Long-time restauranteur Marsha Lancaster died last fall and her life will be celebrated in a unique event planned by her nieces and nephews and close friend Rhonda Dunn.
“When Marsha passed away last fall, her family wanted to plan a celebration of her life,” Dunn said. “At that time, they weren’t sure what kind of event they wanted to plan or when it would be. They knew they wanted to do an event with music because Marsha loved music, and went to a lot of concerts.”
Marsha’s favorite band was Disco Dick and the Mirrorballs, and they will be performing in Fort Scott around Marsha’s birthday, Dunn said. “We traveled all over Kansas City watching them perform. As a special tribute to her, they are coming back to the Liberty Theater to perform.”
“Marsha’s passing was such a huge loss to our family and our community,” her niece Sara Lancaster said. “She would have been 55 years old on March 1 and there is no better way to celebrate the Dancing Queen herself than with a concert in her honor.”
“We hope to make the event an annual one,” Dunn said.
Plans are for the first annual Marsha Fest with Disco Dick and the Mirrorballs to take place on Saturday, March 5 at the Liberty Theater, 113 S. Main, Fort Scott.
The Liberty Theater doors open at 7:30 PM and the concert will be from 8 to 11 p.m.
There will be a cash bar.
For more information, contact Rhonda Dunn at (620) 224-1186.
About the Band
Disco Dick and the Mirrorballs are a band that tribute to the disco dance era. They perform the greatest hits from KC and the Sunshine Band, Kool and the Gang, the Commodores, Earth, Wind & Fire, Michael Jackson, and many more. They formed in 1998.
Mike and Robbie Wolfe, stars of the American Pickers TV show are coming back to Kansas to look for rare treasures to feature on the show. The show features the team scouring the country in junkyards, barns, garages, and basements looking for those treasures.
“Mike and his brother, Robbie will be traveling to Kansas,” Meredith Ball, associate producer of American Pickers said. “Our host is in love with Kansas and hasn’t been back since 2018.”
“We are looking for those who think ‘I’ve got these cool items I’m ready to part with, I’ll have them come look,'” she said.
They will be choosing who they visit by March 4, so interested applicants should call 646-493-2184 or email [email protected], Ball said.
“We want large private collections that aren’t open to the public, unique batches of items,” Ball said.
The Wolfe’s will come in April.
“Once we solidify who we are seeing, well set up the exact dates,” Ball said.
Those interested can send their name, town, state, phone number and where the collection of treasures are located, and a description of the items, she said.
The FSHS Thespians perform “An Audition for a Murder,” a comedy murder mystery by Lee Mueller, at 7 p.m. on Feb. 18 and 19 in the FSHS Auditorium.
The production features a community theatre troupe holding auditions for a Murder Mystery called “Death of A Disco Dancer.” All of the typical actors show up to audition, but as they get underway, there’s a bit of a problem with the “script,” it isn’t finished. The playwright arrives in the nick of time with a few more finished pages just as one of the actors mysteriously dies. As luck would have it, an inspector arrives to give advice on the play. Perhaps the investigation into this “mysterious death” will inspire the playwright and help him finish the play. After all, there is a read-through on Monday!
Audience members even get to play a role as they interrogate the suspects and vote on who they think the murderer is.
The production involves a cast of 14 including seniors Christina King and Zaria Byrd; juniors Israel Carreno and Luke Majors; sophomores Casey Gomez, Regen Wells, Jaedyn Lewis, Jericho Jones, and Lizzy Moore; and freshmen Emma Guns, Mykael Lewis, Kaiden Clary, Piper Weeks, and Madison (River) Smith. The play is directed by Thespian sponsor Angie Bin.
“This show is a fun way for our students to interact with the audience and really give our community an immersive theatre experience,” Bin said. “We have had such an enjoyable time rehearsing and I am especially proud of our freshmen making their stage debut in this production.”
Reserved seating tickets are available for $5 from fortscotthighschool.ludus.com or at the door. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
For those who love to shop and LOVE chocolate, get your walking shoes on.
This Saturday, Feb. 12, is the Love Local Chocolate Crawl shopping event, sponsored by the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce.
This is the second annual Fort Scott Chocolate Crawl, according to Executive Director Lindsay Madison.
Stores festooned with red and white balloons and with the chocolate crawl poster in the window are participating and many will be offering drawings and store give-aways.
The majority of the retailers are in Fort Scott’s Downtown Historic District, but there are others also.
Downtown retailers are Angie Dawn’s Boutique, Bartlesmeyer Jewelry Store, Better in Bourbon Boutique, Bids and Dibs resale clothing and more, Hare and Crow Barbershop, Hedgehog INK Bookstore, Iron Star Antiques, and Such, Laree + Co. clothing store, Main Street Gallery and Gifts, Sunshine Boutique, The Beauty Lounge hair salon and spa, and Treasure Hunt Flea Market.
Other retailers participating are Museum of Creativity, Shirt Shack clothing store and Varia clothing store.
Customers are invited to shop at local retailers and sample chocolate treats.
Fort Scott Cub Pack 114 is having its annual Pinewood Derby on Saturday, Feb. 12 from 6-9 p.m. at Memorial Hall, Third Street and National Avenue.
This year to beef up community attendance, Scoutmaster Seth Needham is hosting a Corporate Pinewood Derby.
“It will be a night of fun and racing,” Needham said. “The Pinewood Derby is an annual scout event where we design, build, and race pinewood derby cars,” Needham, said. “Pinewood Derby cars are small-scale cars made from wooden blocks, carved and cut for unique designs, and then raced down a special track. They are powered 100% by gravity, so the design is very important, and something the scouts work hard on.”
Needham decided to make this year’s race a community event because the scouts do work so hard on their cars.
“I wanted the community to have a chance to come and cheer them on,” he said. “The scouts give back a lot to the community through various projects, so it’s nice to have an event that can bring the community out to see them.”
“The corporate race is open to local businesses and organizations,” he said. “So far, I have about 10 different businesses signed up, and they are all really excited. Also, the sheriff’s office and the city of Fort Scott will have cars entered.”
Key Apparel is sponsoring the derby by providing prizes for the fastest cars, and best designs, he said.
The corporate derby has a cost of $25 that includes one derby car kit, registration for the race, and one meal ticket, he said. Extra meal tickets are $10. Companies can register more than one car, too.
1st and 2nd place will be awarded for both categories, and the prizes are $150 and $100 gift certificates to purchase items online from Key Apparel.
“The design contest will be judged by a panel of judges,” Needham said. “Currently, Lindsay Madison from the Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Kevin “Skitch” Allen, and Kelley Zellner, city manager, are our judges.”
Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. for race contestants and their guests.
Each company that registers gets one meal ticket, and extra meal tickets are available for $10.
“If people want to come and just watch the race, we will charge $5 entry,” he said “All proceeds will go directly to Cub Scout Pack 114.”
“I decided to do the derby as a fundraiser because so many people have fond memories of these races when they were scouts,” he said. “Anytime scouts are brought up in conversation, the first thing people want to talk about is their experience with the pinewood derby.”
The Corporate Pinewood Derby
“Area companies are invited to design and decorate a car, race, and have dinner with the scouts,” he said. “You can be as creative as you want with the design of your car, as long as it complies with the official scout pinewood derby rules.”
The cost to compete in the Corporate Derby is $25 per car, and each registration will include the following:
1 BSA approved Pinewood Derby Car Kit
1 dinner ticket
Area to display your car and company literature before and after the race.
Features on our Facebook page.
Agenda for the Event
Check-in will begin at 5 p.m. with the official scout races starting at 6 p.m., and company races will start immediately after.
Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. Additional meal tickets can be purchased for $10 before the event, or $15 the night of the event.
Please make checks payable to BSA Pack 114.
Key Apparel has donated gift certificates with prizes from their business website, which is www.keyapparelstore.com
Prizes will be awarded for the following categories.
Speed: 1st place $150, 2nd place $100
Design: 1st place $150, 2nd place $100.
If your business would like to register, please contact Needham at (620) 215 6934, or send an email to [email protected].
“Upon registration and payment, you will receive your pinewood derby car kit and a copy of the rules,” he said. “Also, be sure to follow BSA Pack 114 on Facebook for tips and tricks that you can use to make your car faster.”
Needham provided the rules of the derby:
RULES FOR BUILDING YOUR PINEWOOD DERBY CAR
BSA’s Pinewood Derby Car Building Rules
All cars must pass the following inspection to qualify for the race:
Width shall not exceed 2-3/4 inches.
Length shall not exceed 7 inches.
Weight shall not exceed 5 ounces.
Axles, wheels, and bodies shall be from the materials provided in the kit.
Wheel bearings, washers, and bushings are prohibited.
No lubricating oil may be used. Axles may be lubricated with powdered graphite or silicone.
The car shall not ride on any kind of spring.
The car must be free-wheeling, with no starting devices.
No loose materials of any kind are allowed in the car.
A double-elimination method is used to determine the winner.
This method uses a “winner’s bracket” system that begins with every car filling one spot. At the end of each heat, the winning car advances to the next level of the winner’s bracket while the other cars are entered in the loser’s bracket. Those cars then race against one another, with the winners of each heat advancing. The final car of each of the two brackets competes with the other for first place.
Each judge will give each car a score of 1-10, with 10 being the best. The car with the highest score wins.
In honor of Gordon Parks and his tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.,
The Gordon Parks Museum has scheduled a series of events to celebrate his life.
Starting on January 13th at 7pm
The Gordon Parks Museum Presents:
Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey’s: Ever Present
Then, on Friday, Jan. 14th and Monday, Jan. 17th, the film showings of
Eyes on the Prize: American Civil Rights
After the first film on January 14th, there will be a Lunch & Learn in the Ellis Arts Center at 12pm. The Fort Scott High School Advanced Drama students will be reading the “I Have A Dream” speech given by Martin Luther King.
The community is invited and encouraged to bring canned food or cleaning products from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to the museum which is in recognition of King’s day of service events that will happen nationally. These canned goods/cleaning products will be presented to The Beacon, a local helping agency. Please, no out-of-date goods.
After the 1st film on the 17th, the Lunch & Learn event by Prisca Barnes, will be speaking on the “The Dockum Drugstore Sit-In”, an event that happened in Wichita.
A free lunch will be provided by Luther’s BBQ. Drinks and desserts will be provided by Great Western Dining.
Judy Cassidy is the owner of AnchorBay Travel Shoppe.
She describes the business as a family-owned, faith-based full-service travel agency specializing in cruises, groups, and all-inclusive vacations.
“I operate out of my home office so I mostly do free consultations over the phone if anyone is interested in making travel arrangements,” Cassidy said. “Or (we can) meet in a public place for coffee/tea.”
Cassidy attended Fort Scott High School, got married and moved away, then moved back to Fort Scott in October 2021.
She pursued a hospitality career and lived in Nashville, Denver, and Kansas City in those years away.
The idea of the business started years ago in a church she was attending.
“My original passion for this agency started when I was very involved in my church in Denver,” according to a press release. “I already had the travel bug and wanderlust appetite for travel but I wanted to do something fun and eventful for church groups.”
She then began planning cruise groups for churches: for their singles groups, women’s/men’s retreats, and for trips to the Holy Land.
She began her diverse career in travel and hospitality after having gained an unexpected jumpstart into the industry when she found herself managing a hotel at the age of 18, she said.
She then worked as a human resources generalist for one of the largest travel agencies at the time in Kansas City.
“Completely passionately in love with traveling, (I) continued expanding my career in upper-management and consultative roles in information technology, hotel/resort operations, sales, marketing and revenue management along with managing (my) travel agency,” according to the press release. “The travel agency was kept at a manageable part-time level while (I) continued with my hospitality career.”
Cassidy is now full-time in Fort Scott, since October 2021, with her agency AnchorBay Travel Shoppe.
She has been partnering with a travel agency to get re-certified and help with re-branding, Cassidy said.
“We haven’t officially launched, we are getting ready to do that at the end of January 2022,” she said. “But I am available to do some travel arrangements now.”
“I am the main person in the business, I have a couple of travel advisors that work by commission,” she said.
Her mission is to “passionately inspire, educate, and fulfill dreams – one client, one destination, one travel experience at a time,” according to the press release.
She believes traveling is the gateway to a broader understanding of vast cultures and destinations yet to be explored.
“We are a full-service agency with a special niche for groups,” according to the press release. “Whether it be faith-based cruises, business/incentive seminars at sea, or annual affinity groups. We look forward to crafting the vacation experience of your dreams.”
“And because Covid also changed the dynamics of traveling, and continues to change daily, we have the tools to stay on top of the latest news, rules and protocols,” she said.
“If something goes wrong on your trip, we work on your behalf and will go to bat for you– no matter who is at fault — and try to get your vacation back on track.”
“We have access to a variety of tools that the average consumer is not able to use or doesn’t know about,” she said. “We can sometimes get you a better seat on an airplane, add amenities at hotels, room upgrades, event tickets, and plan activities for you.”
A small group of Fort Scott residents, most of whom have young children, have a vision for a splash pad in Gunn Park.
A splash pad is a water recreational play area, which in other cities, is often in a public area.
“A splash pad will benefit all ages,” Josh Jones, one of the organizers said. “It’s a great way for people of all ages to stay active during hot summer days.”
“A small group of us started this right before COVID (the disease pandemic) hit and it’s been on hold till recently,” he said.
The group is comprised of Kristin Bishop, Will Bishop, Seth Needham, Bailey Lyons, and Jones.
“The planned location for the splash pad will be right down from the caretaker’s house, on the east side of the road, as you start to exit Gunn Park, across from shelter house #1 (the big rock shelter house),” he said.
Fundraising will begin January 2022 and the plan is for the splash pad to be operational by summer 2023, Jones said.
“We have a couple of fundraisers lined up that we will announce in the next month or so,” he said.
Donations are being accepted at Lyons Realty Group, Bourbon County Cars, or Venmo at Healthy Bourbon County Action Team.
This newsletter about new books is distributed to people who are registered adult users at a southeast Kansas library participating in the SEKnFind catalog. We hope you find it useful, but if you don’t wish to receive this anymore, you can click on the “Manage Subscriptions or Unsubscribe” link at the bottom.
All the books included in this newsletter are new additions in one or more SEKnFind libraries–and since the catalog is shared, that means they are available to you whether they are in your local library or not! Just place a hold on the item(s) you want. If you don’t know how, your librarian can show you.
A woman who can identify strangers by the slightest facial details believes she has found the person responsible for her sister’s disappearance and presumed death, and attempts to disrupt her upcoming celebrity wedding to publicly expose her. 20,000 first printing.
Haunted by her failed career and lingering childhood trauma, a former stage performer turns to alcohol but is saved from the brink of the abyss by her son whose love redirects her towards rehabilitation and redemption. 100,000 first printing.
An expert at locating missing people is asked to find the vanished, well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books and is led to Pastoral, a reclusive community found in the 1970s that many believed to only be a legend.
Two strangers who meet when their cars are both stuck in a blizzard spend a delightful eight hours together weathering the storm before parting ways believing they will never see each other again, but fate has other plans. Original.
When Holly switches places with Elle, her favorite social media influencer, for Christmas, she finds the holiday filled with surprises, especially when she meets Elle’s handsome twin brother, while Elle gets more followers—and more than she bargained for. Original.
Raising their younger siblings in rural Poland under the shadow of Nazi occupation, 18-year-old Nowak twins Helena and Ruth find their lives endangered when Helena falls in love with a stranded American paratrooper that culminates into a singular act of betrayal. 10,000 first printing.
When a talking cat named Tiger demands that he help save books with him, high school student Rintaro Natsuki and Tiger embark on an amazing journey, liberating books from their neglectful owners and meeting a colorful cast of character along the way. 35,000 first printing.
Taking the throne she won at so much cost, Lin Sukai must place her trust in the powerful magicians of legend who have returned to the Empire to help her defeat the rebels and restore peace among her people. 50,000 first printing.
In 1973, the crew of NASA’s Apollo 18 collide with Russian astronauts on the lunar surface far beyond the reach of law or rescue, in this high-stakes thriller unlike any other. 150,000 first printing.
Out-of-work war correspondent Nick Bishop takes a job writing a profile for a new mindfulness app called Clarity, which becomes more disturbing by the minute, especially when he discovers that no one with Clarity has any interest in his article—only in him. 60,000 first printing
In 1866, a new war breaks out on the western frontier between a young ambitious nation and the Native tribes who have lived on the land for centuries, in this fascinating saga, based on real people and events, that grapples with essential questions of conquest and justice that still echo today. 100,000 first printing.
“Two powerful railroads clash in a dispute over the Royal Gorge right-of-way to serve a valuable silver strike in Colorado. A reclusive financier with substantial holdings in the Denver & Rio Grande commissions the Knights of Labor to foment labor unrestagainst rival Atkins Topeka & Southern to delay development of the Royal Gorge spur while the dispute is litigated. Stephen Atkins, owner of the AT&S, turns to Pinkerton for assistance in breaking the strike. Atkins learns financier Eli Chorus is responsible for his labor troubles. He calls on Don Victor Carnicero and his El Anillo crime syndicate to eliminate his Chorus problem. When Great Western Detective League operative Beau Longstreet breaks up the assassination attempt, killing the El Anillo assassin, he becomes the assassin’s witness. Don Victor vows vengeance. El Anillo operatives threaten Longstreet’s life and the life of his love. Assassin’s Witness careens from violent confrontation to diabolical treachery in a deadly hail of bullets shroudedin mystery and tainted in loss”
Beyond the wheat fields and off the beaten path, these abandoned and forgotten places lay in wait to tell their stories of a more productive and useful time. From small towns to ghost towns and all the places in between, the vastness of Eastern Kansas can be seen as a curse that will slowly drain a place dry or an untapped resource. Even though these locations are far from the ever-growing city’s reach, they face the same fate when expansion is needed for improvements, or there isn’t enough demand to continue daily operations. However these stories play out, all that is left is a reminder of what used to be: abandoned relics of lives, dreams, and businesses scattered across the open heartland of Eastern Kansas.
The paraprofessional crisis counselor and author of The Encyclopedia of Spirits shares a year’s worth of spells and magic-oriented rituals for harnessing everyday power and honoring spiritually significant dates, from Midsummer’s Eve to Samhain. 25,000 first printing.
Drawing from science, politics and technology, this illuminating book sheds new light on the little-known scientists throughout history who helped build our modern understanding of climate change.
“When Lissa Yellow Bird was released from prison in 2009, she found her home, the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, transformed by the Bakken oil boom. In her absence, the landscape had been altered beyond recognition, her tribal government swayed by corporate interests, and her community burdened by a surge in violence and addiction. Three years later, when Lissa learned that a young white oil worker, Kristopher ‘KC’ Clarke, had disappeared from his reservation worksite, she became particularly concerned. No one knew where Clarke had gone, and no one but his mother was actively looking for him. Unfolding like a gritty mystery, Yellow Bird traces Lissa’s steps as she obsessively hunts for clues to Clarke’s disappearance. She navigates two worlds — that of her own tribe, changed by its newfound wealth, and that of the non-Native oil workers, down on their luck, who have come to find work on the heels of the economic recession. Her pursuit becomes an effort at redemption — an atonement for her own crimes and a reckoning with generations of trauma. Yellow Bird is both an exquisitely written, masterfully reported story about a search for justice and a remarkable portrait of a complex woman who is smart, funny, eloquent, compassionate, and — when it serves her cause — manipulative. Ultimately, it is a deep examination of the legacy of systematic violence inflicted on a tribal nation and a tale of extraordinary healing”
From the best-selling author of Dreamland comes a searing follow-up that explores fentanyl and the quiet yet groundbreaking steps communities are taking to end the opioid crisis nationwide
Drawing on 25 years of foraging experience, David Hamilton show us how and where to hunt for the food that is hidden all around us. Along the way he delves into the forgotten histories and science of wild foods and their habitats and reveals his many foraging secrets, tips and recipes. You’ll discover where to find mallows, mustards and pennywort, as well as sumac, figs and mulberries. You’ll learn how to pick the sweetest berries, preserve mushrooms using only a radiator and prepare salads, risottos and puddings all with wild food.
Featuring judges recipes and favorites from the 2021 bakers, the newest cookbook from the hit television baking show includes recipes made on the broadcast, cook’s notes and measuring conversions from metric to imperial. 50,000 first printing. Illustrations.
“Crystal’s hope is that the techniques learned throughout the book, along with the (free!) included cut files, will inspire you to create designs of your own that you can not only gift, but also sell on creative marketplaces such as Etsy and even at craft fairs. With your Cricut cutting machine and this book, you’lll always be prepared with a handmade gift idea for any occasion including holidays, birthdays, graduations, baby showers, housewarmings, weddings, and more!”
This epic history of the medieval world, which was forged by the big forces that still occupy us today—climate change, pandemic disease, mass migration and technological revolutions, shows us how every sphere of human life and activity was transformed in the thousand years covered by this book.
“From the famed Oregon Trail to the boardwalks of Dodge City to the great trading posts on the Missouri River to the battlefields of the nineteenth-century Indian Wars, there are places all over the American West where visitors can relive the great Western migration that helped shape our history and culture. This guide to the Great Plains states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas–one of the five-volume Finding the Wild West series–highlights the best-preserved historic sites as well as ghosttowns, reconstructions, museums, historical markers, statues, and works of public art that tell the story of the Old West. Use this book in planning your next trip and for a storytelling overview of America’s Wild West history”