By Emporia is on the list, Cottonwood Falls, and Kris, Plains is here, too.
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This just in from Marci Penner at the Kansas Sampler Foundation:
HOT OFF THE PRESS!
Hey Kansas Explorers Club members, and friends;
Here’s a list of the 24 finalists for the 8 Wonders of Kansas Customs!
The custom is the action phrase in bold followed by a place where the custom is uniquely expressed.
The list gets more exciting when you go to 8wonders.org, click on the thumbnail, and read more about each of the finalists on their information page — and see more photos!
Why to go the information page….?
…the chant of the Benedictine Monks means a lot more when you read all about it.
You can get a list of all 37 soda fountains.
A sidewalk made the list. A red fish helps read the weather. What?! The information page will help you understand why.
You’ll find out how man kids it takes to stretch across the nation’s widest main street?
Combined, this is a pretty intriguing list describing the history and ongoing drama that is Kansas!
Want a fun agenda for the Fall? Go to these places!
WenDee and I will be at the Emma Chase Cafe in Cottonwood Falls Friday night to celebrate their place on the list!
THE LIST:
Bringing musicians together: For a decade, there’s been a lively jam session at the Emma Chase Cafe in Cottonwood Falls almost every Friday night.
Building wide main streets: The widest Main Street in the United States is in Plains.
Chanting a school fight song: The University of Kansas’s (Lawrence) Rock Chalk Jayhawk cheer is one of the best in the nation.
Checking the weather: In Harper, townspeople watch the red fish weather vane at the top of the watertower for weather changes.
Clicking your heels three times and saying “There’s no place like home”: Oz attractions in Wamego and Liberal tell the beloved story of the Wizard of Oz.
Commemorating Veterans Day: An Emporia man helped change Armistice Day into Veterans Day and made Emporia the Founding City of Veterans Day.
Connecting underground businesses: The Underground Tunnels of Ellinwood are open for tours of a mysterious past.
Converting rails to trails: The first in Kansas was the Prairie Spirit Trail. Started in 1996, it now spans 51 miles from Ottawa through Garnett and other small towns to Iola.
Cruising main: It happens a little differently in Blue Rapids as they have the only round square in Kansas.
Displaying an ethnic handicraft: Traditional and pop-art Dala Horses can be seen throughout Lindsborg.
Eating dinner prior to watching community theater: This custom has been going on longer at the Topeka Civic Theatre than anywhere else in the country.
Ordering a soda fountain treat: Go while you can to one of the 37 operating soda fountains left in Kansas.
Putting shoes on a tree: A giant cottonwood near Wetmore is famous as The Shoe Tree.
Racing greyhounds: This custom started in Kansas and is told well at the Greyhound Hall of Fame in Abilene.
Racing motorcycles: The Kansas Motorcycle Museum in Marquette tells about this intriguing culture.
Racing on a dirt track: The oldest continuously-used dirt track in the U.S. is High Banks in Belleville and the High Banks Hall of Fame and National Midget Auto Racing Museum tells all about this fast track.
Recognizing those who came in second: The “They Also Ran Gallery” in Norton features those who came in second in the presidential race.
Riding a carousel: Ride — and learn about — the famous C.W. Parker carousels in Abilene and Leavenworth.
Saving a seat: It’s been going on in Concordia since the 1960s, most recently at the Kearn Auction House.
Saving twine: Frugality led to the World’s Largest Ball of Sisal Twine in Cawker City.
Swimming in the summer: Garden City has the state’s oldest continuously-open and largest municipal hand-dug swimming pool. See a year-round exhibit about this 1922 pool at the Finney County Museum.
Using natural material for fencing: Learn the story of these hardy fence posts at the Post Rock Museum in LaCrosse.
Walking to school: In 1936, walking to school became much easier as the longest sidewalk in the U.S. to connect two towns opened between Franklin and Arma.
VOTE NOW!
Public vote will determine the top eight. Vote online at www.8wonders.org starting now. You can vote three times from one e-mail address. You have to vote for 8 at a time. Voting will end October 20 at midnight. The top eight will be announced before the end of October.
Hope you liked the list! Each met the strict and strange criteria.
KANSAS with new eyes!
Sounds like a good plan, Cheryl! Seems like the best I can do out here on the Western fringe is – Sod House B&B (Brewster), or the smallest town in Kansas (Cedar Bluffs – 36 or Mingo -30). Does that qualify?
Somewhere in the ad hoc museum that is my house, I have a picture postcard of the Widest Main Street in the USA in Plains, KS. My father used to own the Plains Pharmacy, which was a fixture on that Main Street for many years.
I don’t know what has happened to that business and the rest of them–Dunn’s Grocery, the “dry goods” store I can’t remember the name of right now, the hardware store, the tavern where those who wanted 3.2 beer instead of Coke could go, Hamm’s Insurance, etc. My family moved from there while I was in college and I have never gone back.
As a small child I didn’t go into most of the businesses, especially the tavern. There were always a few men sitting in chairs outside, usually smoking, and sometimes spitting. I was a bit frightened of the place, and also a bit fascinated by the smoky inside with the pool table that I could just glimpse through the very grimy windows…
My father’s own drugstore pretty much had everything a child could possibly want, so I didn’t really need to go anywhere else. 😀
Wells. The dry goods store was owned by a family named Wells.