Tabla de contenidos para Issue No. 1 2022 en KANSAS!

Where in Kansas? Bill Petersen has long enjoyed spicing things up in the kitchen. Forty years ago, he began selling his own spice blends at trade shows and fairs around Kansas City. “We started with spice mixes in 1981, and in the mid-90s started selling soup mixes,” Petersen says. “That was a time when soup started becoming popular, and we were a natural because we had all the spices.” That business evolved into the family-owned Olde Westport Spice & Trading Company, now operating from Goodland. Taking two semi-truck loads of production facilities to the west Kansas location from 2009 to 2010 allowed Bill and his wife to move closer to their daughter and her family, and it lowered costs for overhead and property. The Goodland facility—located in a 1920s former…

Where in Kansas? Don’t pack that fishing pole away too soon. Kansas trout season runs November 1–April 15, and an estimated 75,000 hard-fighting, great-tasting rainbow trout will be regularly stocked into more than 30 waters across the state. For anglers with even just a little bit of experience, this winter trout fishing can be some of the most productive, yet least complicated, of the year. State trout stocking program Trout aren’t native to Kansas because they can’t survive our state’s warm summertime water temperatures. But for about the past 30 years, state officials annually have released trout imported from hatcheries in the Rocky Mountains and Ozarks into our waters. To get in on the fishing, trout anglers need a regular fishing license plus a trout stamp, which helps fund the trout…

Where in Kansas? Nearly 100 years old, these structures are reminders of an ambitious federal program that left its mark Following the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, New Deal programs like the Works Progress Administration (WPA) hired laborers to create public improvements, including several structures still being used in Kansas. 1 CORONADO HEIGHTS PARK Lindsborg At 300 feet, Coronado Heights is the tallest of the Smoky Hill Buttes. In 1936, the WPA chose this site to erect a distinctive, castle-like sandstone shelter, 15 picnic areas, and a restroom building. Offering scenic views in all directions, the 16-acre park also includes WPA-built sandstone steps and two capped sandstone entry walls that flank the road. 2 CIVIC CENTER/FAIRGROUNDS Horton Constructed in 1939 for the purpose of holding community events, Horton’s…

First, you’re welcomed with the scent of rich cocoa and sugary sweetness, then, the visual parade of glass displays filled with an abundance of truffles, chocolate-dipped fruits, caramels, fudge, and other decadent treats. And if you’re able to wait until after leaving the store before trying the delicious goodness, then you, my friend, have more will power than I. In this issue, we provide you with a ready-made list of local candy shops for this holiday season. Throughout this edition of KANSAS! you’ll notice our editors curated stories to spark gift ideas. On page 49, you’ll find eight suggestions for gifting Kansas products and experiences. By shopping small and keeping your dollars local, you give a treasured gift while nurturing and strengthening your community. As you make your lists, keep…

Where in Kansas? Pittsburg High School has figured out its formula for nurturing a wildly successful performing arts program, and the southeast Kansas school’s hard work was rewarded when it was named 2021–2022 Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) Performing Arts School of Excellence. The award encompasses theater, vocal music, instrumental music, debate/forensics and speech. “I believe that we are successful because of our focus on student involvement, collaboration, individual growth, and celebration of the successes of others,” says instrumental music director Cooper Neil, who has taught orchestra, jazz and music theater at Pittsburg High School for 11 years. It’s a sentiment echoed by every performing arts teacher at Pittsburg High. “We see each other every morning to make sure we know what’s going on in each other’s day, just…

Christmas in the Foothills November 20 | Hutchinson Celebrate the 25th annual Christmas in the Foothills from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Enjoy over 60 boutique vendors with unique handcrafted gifts to share. travelks.com/event/christmas-inthe-foothills/24179/ Home for the Holidays Festival November 27 | Great Bend The city of Great Bend presents the Home for the Holidays Festival, Parade and Trail of Lights. From 10 a.m.–9 p.m. enjoy local shopping, an annual cookie contest, horse drawn carriage rides, ice skating and more. travelks.com/event/home-for-theholidays-festival-parade-%26-trailof-lights/23405/ 71st Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony November 27 | WaKeeney Since 1950, the Wakeeney Tree Lighting Ceremony has been a treasured tradition. Enjoy a soup supper, musical entertainment, carriage rides and more. wakeeney.org/christmastreelighting Christmas in the Courtyard December 3 | Merriam Merriam Parks and Recreation presents the annual Christmas in the…

It’s been 17 years since The Sweet Granada opened in the south storefront of Emporia’s fully restored Spanish Colonial Revival-style Emporia Granada Theatre. With a tag line of “Sugar Highs & Smiles Since 2004,” this family-owned business has enjoyed a sweet ride ever since. “My mom [Toni Bowling] was retiring from education, and we knew that we wanted to start a business together,” says co-owner, Kim Redeker. “I had fallen in love with the idea of revitalizing Emporia’s downtown arts and entertainment district, with the Granada as its centerpiece. Mom and I literally looked at the tiny little storefront in the theater’s south section, and she said, ‘What about a chocolate shop?’ We fell in love with the concept.” Learning to make professional-grade chocolates required Bowling and Redeker to devote…

For this edition, KANSAS! magazine and Kansas Scholastic Press Association (KSPA) asked students from across the state to photograph one image representing “Holiday in the Heartland.” It was a timeless, joyful theme—but also one that we asked them to capture during the height of the 2020 pandemic, when losses and pre-vaccination lockdowns forced Kansans to view everything, even traditional holiday times, through a new perspective. We received approximately 70 submissions from students in schools of all sizes. KSPA chose winners for its annual contest, and we chose our favorite selections for prize payments and publication in these pages. We are pleased to recognize rising talent, as well as to complement the themes and mission of KSPA, a nonprofit educational organization with nearly 8 decades of history dedicated to promoting journalism…

Where in Kansas? Prairy Bites Prairy Market and Deli ships its cookies from its production line and storefront in Newton. Their specialty cookies are the Prairy Bites, based on the German Pfeffernüsse anise spice cookie. “In our family, these cookies are very small, about the size of a marble,” says owner Aaron Gaeddert. “The tiny shape of these traditional, bite-sized cookies make them perfect for setting out for company or passing around the table.” The bakery produces a wheat-free variety and an anise-free version flavored with ginger, cloves and cinnamon to retain the traditional flavor. Other bite-sized cookie varieties include chocolate crunch, made to resemble the crunch, deep cocoa flavor, and texture of a brownie’s edge; orange dream, a Swedish citrus-flavored shortbread; and lemon sugar, a crisp, buttery sugar cookie…

Where in Kansas? Kansas’ Largest Barn Quilt Ashland After an ambitious community project with contributions from 50 artists across the state, Ashland proudly claims the title of being home to the state’s largest barn quilt. Made up of 96 2x2 squares and 8 4x4 squares, the design features sunflowers, roosters, deer, wheat and other images. The 30x16-foot ensemble is attached to the local grocery store’s exterior wall and can be seen by the public. facebook.com/kslgbarnquilt (620) 635-5383 Walls of Quilts Kirwin and Logan Phillips County Barn Quilt Tour features barn quilts throughout the county and in 11 cities, including two large ensembles in Kirwin and Logan. On the Kirwin depot, 12 smaller blocks reflecting local agriculture surround a larger block symbolizing the town square. Logan’s Wall of Quilts on the…

“Being there for the kids, but also being there for all different groups of people and helping special needs kids and adults, was especially rewarding. But as great as that picture was, it was the chance to go out and see the nursing homes and those with special needs that hadn’t seen people or had physical touch in months—it was almost a tearjerker for some of them and me. They would follow me and put their hand up on the glass. It had another deputy crying behind me and I said, ‘Hey, look, you better get it together,’ but all we really wanted to do was [make someone’s day].”–BRIAN PLUMLEE, AKA SANTA CLAUS…

Combine an Old World recipe with a vision, add hard work, skill and determination, and the result is an eye-popping loaf of povitica (po-va-teet-sa), a Croatian bread that forms the foundation of Strawberry Hill Baking Company’s product line. Marc O’Leary, third generation baker, co-owner and executive director of the company, describes povitica as a delicate, flakey pastry with a rich, cake-like texture loaded with rich fillings. The name povitica is derived from a Slovenian term that means “to wrap in.” Several Eastern European cultures bake breads similar to povitica, but it is the Croatian version that Strawberry Hill creates because of the bakery’s history. O’Leary, half Irish and half Croatian, traces his company’s beginnings back to his great-grandmother Anna Momchilavica (shortened to Monchil at Ellis Island), who immigrated to the…

For many years, we believed we humans used only 10% of our brains. We had all this untapped capacity. We learned over time every part of the brain is often active—we can see it on machines. Of course, there remains the difference between a muscle used and a muscle used fully. I think about this sometimes when I wonder about faith. Unmoored and adrift as I am, casting about as I do from time to time—with no god to praise or curse, uncertain, conjecturing about the afterlife—the unseen thing that requires a faith I do not have. In my casting about I imagine an existence in which we regain all knowledge lost, achieve whatever wisdom eluded us on earth. Our perspective on ourselves and others, on matter and time, on…