Elim Lutheran
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
Main Street, Marquette
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Tomatoes and Tartlets
July 1st, 2009 at 6:00 pm
While many huddled around the tomato vendors, I headed south in the parking lot to the …
… tartlet vendor. Apple and chocolate-pecan tartlets were sold by the European Bakeshop at this afternoon’s Farmers Market. One of each came home with me.
PPP wading pool
July 1st, 2009 at 6:34 am
My friend Tracy and I took a walk on Monday afternoon. It was hot out and the wading pool at Peter Pan Park looked pretty inviting.
Pens!
June 30th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Here at Flyover People World Headquarters, we received a box from our good friend (whom we’ve never met in real life) Ray Randolph, also known as Helianthus 43, a novelist who lives in Indiana, but grew up in the Sunflower State. (Wow, that’s all one sentence.)
Anyway, Ray knows I love pens and he had some that he was willing to part with. Having been an OR nurse in a previous lifetime, he had some medicalish pens, like the one on the left, shaped like a syringe. And the fat one in the middle with a “pill” floating inside. There’s also one with a light at the ballpoint for writing in the dark (my favorite.)
A cool batch of pens for someone who is addicted to ink. Thanks, Ray!
Cagle to Play the Granada
June 30th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
OK, on my last post, I neglected to mention something very important. I’ll add it to that post, too, because this is great…
The other day Casey Cagle, also known as The Folk Singer…
… announced that he will be playing at…
…The Granada Theatre, the same Granada Theatre that he helped to restore. So the place is very familiar to him. But this time he’ll be ON STAGE. PERFORMING. How cool is that?
Anyway, September 15, at 7:30 p.m., Casey Cagle will open for Nick Charles of Australia.
So, mark that day on your calendar and show up at the Granada for some good folk and bluegrass music.
The Folk Singer
June 30th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:
The Prairie Canaries: Ursula Davis and Casey Cagle - at the Emporia Farmers Market, June 17.
THE FOLK SINGER
“Those scratchy recordings from the early days of American music really resonated with me,” Casey Cagle said.
“It wasn’t always smooth and pretty by today’s standards, but there was something hauntingly honest about it.”
Cagle, 26, plays guitar and sings in the Emporia area. You might catch him strumming “Bummin’ an old Freight Train,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” or a Woody Guthrie tune. Folk music is where he leans first, but he also likes playing old-timey music and bluegrass.
Recently at the Farmers Market, I heard Casey Cagle and Ursula Davis sing as the Prairie Canaries. Then Derrick Doty showed up with a fiddle and Cagle and Doty performed together.
After enjoying his music at the Farmers Market, I decided to learn more about Casey Cagle, the Prairie Canaries, and the local music scene. So I asked if he’d meet me for coffee.
“Ursula (Davis) and I first sang together about three years ago,” he said. “I had been singing by myself at open mike nights and bluegrass jams and she was a welcome addition. It seems like she just kind of wraps her voice around mine.
“I was really impressed with her talent, how naturally she could pick up on people’s inflections and how she could enhance them.”
Davis is from Emporia. Cagle was raised near Parsons and came to town about seven years ago. He works at the Granada Coffee Co. where, he says, he gets “to meet and serve coffee to some of the most interesting people in Emporia.”
And he spent three years helping to restore the Granada Theatre, doing everything from making decorative plaster, to painting stencils on the ceiling, to sweeping the floor.
Cagle grew up around guitars and music (his dad and older brother played), but he didn’t really play the guitar himself until he was an adult.
His dad passed away when Cagle was 14; taking up the guitar was a way for him to feel close to his father.
“I’ve always loved the old music,” he said. “My parents listened to bluegrass and vintage country. I’m the youngest of six, and my parents were older than those of my peers, so I listened to different music than other people my age.”
Sometimes he performs with Josh Thuma, a bass player. In July, they’ll play at an event called Acoustic Vacation in Noel, Mo. “He’s a lot of fun,” Cagle said of Thuma. “And he has a great stage presence.”
Cagle, along with Derrick Doty of Council Grove and Kelsie and Ashlie Koehn of Burns, have often played together as group called Instant Grits.
Derrick Doty and Casey Cagle
Instant Grits is more of an old-timey string band, he said, adding that they’ve performed at barn dances around the state. “A lot of people don’t realize this, but Kansas has a thriving barn dance community.”
Cagle has played at Emma Chase Café in Cottonwood Falls, and often attends jam sessions at Derrick Doty’s barber shop in Council Grove.
“When I met (Doty), he was 19, owned his own business, and could play fiddle, mandolin, banjo, piano, trumpet, and many other instruments,” he said. “He was my hero.”
Jam sessions at the barber shop helped Cagle hone his guitar skills. Those evenings became “the soundtrack of our lives,” he said. “No matter what was going on for each of us, we could go there and everything would be fine for awhile.”
About local musicians, Cagle says that “Everyone knows each other and keeps pretty close tabs what others are doing. And the DeWayn Brothers have done a lot to bring other bands to town and to get people out to shows.”
One of the reasons Cagle likes Emporia is because of his friends and fellow musicians. And he was impressed by how well the town supported the Granada Theatre project. “We were so lucky. I’m so glad the community believed in it.”
He also enjoys the variety of small local events.
“People talk about how boring Emporia is, or Kansas is, and I just don’t understand how people can think that,” he said. “There’s so much going on that I can’t go to all the things I want to.”
Copyright 2009 ~ Cheryl Unruh
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: Casey recently got confirmation that he’ll be opening for Nick Charles at the Granada Theatre on September 15, 7:30 p.m.
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You can hear music by the Instant Grits on their MySpace page.
In Whiting
June 30th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Just down the main drag from the Whiting Cafe stands this classic old gas station. Needs a little work, but it’s a beauty.
66552
June 29th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Jones Grant
June 29th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
HISTORICAL SOCIETY AWARDED GRANT FROM JONES TRUST FOR WILLIAM ALLEN
WHITE HOUSE STATE HISTORIC SITE
______________________________________
TOPEKA, KS—The Kansas Historical Society announced it has been awarded a
$100,000 grant from the W.S. & E.C. Jones Trust, Bank of America,
Trustee, to be used at the William Allen White House State Historic Site
in Emporia. The grant will be paid in five annual $20,000 installments.
The Historical Society will use the funds to expand the site’s audience
base through school. Historical Society Executive Director Jennie Chinn
said, “We have a vision of sharing the story of William Allen White and
his legacy with Kansas students. This generous gift from the Jones Trust
helps us make that vision a reality.”
The Historical Society operates the site in cooperation with the
non-profit William Allen White Community Partnership. WAWCP President
Tom Eblen echoed Chinn’s excitement by saying, “This generous gift
ensures that future generations of Kansans will continue to discover and
appreciate the impact William Allen White had on Kansas and American
history.”
Walter and Evan Jones were raised on a farm near Lebo in Coffey County.
They formed a partnership, Jones, and Jones, which grew to three when
Walter married Olive Taylor in 1911. Walter managed the buying and
selling of cattle, Evan supervised the cowhands oversaw the ranch, and
Olive kept the books. Walter died in 1953, and Evan followed a few
months later. Olive died in 1957. The brothers’ wills provided that
their estate be left in a trust, the income from which would be used for
providing medical assistance for needy children in Lyon, Coffey, and
Osage counties. Education benefits were added in 1961 and in 1974, the
W.S. and E.C. Jones Foundation was established to manage the
administration of grant requests for medical and educational programs.
The William Allen White House State Historic Site is a National Historic
Landmark and is one of 16 state historic sites operated by the Kansas
Historical Society. The home is open for tours 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Wednesday
– Saturday and 1 - 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for
seniors and groups of 10 or more, $2 for students; and free for KSHS,
Inc. members, active military, and children five and under.
Additional contributions to the Kansas Historical Society can be made
through the Kansas State Historical Society, Inc., the non-profit
organization which supports the Historical Society through fundraising
and retail operations. The Kansas Historical Society, organized in 1875,
was established at the outset as a public-private collaboration.
The Kansas Historical Society does not discriminate on the basis of
disability in admission to, access to, or operation of its programs. The
Historical Society requests prior notification to accommodate
individuals with special needs or disabilities.
–
Teresa Jenkins
Public Information Officer
Kansas Historical Society
6425 SW Sixth Avenue
Topeka, Kansas 66615-1099
785.272.8681 ext. 263
Real People. Real Stories.
More from Whiting Makeover
June 29th, 2009 at 7:52 am
The Whiting Cafe makeover was completed on Sunday and the restaurant was scheduled to reopen this morning at 6 a.m.
This makeover is the pilot project for We Kan! The organization plans to create a We Kan Bank with a website that will connect “accounts of need” with “accounts of support.”
It’s all a part of the Kansas Sampler Foundation - because they are Relentless for Rural. The group brings attention to rural Kansas and works at finding ways to support small communities and local businesses to keep them viable.
But they don’t want to do it alone - the idea is to get the whole state, the citizenry, involved in appreciating and supporting rural Kansas. (Which, I can testify, is reward in itself: touring the state, eating pie at small-town cafes.)
Here are more of my photos from Saturday.
Ron Frank of Manhattan uses a small video camera to record a woman painting the cafe’s high chair.
Ron is volunteering his time and expertise to produce a piece for KTWU’s pilot show for their new series “I’ve Got Issues,” a community affairs program that will air on July 23, at 7:30 p.m. on Channel 11. (You can read more about KTWU’s new show here.)
I visited with Ron awhile and he’s an interesting guy, retired from K-State where he was a professor in the Department of Communications. His recent work includes video projects in Greensburg and Garden City.
Ron Frank makes documentaries. You can view some of his films (Bicycling across Kansas, a barn-raising in Greensburg recorded by high school students, Hurricane Katrina/Red Cross) and learn more about Ron Frank on his website: Frank Films.
New flowers under the new mural.
Marci Penner takes a break from cleaning to snap a few photos. Marci, wearing a Relentless for Rural T-shirt, is the Director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation and a dynamic source of energy for rural Kansas. She’s one of the most positive and energetic people I know.
Meanwhile, several blocks away from the Whiting Cafe, Rosa Thomas and others prepared lunch at the community center. Rosa is owner of the Whiting Cafe and recipient of the We Kan! makeover. She was cooking a meal for the volunteers: fried chicken, pork roast, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob.
After she listed lunch items, she said of the menu, “It’s just like we’re feeding harvesters.”
I mentioned how great the environment was down at her cafe, that there was just such a joyous atmosphere created by the volunteers.
“Aren’t they nice?” Rosa said. “They’re so beautiful.”
“We’re feeding 85-100 today. Our preacher and his wife are coming at lunch time to sing. They wanted to be a part of it, too. And we’ve invited the community and customers tonight. My uncle and his band are playing tonight. It’s going to be really fun.”
Rosa says of the project, “It’s such a blessing.” And her mother was taken by the warmth of the volunteers, many of whom are members of the Kansas Explorers Club and she told me, “I joined the club.”
If you’re wondering where Whiting is and want to stop by in the now-open, newly refurbished Whiting Cafe, it’s north of Topeka, north of Holton, along Kansas Highway 9. (K-9, woof-woof.)
A table full of desserts awaits the hard-working volunteers.
You can read more about the project on the Kansas Sampler Blog.
Scrape your Plate
June 28th, 2009 at 7:30 am
This snazzy new mural was added on Friday at the cafe in Whiting.
READ MARCI PENNER’S UPDATE ON THE PROJECT.
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