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Category Archives: Fort Scott
FS City Commissioners Will Attend Fort Scott Forward April 27
There may be a majority of City Commissioners present at the Fort Scott Forward on Tuesday, April 27th, 2021 at 7:45 a.m. at the River Room Event Center. No City business will be conducted.
FS City Commission Work Session on LaRoche Stadium April 27
The Fort Scott City Commission will meet on Tuesday, April 27th, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. in the City Hall Commission Meeting Room at 123 S. Main Street, Fort Scott, Kansas to hold a work session to discuss the LaRoche Stadium operations. This meeting is open to the public, but no action will be taken.
The work session will also be available on the City’s YouTube channel.
Good Ol’ Days: A Go For 2021
Good Ol’ Days, Bourbon County’s biggest festival, is a go for June 3-5, 2021.
Last year there was a celebration of the event’s 40 years planned, but the COVID-19 Pandemic shut it down.
“It’s always been an annual event, until last year,” Shawn O’Brien, chairman of the festival steering committee said.
“We got the news from the Southeast Kansas Multi-Health Department that we are approved to have the festival this year,” O’Brien said.
“Come out and walk Main Street,” O’Brien said. “We are looking forward to seeing everybody.”
New this year is a zipline, with more details to follow, O’Brien said.
“There will be a talent show on June 3, and the other activities are June 4-5,” he said.
Vendors will once again line Main Street for people to enjoy, along with food trucks.
The Red Garter Saloon will perform, along with balloon artists and caricature drawings on Main Street, all for free.
There will be the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce sponsored parade on Friday evening, June 4, as well as the Chicken Mary’s Meal on the Mall that evening.
The baby contest will be Saturday morning, June 5.
“We will have live entertainment on Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Heritage Pavilion (First and Main Street), featuring the Wayward Betty’s,” O’Brien said. “This is free to the public.”
Saturday at the Heritage Pavilion, Public Display of Affection, will be the featured performers, from 7 to 10 p.m.
Fun Shows Carnival will be set up across from Luther’s BBQ at Oak Street and National Avenue.
The Steering Committee
The committee is comprised of O’Brien as chairman, Kayla Hull, Melissa Wise, Charlotte Thompson, Cheryl VanHoecke, Tim Van Hoecke, Shaylynn Clements, Kelsey Demott, and Carl Brenner.
“We are excited,” O’Brien said. “We have waited two years.”
Tickets for each event will be available soon at the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce, 231 E. Wall Street.
Applications for different events are on their website.
Check out the latest on the Fort Scott Good Ol’Days Facebook page and their websitehttp://fortscottgoodoldays.com
Chamber Coffee at Papa Don’s April 29: Celebrating 10 years
Chamber Coffee hosted by Papa Don’s Pizza announcing celebrating 10 year anniversary in May 2021
The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce invites members and guests to a Chamber Coffee hosted by Papa Don’s Pizza, Thursday, April 29 at 8 a.m. located at 10 N. Main St. to announce their 10 year Anniversary coming in May 2021 in this location.
Coffee, breakfast pizza, juice and snacks like fruit and cheese will be served, and attendees may register to win a special drawing.
Chamber members and guests are invited to Chamber Coffee events each Thursday at 8 a.m. to network, make announcements, hear about happenings in the community as well as learn about the host business or organization.
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We Need Quality Housing! By Greg Motley
Submitted by Greg Motley, President of Bourbon County Economic Development Council.
Last week I gave 10 reasons why our community is shrinking; next, I will address what can be done to stem the tide. None of these solutions are particularly easy; after all, we are fighting megatrends that are impacting most small towns in America.
Our most obvious need in Bourbon County/Fort Scott is quality housing. There is a dearth of desirable places for people to buy and call home at all price points, but particularly in the mid-range. Do you realize that more than one in three workers you see around the county every day have driven in from another jurisdiction because they can’t find an affordable, quality alternative closer to their workplace?
You have probably noticed that not too many new homes have been built around the county in the recent past. The problem stems from building costs compared to the appraised value of the property once it is completed. Excluding land, with modest finishes, it costs a minimum of $150 per square foot to build a new home; that cost has accelerated dramatically during the pandemic, as lumber has skyrocketed. Lenders cannot get appraisals to come out anywhere close to the real number it costs to build a house in Bourbon County, so the homeowner has thrown away thousands of dollars in equity on day one of homeownership. How many Southeast Kansans can afford that loss?
What is the problem? Years of low comparable sales data, along with high taxes on Bourbon County real estate, are the two main culprits. Our mil levy combined for all jurisdictions inside the county are much higher than our neighbors, especially Missourians. Hundreds of people own homes in our neighbor to the east, while paying MUCH lower property taxes, then commuting to Bourbon County for a good job and pay a lower state income tax rate. It is a win-win for Show-me Staters.
What is to be done? Here are a couple of thoughts:
We HAVE to lower taxes. High mil levies have a direct impact on home values. Additionally, people have a strong disincentive to improve, or add on to their properties. To accomplish this, we must look to lower the cost of government by looking to see how we can cooperate with one another between jurisdictions and share services.
We have to look at where prices are closer to the market, and develop those areas. Market pricing is closer to cost on, and around, Lake Fort Scott land, and large lot subdivisions around the area, such as along Maple Road. Can we get government owned land into the hands of developers and back on the tax rolls? Are there actions we can take as a community in these areas to narrow the gap between cost and appraisal?
We have to consider options at all price points. In-fill vacant lots in the city will require grant money or a charitable donation to work. Similarly, mid-price housing will require creativity and an outside injection of capital.
This quality housing dilemma will take time to solve, but we need to dedicate ourselves to an outside-the-box, persistent search for solutions. We need to tackle it together as a community.
What’s Happening in Fort Scott! April 23rd Weekly Newsletter
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CHC Purchases Price Chopper Building
It’s official.
The former Price Chopper building on south Main will be developed for a new site of the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas in Fort Scott.
CHC currently leases the former Mercy Hospital building at 401 Woodland Hills Blvd.
“The sale has been finalized including an outparcel that was once being held for another development that didn’t materialize,” Krista Postai, CEO of CHC said. “So the entire building and parking lot is ours to develop.”
CHC paid $3,625,000 for the former grocery store that sits on the main thoroughfare of Fort Scott.
CHC Closing On Price Chopper Building April 9
“The outparcel was immediately off US 69, near the sign,” Postai said. “A very large chunk of the current parking lot.”
The future site is in a high-traffic area of Fort Scott, on U.S. Hwy. 69, with an address of 2322 S. Main Street.
The medical center will be making a large investment in the community.
“We estimate that when it’s all complete, we’ll have a $7 to $8 million investment including renovation and diagnostic equipment,” Postai said.
The project will be completed in less than two years, with the expiration of CHC’s current lease with Mercy ending in December 2022.
“We have less than two years to get it done so we’re jumping into the design phase,” Postai said.
CHC will be combining the clinic, walk-in care clinic and the pharmacy into the new development at 2322 S. Main.
“We did invite Via Christi Ascension to join us in this project but they indicated – very graciously – that they would need more time and were opting to remain in the existing Emergency Room in the Mercy Hospital Building (at 401 Woodland Hills Blvd.) which is still owned by the Mercy Health System.:
“As they requested, we will be donating back the land and helipad Mercy gave us behind the hospital for new construction now that we have the Price Chopper Building finalized,” she said.
The former Price Chopper tenant was there for two years.
Barry Queen, Queen’s Price Chopper, is the former tenant of the building. The property owner was AWG, he said. “(The property) is 40,000 sq. feet. “We closed the store in January of 2019, we had opened in December of 2017. However, getting all the equipment out, etc. all happened in 2020.”
Allergy Clinic Coming
Also new on the horizon is a regional allergy clinic CHC will be starting this summer, she said.
“We thought Ft. Scott would be a good location for access from throughout our north and south service area,” Postai said.
DOWNTOWN SPRING CLEAN DATE RESCHEDULED AGAIN
The Downtown Division of the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce announces that the new date for the Downtown Spring Clean event, again due to weather, will be Wednesday, May 19th from 3 to 6 p.m, with painting of the artistic crosswalks at Wall and Main Streets taking place throughout the day.
Since Fort Scott Community College will be out for summer break, 100-plus student volunteers will not be able to participate. Because of this, the committee is asking for additional volunteers. Materials have been secured for multiple projects planned that will immediately benefit the Downtown area and this is an opportunity to complete work prior to the annual Good Ol’ Days celebration and the height of summer tourism. Businesses, churches, civic groups, and other individuals are encouraged to donate just a few hours of time and each volunteer will receive a FREE t-shirt and dinner the day of the event.
Community members interested in volunteering may signup through Bailey Lyons, Downtown Division Chair by phone 620-224-7795 or email [email protected].
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Walgreens Offers Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines
City of Fort Scott Begins Monthly Meetings: This Month is Street Improvements and Budget Priorities
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A Little Friday Night Concerts History and D.J. Brown/ Bourbon County Revival This Friday
Free Friday Night Concerts were the outgrowth of the Fort Scott community’s vision for live music outdoors, downtown.
This Friday’s concert will be at Common Ground Coffee Co. at 12 E. Wall Street. D.J. Brown and the Bourbon County Revival will be performing in the Loading Dock Room from 7 to 8 p.m.
If weather permits, this room can be opened up to the patio area of the shop, Gage Addington, the manager of the coffee shop, said. Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase for attendees, he said.
The concert attendees are asked to observe social distancing, according to the long-time event coordinator, Ralph Carlson.
“I am really pleased to get the concerts going again,” said Carlson.
Ralph Carlson, Coordinator of the Concerts
“Ralph Carlson has been a loyal and steadfast coordinator of the concerts over the years,” Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lindsay Madison said. “Ralph puts in a great amount of time scheduling the entertainment, finding alternate locations if bad weather, writing up press releases each week, overseeing equipment needs, and more.”
“Ralph truly deserves most all of the credit for the Friday Night Concerts over the years,” she said. “We are so blessed to have him in the community, not only for the concerts but for his work on housing, streets, with youth, and many other projects. Ralph was recognized with the Mayor’s Citizenship Award in 2012 at the Chamber Annual Dinner & Awards Celebration.”
To see this story: https://www.fstribune.com/story/1814265.html
History Of The Concerts
“The Friday Night Concerts in the Park began after the Heritage Park Pavilion concept came out of the Community Visioning process back in 2007,” said Madison. “That’s when multiple key projects were conceived such as Riverfront Park, the Aquatic Center, Youth Activities Team, and the Good Neighbor Action Team. A large number of community members met several times during that period for ‘Community Conversations’ through a facilitated process with Public Square Communities and one outcome was to have a gathering park in Downtown Fort Scott where live music would be played often along with other events and activities.”
“Cheryl Adamson was on the team,” Carlson said of the original committee for concerts in the park. “Darlene and Jim Shoemaker were involved and it became my job to get the talent and coordinate the show. There were others, including the Manns.”
“Dean and Becky Mann, formerly of Fort Scott, were instrumental in designing and raising the funds needed for the pavilion and park area which included electricity and outlets needed for music equipment, benches, flower beds maintained by the Bourbon County Garden Club, and a beautiful clock donated by Bartelsmeyer Jewelry,” Madison said. “Many community members donated to the cost of the pavilion and those donors are recognized on plaques in the park area at 1st and Main in Downtown Fort Scott.”
“I had initially helped coordinate music in various events in town for years,” Carlson said. ” Including the early years for Good Ol’ Days and Pioneer Harvest Fiesta. The team asked me to help (on the concert in the park committee).”
“It really seems like a success,” Carlson said. “Such a unique setting and so well maintained by those who tend the plantings. I have counted crowds up there, in excess of 350 people.”
“The Concerts have fallen under sponsorship of the Chamber since they began I believe, as the Chamber helps with organizing and promotion, and has helped with some equipment and other expenses needed in the past,” Madison said.
Info For Attendees
The concerts take place each Friday evening from 7 to 8 p.m. from mid-April through October at the Heritage Park Pavilion, at First and Main Street corner, unless an alternate location is announced due to weather.
Seating is limited at Heritage Park, so attendees are always encouraged to bring a lawn chair, and maybe a blanket. Any entertainers interested in performing may contact Carlson or the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce.