudora Chamber of Commerce hosts the annual chamber gala with networking opportunities and a night of entertainment. eudorakansaschamber.com
12 Prom
Eudora High School hosts its annual prom. www.eudoraschools.org
15
Eudora Riverbank Restoration Volunteer Workday
Leave your mark on the riverbank restoration project by helping the Friends of the Kaw remove invasive plants. kansasriver.org
25
Cardinal Relays
Eudora High School hosts its annual track and field competition. www.eudoraschools.org
29
Eudora Invitational
Eudora hosts the annual Eudora Invitational middle school track and field competition. www.eudoraschools.org
MAY
6
Coffee Connections
Eudora Chamber of Commerce hosts an informal monthly gathering of members and guests. eudorakansaschamber.com
8
Main Street Market
Eudora CVB hosts the summer’s first outdoor market with craft stalls, food vendors, drinks, music, live entertainment and more. domoreineudora.com
13, 20, 27
Eudora Farmers’ Market
Eudora Parks & Recreation hosts a farmers’ market in the Village Green area. cityofeudoraks.gov
15
Kansas Music History
Eudora Area Historical Society, in partnership with Humanities Kansas, offers a free presentation at the Eudora Community Center. cityofeudoraks.gov/100/EudoraCommunity-Museum
15
Eudora Riverbank Restoration Volunteer Workday
Leave your mark on the riverbank restoration project by helping the Friends of the Kaw remove invasive plants. kansasriver.org
17
Eudora High School Graduation www.eudoraschools.org
22
School Year Ends
Last day of classes for Eudora schools www.eudoraschools.org
JUNE
3
Coffee Connections
Eudora Chamber of Commerce hosts an informal monthly gathering of members and guests. eudorakansaschamber.com
3, 17, 24
Eudora Farmers’ Market
Eudora Parks & Recreation hosts a farmers’ market in the Village Green area. cityofeudoraks.gov
10
Main Street Market
Eudora CVB hosts a summer outdoor market with craft stalls, food vendors, drinks, music, live entertainment and more. domoreineudora.com
12–14
CPA Picnic
The 124th annual community celebration and fair kicks off three days in Downtown Eudora with carnival rides, parades, vendors, a golf scramble and musical performances. eudoracpa.org
20–21
Beginning Camping & Kayaking
Friends of the Kaw and the Kaw River Guides host an overnight camping trip along the Kansas River. Kayaks will take off Friday in search of a place to camp for the night; bring your own camping gear, food, and kayak (or canoe). kansasriver.org
25
Quarterly Mixer
Eudora Chamber of Commerce hosts an evening of networking and community-building. eudorakansaschamber.com
JULY
1, 15, 22, 29
Eudora Farmers’ Market
Eudora Parks & Recreation hosts a farmers’ market in the Village Green area. cityofeudoraks.gov
4
Eudora Star-Spangled Celebration
Celebrate Independence Day with live music, food trucks and fireworks www.eudoraparksandrec.org
10
Main Street Market
Eudora CVB hosts a summer outdoor market with craft stalls, food vendors, drinks, music, live entertainment and more. domoreineudora.com
17
The History of Eudora’s Sinclair Pumping Station
Eudora Area Historical Society offers a free presentation at the Eudora Community Center. cityofeudoraks.gov/100/EudoraCommunity-Museum
28–AUGUST 2
Douglas County Fair
Douglas County Fair opens its fairgrounds with amusement rides, musical performances, a demolition derby and much more. dgcountyfair.com
AUGUST
5
Coffee Connections
Eudora Chamber of Commerce hosts an informal monthly gathering of members and guests. eudorakansaschamber.com
5, 19, 26
Eudora Farmers’ Market
Eudora Parks & Recreation hosts a farmers’ market in the Village Green area. cityofeudoraks.gov
14
Main Street Market
Eudora CVB hosts a summer outdoor market with craft stalls, food vendors, drinks, music, live entertainment and more. domoreineudora.com
14
First half-day of school for grades 1–9 and new high school students www.eudoraschools.org
15
First full day of school for grades 1–12; first half-day of school for kindergarten www.eudoraschools.org
18
First full day of school for kindergarten and preschool students www.eudoraschools.org
SEPTEMBER
1
Labor Day School Break
No school in observance of Labor Day holiday www.eudoraschools.org
2, 16, 23, 30
Eudora Farmers’ Market
Eudora Parks & Recreation hosts a farmers’ market in the Village Green area. cityofeudoraks.gov
15–20
Nashville Show Trip
Eudora Parks & Recreation hosts a six-day trip to Nashville, packed full of country music experiences, including a show at the Grand Ole Opry, a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame and a tour of Belle Meade Historic Site and Winery; price includes transportation, lodging and meals. cityofeudoraks.gov
18
Kansas Riverkeeper Presentation
Eudora Area Historical Society offers a free presentation at the Eudora Community Center. cityofeudoraks.gov/100/EudoraCommunity-Museum
11
Main Street Market
Eudora CVB hosts the summer’s last outdoor market with craft stalls, food vendors, drinks, music, live entertainment and more. domoreineudora.com
24
Quarterly Mixer
Eudora Chamber of Commerce hosts an evening of networking and community-building. eudorakansaschamber.com
26–27
Great Kaw Adventure Race
The annual 25-mile canoe, bike and foot race through Eudora and DeSoto returns. On September 27, Paschal's Kaw River Celebration will follow the race to honor Eudora's heritage. domoreineudora.com
Photograph by Carter Gaskins
Jamie Knabe | owner of Country Road Farms A Conversation with …
Located five miles south of Eudora, Country Road Farms offers fresh eggs, farm-raised beef and pork, and other local products. Owner Jamie Knabe has been a farm girl all her life. Since opening her business 15 years ago with her husband, Keith, Knabe says she enjoys producing good meat for good people. She talks to us about how she got her start, the keys to a successful business, and the importance of knowing where your food comes from.
Discover Eudora (DE): Have you always lived in Eudora?
Knabe: I grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, until I was 12. When Keith and I got married in 1994, we moved to Keith’s grandparents’ farm in Eudora and have been here ever since. I love Eudora’s small-town feel. Knowing who your neighbors are is huge, as is having that quiet—I love that. And I love the people of Eudora. There are so many good people here.
DE: What does a typical work day look like for you?
Knabe: It’s always different. Of course, there are repetitive daily tasks—I don’t think people realize how often I sit at the desk in my office. But I spend a lot of my time planning events. On March 29, for example, I’m working the Shop Kansas Farms event at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, and that’s going to require a different setup. Today will be a quieter day where I will work on an online meat
order through Market Wagon, an online farmers market where you can order anything locally made (marketwagon.com).
DE: What is the key to running a successful business?
Knabe: Know your business and work your business—you’ve gotta’ work it. Getting to know your customers and having a relationship with regular customers is also huge, as is keeping good products. I take a lot
of care and pride in how we raise our animals. When I started this business, people asked me if I ate my own meat. I said “Yes! And I feed it to my grandkids!”
DE: Why is it important to shop locally?
Knabe: You’re supporting your neighbor. You’re supporting someone you know has a good product, and you know exactly where your food is coming from. More so today than ever before, that is very important. I love to show people around my farm when they come out. I want them to know that we take pride in what we do. I have my own recipe for cattle and hog feed, for example. We even make our own hay. I take care in these details to produce good, lean meat that tastes amazing.
DE: In what other ways are you involved with the Eudora community?
Knabe: I am a member of the Eudora Chamber of Commerce. They are a great bunch of people. They work hard to make Eudora a better place. I am also involved with the Eudora CVB (Conventions & Visitors Bureau). We’re working on some great things to help bring people into Eudora. Right now, we are focused on the Main Street Market, which takes place on the second Thursday of every month, May–September. Amy DeLaRosa has done an amazing job with that event. It takes a lot of work and time, and we are actively looking for volunteers!
DE: What are your goals for the coming years?
Knabe: I plan to keep selling and producing good local meat for the community and surrounding areas. I plan to cut down on some of the farmers markets I attend and concentrate more on our storefront at the farm. I want to make this store more successful than it’s been, and I hope to still be doing this in three to five years. What’s more, I plan to keep promoting agriculture. This is a very big concern in Eudora right now—we have to keep our prime farmland.
Photograph by Carter Gaskins
Karen Price | owner of Great Apparel Printing & Design A Conversation with …
In 2019, owner Karen Price opened Great Apparel Printing & Design in her basement. The business moved to its brickand-mortar location on 6th Street in 2022 and has been growing in popularity ever since. The business provides printing for shirts, hoodies, hats, banners, stickers, koozies, canopies and more. She talks with us about the world of drag racing, shopping local and the benefits of connecting with other local business owners.
Discover Eudora (DE): How did you get your start?
Karen Price: My husband is active in the drag racing community. When we decided to launch our own print shop, a lot of our customers came from that community. We strategically named our shop Great Apparel Printing & Design because to “get gapped” in drag racing means you won by a lot. People sometimes buy our “Get GAPD” T-shirts without even knowing it’s for our print shop.
DE: What does a typical work day look like for you?
Price: I’ve gone full circle from being the only person working in the basement, making screens and printing shirts, to having a fulltime and part-time employee do that work while I work on other tasks like preparing art files for my production team. My husband manages the shop, and my office is based out of my home. I spend the day talking to customers and managing orders over the phone, while the team at the shop (my
husband Justin and the rest of our staff) make sure we have enough screen, ink and other supplies.
DE: What are some of the most popular items you sell?
Price: Black T-shirts. We print a lot of those—they are especially sought after in the racing world. We also sell a lot of hoodies.
DE: What is the key to running a successful business?
Price: You can’t give up. Running a business is hard, and it will weed out the people who don’t really want it pretty quickly. But if you stay motivated and can produce a quality product that keeps your customers happy, it’s well worth the effort.
DE: Why is it important to shop locally?
Price: I recently booked two different events at The Lodge on Main. We ordered my daughter’s baby shower cake from the local ice cream shop, Main St Scoops & Sweets, and I’ve purchased soap from one of my part-time helpers at the shop. It’s about supporting the people who make an impact every day in your community and benefit from the tax dollars generated from the sales.
DE: How often do you travel for business?
Price: During the summer, I travel to races with my retail line. I often travel as far as Jamestown, Kentucky, and Morgantown, Indiana. I have a yellow box truck with large windows on the sides. We opened it up, and I set up a retail store out front. I really enjoy it. Because I work out of my home, I don’t get a lot of face-to-face interaction with our customers. The truck allows me that opportunity.
DE: What advice would you give someone looking to start a business in Eudora?
Price: Participate in the chamber of commerce and other community organizations. Local business owners are a valuable asset, and we work to lift each other up. That's something I wish I had thought about sooner—it’s opened doors for networking, and it’s deepened my understanding of our local community.
DE: What are your business goals for the coming years?
Price: I’m trying to reach that half-million dollars in sales number. I don’t know if we’ll quite get there this year—it would be amazing if we did— but that’s really what I’m reaching toward. When I reach that, I will be in a good place to look at expanding our shop.
AnAnchor
The new nonprofit Anchored Collective serves as a resource hub for the Eudora community
for All
Story by Rochelle Valverde
Photography by Fally Afani and Jason Dailey
The seed was planted years ago for the new community nonprofit Anchored Collective, when a family tragedy showed Eudora resident Robby Giffin the importance of having a social support system when life deals you unimaginable loss.
Giffin, co-founder and director of Anchored Collective, says he and his wife, Amy, put their healthy 21-monthold son Thomas to bed. In the morning, they found that he had inexplicably passed away. The Eudora community walked with the family through the shock and grief of that unexpected loss. For years afterward, Giffin has wanted to find a way to offer the same support to others.
“This community, our friendships, even people we didn’t know, were instrumental in helping us through that really difficult time,” Giffin says. “For
years, my wife, Amy, and I have had it on our hearts that there’s got to be a way that we can pay it forward. I don’t think a community ever looks to be paid back for anything, but how could we offer the same for someone else who is struggling?”
Giffin, who is lead pastor at Lawrence First Church of the Nazarene, initially thought offering free counseling services would be the best way to provide this support to others, seeing it as a way to bring people hope and healing outside of a Sunday morning service. But a phone call from a longtime friend soon gave his vision a boost.
Giffin was working on his master’s degree in counseling from Liberty University when he reached out to friend and fellow Eudora resident Aaron Thakker to say he was looking for a place to offer free counseling. Giffin said
he envisioned a single office, perhaps a couple of years down the road. But about six months later, in August 2024, he got a phone call from Thakker that changed the trajectory.
“Aaron goes, ‘Hey, you know that old Eudorables building downtown? I just bought it,’” Giffin recalls. “It was at that point where I thought, ‘OK, this is bigger than I thought it was going to be.’”
A Perfect Space
When the downtown building that once housed Eudorable Home went up for sale, Anchored Collective catalyst and co-founder Thakker saw an opportunity. He envisioned the space as a perfect spot for Giffin to offer his free counseling services while also expanding the community’s resources.
“This building came up and it was perfect, but it was perfect for more than
just that,” Thakker says.
What Thakker and Giffin ultimately built was a resource hub that, in addition to providing counseling, would bring multiple services and supports together under one roof. For Thakker, who had a troubled youth and spent time in juvenile detention before moving to Eudora and eventually getting back on track, this was a chance to extend to others the second chance he received.
“There are adults who do care; there are adults who can help,” Thakker says. “For kids going through what I was going through, they don’t have to be like whatever their role model is right now.”
The Anchored Collective, which officially opened in January at 710 Main Street in downtown Eudora, has a three-pronged vision for community support. It includes offering free space for nonprofits to serve the community;
Anchored Collective officially opened its doors in January of this year, taking over the building that once housed Eudorable Home. Pages 30–31: Aaron Thakker (left) and Robby Giffin co-founded Anchored Collective.
community services such as training, support groups and counseling; and special projects with community partners. In addition to Giffin, Laura Smith, the Eudora community resource navigator for the United Way of Kaw Valley, works out of the building. Anchored Collective provides her a private office space in Eudora to meet with community members in need.
“Usually, I was meeting people at Zeb’s Coffeehouse,” says Smith, whose clients include people facing serious life challenges. “When somebody comes to me, I meet them where they are, physically and mentally. I usually see them at their worst or when they’re having the hardest time.”
As a community resource navigator, Smith helps people navigate the "now what?" phase— connecting them with local social services and supports after they've found themselves in a difficult position. In addition to offering privacy in these sensitive moments, Smith says she hosts other organizations at the Anchored Collective, including Engage Douglas County, a coalition of local organizations that that aim to reduce substance misuse and promote mental health primarily among youth.
A Community Anchor
The building itself speaks to the spirit of the Anchored Collective and what it hopes to represent to the Eudora community. Alongside the historic storefronts on Main Street, the building is dominated by windows, including a windowpaneled garage door that can be rolled open in good weather. The inviting space encourages people to look inside—to commune and connect. Behind an open meeting space is a conference room with a glass partition that can also be opened, and in the back are four offices. As an active member of the community, Giffin says that the Anchored Collective will be responsive to feedback.
“We have plans, we have ideas, but we also want to continually posture ourselves in such a way that we say we’re going to see what the needs are, too,” Giffin says.
The space’s flexibility and operations were on display on a Saturday in February, when the Anchored Collective hosted a hygiene drive. As community members dropped off donations, they were invited to stay for a slice of pizza. By the end of the drive, there were dozens of bags filled with shampoo, soap, feminine hygiene products, deodorant and body wash—all destined for people in need. The drive illustrates how the Anchored Collective hopes to respond to the community’s immediate needs.
Last February, Anchored Collective hosted a hygiene drive where community members dropped off donations and enjoyed a slice of pizza. Opposite: Community navigator Laura Smith sorts through the donated items, which will be distributed at The Bird's Nest.
Smith says they scheduled the drive after she received uncoordinated phone calls from the Eudora elementary, middle and high schools saying that students needed hygiene items. The donations will be distributed at The Bird’s Nest, a Eudora Schools Foundation pantry aiming to assist families with their basic needs. Other special events have included a donation drive for smoke and carbon dioxide detectors for foster families and a free Christmas photo shoot.
As far as counseling, Giffin earned his master’s degree in counseling and is certified in grief recovery and life transition and transformational coaching; he offers free services in each area. The Anchored Collective also plans to offer training from certified professionals on a variety of topics, including suicide awareness, and to provide grief, parenting and other support groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Giffin says the collective has already hosted mental health training provided by Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center (with more scheduled) and that Lawrence-based Insight Women’s Center will host a weekly satellite location to offer training and support groups for new and expecting mothers.
Giffin stressed that the Anchored Collective is designed to complement, not replace, existing services. Giffin hopes to close the gap between resources and the people they’re meant to reach by providing the free space centered in the Eudora community. For Giffin, Anchored Collective’s mission is in its name and rooted in the moment in his life when having that support proved vital for his own family. Twelve years have passed since his son’s death, and he hopes to offer people steadying support when they are awash in the challenges life has dealt.
“We all walk through storms in our lives, and they all look different,” Giffin says. “It’s not up to me to judge that someone else’s storm is any worse or easier than mine, but we all have to find something to be anchored to. I envision the time when my family was at our lowest. I felt like I was in a life raft, trying to survive, with storms all around me, waves tossing me. I felt completely out of control. But there are anchors out there.”
Collective has been designed to complement, not replace, existing community services—closing the gap between resources and the people they're meant to reach.
