Don’t want to wait in line for your custom coffee?

At the Downtown Quarterly Meet and Greet at Common Ground Coffee Co. Tuesday morning,  MacKenna Robinson said the coffee shop is beginning to offer online ordering.

“Online ordering is now at Common Grounds and in April, we are giving five-percent off (each order),” Robinson, assistant manager of the shop said.

To order go to https://squareup.com/store/common-grounds

Robinson also told the group that the coffee shop has been approved for a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas Pathways to a Healthy Kansas grant, through the Healthy Bourbon County Action Team.

The grant will allow the coffee shop to purchase more equipment to serve fresh salads, Vicki Waldron, the manager said in a later interview.

Robinson said the coffee shop will also be a part of a meeting  to make a directory of food producers and local restaurants. The meeting’s purpose is to form collaborations to get fresh locally produced foods to restaurant tables.  The Buy and Eat, Meet and Greet event will start at 5:30 p.m. May 3 at Memorial Hall.

To learn more about the May 3 event see the Healthy Bourbon County Action Team Facebook page.

To learn more about the grantor, BCBSKS, click here:

https://www.bcbsks.com/pathways/

Other upcoming local events announced at the meeting:

• The 2nd Story Festival of Arts and Ideas is scheduled for April 27-29 around venues in Fort Scott. It includes workshops, improv comedy performances and a festival finale event and fundraiser Saturday evening. For more information: https://www.2ndstoryartfestival.com  Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lindsay Madison asked the group to attend the 2- 3:30 p.m. Saturday event titled “Creative Placemaking: Building the Artist Community in Fort Scott” by Marc Wilson at the Empress Event Center, 7 N. Main in downtown Fort Scott.
• There will be free outdoor movies offered at a location to be announced by Larry Gazaway, the city’s tourism manager. The movies are The Incredibles, May 25; Cars 3, June 22; Star Wars Night, July 20 and The Princess Bride, August 17.
• Art walks by the Bourbon County Arts Council will be from 5-8 p.m. at the Liberty Theater patio, on May 18, June 15, July 27 and Sept. 14.

• Smallville Crossfit is having a “Murph Challenge” on Memorial Day and Fort Games on June 23. See their Facebook page for more information.
• The Good Ol Days Festival is May 31 – June 2 this year. The theme is “The Great Outdoors.” The parade is at 6 p.m. June 1 and there will be Friday night shopping again this year downtown.
• There is a new website for tourism: www.visitfortscott.com/
•  Biking Across Kansas, a 559-mile ride will end in Fort Scott on June 16. Expected are about 850 cyclists.
• There will be a Veteran’s Weekend Nov. 9-11 in honor of veterans. An 11 am. service at National Cemetery and a parade at 3 p.m. on Nov. 11 are some planned events.
• Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative’s Fiber Optic Internet is progressing to the downtown area this summer and project construction will ramp up in 2019, according to Zach Adams. He said the response was more than expected in the community.
•  Free tourism trolley tickets are available, businesses are encouraged to add coupons to the ticket envelope to advertise. Contact Gazaway at the tourism office, 231 E. Wall.
• The Presbyterian Church will have a Sunday Serve Clean Up/Projects Day April 29 at 8:45 a.m.
• The Fort Scott National Historic Site  Civil War Encampment is April 21-22.
• KOMB is hosting the 7th Annual Home, Sport, Farm, Garden Show at Arnold Arena at Fort Scott Community College April 13 -14. There will be 56 inside booths and more outside. Call  620-223-4500 for more information. Children’s activities will also be available.

• The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes is collaborating with Fort Scott National Historic Site to bring “Mother” Mary Bickerdyke to area fifth-grade students.
• There will be a woman’s luncheon April 25 at the Ellis Fine Arts Center at Fort Scott Community College. Vendor booth rental is $6. For more information contact Juley McDaniel at 620-223-2700 Ext. 5201.
• An interactive story time at the library will start soon, contact K-State Extension Agent Joy Miller for more information.
• Gary Palmer said he will be starting a retail printing business within the next 30 days. He will offer a discount to not-for-profit groups.
• The townwide yard sale will be May 11-12.
• In a recent conversation with Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer, City Manager Dave Martin said Colyer indicated the completion of the Hwy. 69 is a priority project. Martin also mentioned the positive movements in town: the Boiler Room Brewhaus expansion, the Liberty Theater building rehabilitation, the Hole in the Wall Liquor Store project, the Fort Scott Family Dental move to downtown, Bartelsmeyer’s renovating a downtown loft, progress on the old La Hacienda building, Arby’s Restaurant coming to the old Kentucky Fried Chicken facility, and the Fisher Park Project. Martin gave his cell phone number if anyone has questions: 620-644-2498.
• The Third Saturday Marketplace in collaboration with Fort Scott Farmer’s Market needs volunteers to oversee the event once a month, said Lindsay Madison.
• There will be a meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 3  at the Empress Event Center, downtown, for senior citizens interested in senior housing options. Pat Wood will host the event, which includes drinks and hors d’oeuvres.

The meet and greet is hosted by the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce the first Tuesday in January, April, July, and October each year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce features a business each week, this week Phillips Lawn Care, 909 S. National Ave.

Contact Randy Phillips at 620-224-4827.

The Quarterly Downtown Meet and Greet, hosted by the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce will be held from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 3 at Common Ground Coffee Co., 116 S. Main

Tri-Valley Developmental Services, a local provider of social services to people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, has begun a new marketing plan.

“We don’t tell enough of all the good things we do,” Executive Director Tim Cunningham told the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce weekly coffee attendees Thursday morning.

“A lot of people don’t know we are a one-stop shop for services they could need,” he continued.  ” A lot of people don’t know we strive to make people as independent as possible. A lot of people move people, we keep them in their hometown.”

Cunningham said TVDS started in 1974 and has been in Fort Scott since 1977.

They currently serve 53 individuals at the facility at 4305 Campbell Drive in Fort Scott’s Industrial Park.

Cunningham introduced Barb McCord who is the horticulture therapist at the facility, which houses a greenhouse.

McCord told the attendees there will be no auction fundraiser this year because it happens every other year and this is an off year, but she will be having a one day sale of plants in May.

Additionally, plants raised in the greenhouse were offered as a gift, one per person, when the attendees departed the coffee social.

Cunningham said the annual Cruise Nite in Chanute has a goal to raise $25,000 this year, to provide homes for people with disabilities.

The Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors are Greg Motley, chairman; Needleman, past chairman;  Gina Shelton, finance chair; Geoff Southwell, chairman-elect business, and resource division Chair; Alysia Johnston, workforce development division chair; David Lipe, grassroots division chair.