Category Archives: Business

Shoe Sensation in Fort Scott to Relocate

The Shoe Sensation, 2420 S. Main, Fort Scott will be open until Oct. 27.

Shoe Sensation will relocate to Pittsburg this November

Shoe Sensation administration, headquartered in Jeffersonville, Indiana, has decided to relocate the Fort Scott store location, 2420 S. Main,  to Pittsburg.

“We have notified our landlord of our intent to leave our current location,” according to a press release from Taylor McAdams, public relations coordinator with Shoe Sensation. “This is part of our continued growth and expansion strategy.”

“We believe we can better serve a greater area of our target customer and existing customer base by moving our location to Pittsburg where we will continue to offer a wide variety of name brand shoes for the entire family,” says CEO, Dave Schoengart.

“We will be serving our customers in Fort Scott until our last day of business on October 27, 2018.”

Current employees were given the opportunity to commute to Pittsburg.

Shoe Sensation in Pittsburg will have its Grand Opening and Ribbon-Cutting with the Chamber on November 16, 2018.

The ribbon-cutting will take place at the new Shoe Sensation store in Northgate Plaza at 2808 N. Broadway Pittsburg, which is located behind Appleby’s Restaurant.

The new Shoe Sensation, 2808 N. Broadway, Pittsburg.

Information provided with the press release:

Shoe Sensation is a regional chain of family shoe stores selling quality name-brand shoes. Our stores carry a large selection of men’s, women’s, children’s, and athletic footwear in a better-branded merchandise mix. Shoe Sensation was developed to meet the footwear needs of the entire family; our clientele range from toddlers to senior citizens.

Promote Holiday Spending

The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce would like your business to join them in a Google Livestream event at Papa Don’s located at 10 N. Main St, in downtown Fort Scott. 
 
This event will take place on Wednesday, October 17th from 11 am to 1 pm
 
The live stream focuses on the driven motivation to boast and promote holiday spending in your business in a simple and efficient manner. 
 
Live questions will be taken from viewers and offers brought to you by Google business products!

Driving a Holiday Shopping Rush For Your Business

GOOGLE HOLIDAY LIVESTREAM

Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Papa Don’s Pizza, 10 N Main St.

11:00 am – 12:00 pm

FORT SCOTT – The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting a free Google Livestream event at Papa Don’s Pizza, 10 N Main St. in Downtown Fort Scott. The event will take place on Wednesday, October 17th from 11:00 am to 1 pm.

The live stream focus will be on driving a holiday shopping rush for your business. Learn how your business can get in front of customers and showcase what you offer using Google My Business, Google Ads, and more. Live questions will be taken from viewers.

For more information please contact the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce at (620) 223-3566.

Liquor Store Ribbon Cutting Oct. 12

The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce invites you to attend the Hole In The Wall’s Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting! Please join us for samples, snacks, giveaways and more!!
To visit Hole In The Wall’s website, Click here. To visit their Facebook page, Click here.
The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce announces a Grand Opening & Ribbon Cutting Celebration for Hole in the Wall Liquor Store in their new location of 124 E. Wall St. in Downtown Fort Scott. The event will take place Friday, October 12th from 5:30 to 7pm with the Ribbon Cutting & Remarks at 6pm. There will be samples, snacks, and door prize giveaways.
Owners Roy & Jody Hoener sought a new location for their liquor store in Fort Scott’s Downtown Historic District and after receiving a CDBG Grant (Community Development Block Grant) renovated the delapidated building at the corner of Wall and Scott streets. Hole in the Wall Liquor Store originally opened on Oak Street in the mid-1980’s by Roy’s mother Connie Hoener and her father Roy Louderman. Roy Hoener has since taken ownership of the business and he and Jody look to a successful future with the new location and loyal customers.
The Hoener’s would like to recognize those who completed the building redevelopment including: Exterior: Hofer & Hofer & Associates, Inc., Ag Engineering, R II Concrete, Casper Enterprises, LLC, Peerless Products, Tanner Beckham & Dennis Speer, Murphy Roofing; Interior: Great Expectations, Geiger Plumbing, KTK Electric, Miles Woodworking, Ruddick’s Furniture, Terry Kirby, Perry Cannon.
For more information please contact the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce at (620) 223-3566.

Chamber Coffee at Labconco Oct. 11

WEEKLY CHAMBER COFFEE REMINDER
Join us for Chamber Coffee at Labconco to celebrate their 30th year Anniversary!


Hosted by:
 
 Location: 2500 Liberty Bell Rd.
Thursday, October 11, 2018


Click here for the Labconco’s website.
Click here for Labconco’s Facebook page.
Chamber members and guests are encouraged to attend for networking, community announcements, and to learn about the hosting business or organization.
Members may pay $1 to make an announcement about an upcoming event, special/sale/discount, or news of any kind.
Upcoming Coffees:
October 18th – Pioneer Harvest Fiesta
October 25th – Trinity Lutheran Church
November 1st – Fort Scott Area Community Foundation
@ Landmark Bank
November 8th – VFW

Chicken Shak Opens Nov. 3 In Bronson

Clint (Spanky)McKinnis, owner of the refurbished Chicken Shak in Bronson, at his cash register Oct. 7.

Even though he has a full-time job, Clint McKinnis took on the project of refurbishing a restaurant in Bronson.

The Chicken Shak has been in Bronson for over 55 years, with different owners, McKinnis said.

“I felt like I wanted to revive it,” he said. “The Good Lord told me to buy it and make it what it was before.”

His family still has a farm down the road from Bronson and they used to go to eat chicken at the restaurant after church.

“I want to give back to the community,” he said. “To have good fellowship and good chicken.”

He recently had a “soft opening” of the restaurant with friends and family only.

The building had been vacant for nine months before McKinnis purchased the restaurant in January 2018.

After 10 months of repairing and painting the building, the restaurant will open next month.

A giant fowl decorates the outside of the Chicken Shak in Bronson.

Something new, is a bar with two big screen TVs in the back dining room of the restaurant.

The backroom of the Chicken Shak includes a bar.

“The La Rue’s (previous owners) added a bar about three years ago,” he said.

The restaurant officially opens Saturday, Nov. 3 at 11 a.m. The hours will then be 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

The restaurant has 10 employees, including chief cook, Cheryl Blythe.

The phone number of the Chicken Shak is 620-228-5228.

About the owner

McKinnis is known by some as “Spanky”.

“I was nicknamed at 4-years-old by a friend of my dad’s,” he said. “He thought I looked like Spanky of Our Gang.”

He went to Uniontown schools for a period of time, then his family moved to Fort Scott where he graduated in 1997.

He now lives in Pittsburg where he works full-time at Performance Spine and Sports Rehabilitation Clinic.

The front dining room of the Chicken Shak.

Hole In The Wall Opens Oct. 12

The Hole in the Wall Liquor Store, at Wall and Scott Street September 2018..

HOLE IN THE WALL GRAND OPENING & RIBBON CUTTING

FORT SCOTT – The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce announces a Grand Opening & Ribbon Cutting Celebration for Hole in the Wall Liquor Store in their new location of 124 E. Wall St. in Downtown Fort Scott. The event will take place Friday, October 12th from 5:30 to 7 pm with the Ribbon Cutting & Remarks at 6 pm. There will be samples, snacks, and door prize giveaways.

Owners Roy & Jody Hoener sought a new location for their liquor store in Fort Scott’s Downtown Historic District and after receiving a CDBG Grant (Community Development Block Grant) renovated the dilapidated building at the corner of Wall and Scott streets.

Hole in the Wall Liquor Store originally opened on Oak Street in the mid-1980’s by Roy’s mother Connie Hoener and her father Roy Louderman. Roy Hoener has since taken ownership of the business and he and Jody look to a successful future with the new location and loyal customers.

The Hoener’s would like to recognize those who completed the building redevelopment including:
Exterior: Hofer & Hofer & Associates, Inc., Ag Engineering, R II Concrete, Casper Enterprises, LLC, Peerless Products, Tanner Beckham & Dennis Speer, Murphy Roofing; Interior: Great Expectations, Geiger Plumbing, KTK Electric, Miles Woodworking, Ruddick’s Furniture, Terry Kirby, Perry Cannon.

For more information please contact the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce at (620) 223-3566.

Autumn Is Busy In Fort Scott: Downtown Quarterly Meeting

The Iron Star owner Barbara Trimbur told the meeting’s attendees that the 14-year-old business is a destination spot for out-of-town shoppers. She has vendors, not booths in her business.

There are many good things happening in Fort Scott, according to attendees of the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Downtown Meet and Greet October 2.

The meeting, hosted by Iron Star Antiques, 3 N. Main, allowed area businesses and organizations to tell about their upcoming events:

Bryan Ritter, with Boiler Room Brewhaus Microbrewery, spoke to the attendees about the upcoming liquor by the drink question on the November ballot.

“Yes is a vote for small business and economic development,” Ritter said.

The meeting, hosted by Iron Star Antiques, 3 N. Main, allowed area businesses and organizations to tell about their upcoming events:

  • Hole In The Wall Liquor Store’s grand opening and ribbon cutting is from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12.
  • Pioneer Harvest Fiesta is Oct. 19-21 at the fairgrounds. Oct. 18 is the downtown parade at 6 p.m.
  • Downtown Halloween Parade is 11 a.m. Oct. 27.
  • Hedgehog, INK Bookstore, 16 S. Main, grand opening and ribbon cutting is from 5:15 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30.
  • Forks and Corks at Memorial Hall, Nov. 3.
  • Holiday Open Houses, Thursdays, Nov. 8 and Dec. 13.
  • Veterans Day Celebration, Nov. 9-11. https://visitfortscott.com/see-and-do/veterans-day-weekend-celebration
  • The  Downtown Christmas Parade is Tuesday, Dec. 4. The theme is Cowboy Christmas.
  • Homes For The Holidays Tour, Dec. 7-8
  • Carriage Rides, Dec. 15, downtown.
  • Small business Saturday, Nov. 24 http://shopsmall.com
  • Educational Google Livestream “Drive A Holiday Shopping Rush For Your Business” Wed. Oct.17 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Papa Don’s Restaurant.
  • Toy soldier cut-outs for decoration on light post downtown for sale at the Chamber for $15.
  • There are grants available for exterior painting of a business, and other grants: contact is Rachel Pruitt at City Hall.
  • Fort Scott National Historic Site: interactive candlelight tour is Dec. 7-8.
  • Veterans Day Weekend, Nov. 9-11. http://www.visitfortscott.com
  • Friends of the Fort: Buy a flag subscription to place flags at businesses and homes. Proceeds go to Fort Scott National Historic Site.https://www.facebook.com/Friends.FSNHS
  • Fort Scott Economic Development Director Rachel Pruitt said the city is working with Mercy Hospital on solutions to the closing of the hospital.
  • There is a new children’s book produced by the Lowell Milken Center For Unsung Heroes, featuring the story of Irena Sendler and using LMC Program Director Megan Felt and her daughter to tell the story.
  • The City State Bank downtown branch renovation has started and should be finished in 60 days.
  • To support the cause of Lee’s Paws and Claws, businesses are asked to consider placing collection boxes near their cash registers. Contact Kate Sweetser.
  • Smallville Crossfit’s Day of the Lifting Dead is Nov. 3
  • Bourbon County’s new economic director, Jody Hoener, welcomed input from the community.
  • Captured Images is producing a new magazine and is seeking advertisers.
  • Nate’s Place Restaurant is closed this week for some remodeling, which was helped with a Healthy Bourbon County grant.
  • The Liberty Theater: Across the Pond Band will perform Oct. 27; Jessica Page Band, Nov. 10; and the Jerry Thompkins Band, Nov. 13.
  • The Front Door Christmas Store will be open every Saturday and Sunday in November and also the downtown open houses. This year the store will be at 104 N. National, next to the Buffalo Grill.
  • Fort Scott Community College events: Oct. 13-free children’s fair; Oct. 20-alumni rodeo, the play “Gilligan’s Island” will be Oct. 19-21.http://www.fortscott.edu/calendar
  • Papa Don’s Restaurant held a fundraiser for the FSCC track team Oct. 3. Students waited tables, and a percent of the day’s profits went to the team.
  • The Fort Scott Lofts project is in the beginning stage and will be home to 40 more residents downtown, Fort Scott Economic Director Rachel Pruitt said.
  • Downtown Quarterly Meet and Greet attendees pick up literature of upcoming events, following the meeting.

One Person Can Make a Difference: Irena Sendler’s Story Told to Children

Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes Program Director Megan Felt, left, with Cathy Werling, the author of Mommy Who Was Irena Sendler? book.

It’s been 19 years since the story of Irena Sendler, the rescuer from death of 2,500 Jews in Poland, was discovered by three Uniontown High School students in Norm Conard’s history class. The Jews were being killed in Europe by the Nazi Germans.

“It was September 23, 1999, when we found the clipping that day in Norm’s class,” Megan Felt said.  That clipping mentioned Sendler as one of a few people in Europe at the time who stepped up to save the Jews.

The students, Elizabeth Cambers Hutton, and Sabrina Coons Murphy along with Felt, did a history project on Irena Sendler that changed the lives of many, including Sendler who was still living at the time.

Several books and a movie have been made of Sendler’s life and are available for sale at the center.

Now one of the “rescuers of the rescuer”, Megan Stewart Felt, is featured in a book on Sendler that features she and her daughter, Blair, in re-telling the story for younger children.

The children’s book, self-published by the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, is entitled Mommy Who Was Irena Sendler?, by Cathy Werling.

Werling is an employee of the center and Felt is the program director of the center, located at Wall and Main Street in downtown Fort Scott.

“Cathy surprised me with her idea of telling the story,” Felt said. “I think it’s special to tell about Irena, involving my daughter, Blair.”

Blair, who is 8-years-old, is “very excited,” Felt said. “She has been practicing her cursive handwriting to sign books for the family,” she said with a smile.

While Werling was writing the book, Blair came to the center and got a tour from  Werling.

“I hadn’t told her much about Irena and the holocaust,” Felt said.

Werling explained the story in a way that Blair could understand,   Felt said.

“We continued to have conversations about Irena and…. how one person can make a difference,” Felt said. “I want her to know that even though she is a girl in Southeast Kansas, she has the power to make a difference and being a positive change in the world. That’s the goal of the center.”

Werling agreed.

“When I got involved with the center, I found the work of the center is to help people understand that one person can make a difference,” she said.

“Young children need role models to show what you can do in circumstances where someone needs to step up,” Werling said.

“If we can help them be a positive force, that’s my mission, to see that,” she said. “Everyday people like them that can have a powerful impact.

Mommy Who Was Irena Sendler? is the third book that Werling has written on unsung heroes at the center.

Area elementary students come to the center for book readings at their appropriate level.

The children are then encouraged to choose to make a difference in someone’s life.

“It’s moving to see the little kids become involved in the stories on unsung heroes,”  Felt said. “You hear them saying ‘I saw a little girl who sits alone. I can sit with her.'”

Werling uses a “hook” in her children’s books to get the child interested, then the story is told,  the book ends with how the child can “be like that person,” Werling said.

In her latest book, Werling has additional pages of facts on the story, including photos.

“I want them to understand that the story is true,” Werling said.

The illustrator of the book is Maggie Raguse, Werling’s sister-in-law, who is a professional artist.

The book Mommy Who Was Irena Sendler? will be published by the end of October 2018, then will be for sale at the center, Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble bookstores, Werling said.

Irena megan table sign.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Completion Nearing On Dr. Crawford’s Office Dowtown

This is the building on Wall and Main Street in Fort Scott’s Historic downtown that Dr. Tim Crawford purchased.

Dr. Tim Crawford’s dental office, Family Dental, plans to move from its current location on South Main Street to the building at Wall and Main Streets within a few months.

“Construction on historic Fort Scott buildings is slow,” Crawford said.

Dentist Tim Crawford, center, with office personnel, from left: Alison Harper, hygenist; Jessica Terry, assistant; Crawford; Karis Hopkins, reception and assistant; Carina Guajardo, office manager. Not pictured: Ashley Rogers, assistant. They are pictured outside the Wall Street portion of the historic building Crawford is renovating.

Crawford and his staff hosted a Fort Scott Chamber Coffee at the new site on September 27.

Dr. Tim Crawford speaks to the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce weekly coffee attendees Sept. 27 at the site of his new office, which is still in the construction stage of renovation.

He spoke to the crowd in the reception room of his new office.

Coffee attendees share conversations before the announcement segment of the weekly coffee. They are in the reception room of the new dental office of the renovated historic downtown building at Wall and Main Street.

“I’m excited to be downtown for accessibility,” Crawford told the coffee attendees. “We hope to be open in a few months.”

Dental services offered are implants, oral surgery, pediatrics, “Everything you want to be done at a dentist.”

Coffee attendees mill around the still-being-constructed operating room of the dental office.

Fort Scott City Manager Dave Martin thanked Crawford for moving his office downtown and taking on the renovation of a historic building.

“I know you run into things that throw you behind,” Martin said.

The building Crawford owns faces both Wall Street, pictured, and North Main Street.