Making the Most of Opportunities

Collaborate: The Kansas Explorers Club is the Foundation’s membership network for travelers. Minimal annual dues entitle members to the bimonthly newsletter. Explorers enjoy group adventures and an annual meeting. Building upon the guidebook’s popularity, Marci has maintained interest and networking among communities and travelers through a website.

Find the Fit between the Community and Tourism: The We Kan! membership division caters to grassroots leaders who receive the bimonthly We Kan! newsletter. The newsletter offers advice on topics such as preservation, directional signs, walking trails, beautification and publicity.

Kansas communities also offer special events to Foundation Explorer members. The annual Kansas Sampler Festival continues to be a popular venue to highlight the state’s cultural offerings. For example, Kansan musicians showcase their talent for bookings and Kansas products are introduced to the public.

“Bring Your Own Lawn Chair,” billed as a rural community awareness series, gives Explorers a close-up view of opportunities and issues in small towns by focusing on aspects of the eight rural culture elements. The event is held in selected Kansas communities. While in town to enjoy the discussions, Explorers can sample local culture and patronize businesses.

Make Sites and Programs Come Alive: Started in 2007, a popular contest called The Eight Wonders of Kansas educates the public and encourages travel to unique attractions in Kansas’ rural communities.  The public nominated attractions, and a committee chose 24 finalists. From this list, the public determined the top eight.  In 2008, contests began in the eight rural cultural element categories.  The contest has been so popular that some Kansas communities are now starting their own 8 Wonders contests.

Another fun-filled way of learning about Kansas is the travelling Go Kansas! game show, developed and hosted live by Marci. (A fee is charged to support the Foundation’s work).  Buzzers and flashing lights have been fitted onto an improvised PVC pipe frame that holds a quilt with five-question pockets for each of the eight rural culture elements.

Traveling Kansas’ back roads, Explorers find sites that come alive – often in unusual and amusing ways. Mount Sunflower, though notably Kansas’ highest point of elevation at 4,039 feet, is not lofty in its presentation: a visitor finds here a picnic table, a sunflower sculpture made from railroad spikes and a plaque that self-effacingly states "nothing happened.”    

Explorers find that Kansas-style whimsy abounds in the hamlet called Lucas. This is the home of the Grassroots Art Center, which displays objects ranging from wood carvings to imaginative machines. Executive director Rosslyn Schultz proclaims Kansas as ranking third, behind only Wisconsin and California, in the number of “grassroots art” sites.

The most famous of Lucas’ grassroots art is found at the Garden of Eden. Nothing is quite what it first seems: the “garden” and exterior of a “log” cabin are made of limestone, and the garden juxtaposes figures of biblical and political significance. Presiding over this jumble is the deceased creator, Samuel Perry Dinsmoor, now lying mummified like Egyptian royalty, in a glass-topped coffin that he built.  He is at peace after a hectic life spent in a variety of occupations, including soldier/nurse, teacher, farmer, insurance salesman, governmental official (postmaster, mayor, city council member), and architect/ artist. The garden’s name is a commentary on the myth of an agricultural paradise existing in Kansas. Dinsmoor was earnest about making money in his retirement from this tourist attraction, but he had as much fun showing it as he had had building it for 22 years (starting at age 64!). 

Focus on Quality and Authenticity: The work of the Foundation could be described as an intangible process with tangible results. Marci observes: “It’s really hard to describe what we do. We provide opportunities. We help communities see themselves differently. We share great efforts from one town to another. We put together workshops when necessary and have our conference. We train communities to help themselves by sharing what works elsewhere, by giving them hope and belief, by being their voice – by loving them!”

Whatever the mix of ingredients, the Foundation’s approach works: Explorers relish the authenticity of local culture that has not been altered for purposes of tourism. They value the up close and personal encounters with townspeople found in their natural setting -- no reenactments, no sales pitches, generally no appointments necessary (except for special circumstances, such as a tour by a local historian).

Marci shares an example: “A couple went to a town with a population of 120, found the pottery shop and got to chatting. Before long the pottery shop owners took the Explorers down the road to show them their house with the secret garden that they were uncovering and restoring.”

Off the beaten path, a Kansan Explorer would not be surprised to find tales of townspeople who endearingly remind them of an eccentric relative.  Take, for example, Frank Stoeber, who started saving twine in the 1950s out of frugality without intending that upon his death, the ultimately “Biggest Ball of Sisal Twine” would be hauled to Cawker City, destined for fame as a tourist attraction. 

Preserve and Protect Resources: Preservation of resources can come in many forms as one of the Foundation’s projects demonstrates. When Lizard Lips, a well-known locally-owned business, was faced with little revenue during winter season,  the Foundation launched a successful one-year campaign to encourage 1,000 Explorers to spend at least five dollars each. At this combination deli, convenience store and bait shop, which offers a heap of sandwich fillings and area information, the extra revenue from Explorers helped the store pay its employees without having to take out a loan. Explorers still make a pilgrimage to Lizard Lips with fond memories of their doubly rewarding experience there.

There are also enchanted places where the voices of pioneers echo from the past.  At Alcove Spring, near Blue Rapids, cold water still runs over rocks that bear the dates of arrival and names of pioneers passing through on covered wagons, including members of the ill-fated Donner Party.

Wooden and stone barns, built prior to the 1950s, stand proudly preserved and rehabilitated thanks to the technical assistance of the Kansas Barn Alliance, Inc. New practical uses for the old barns are in plain view, such as raising heritage breeds and specialty produce on small adjacent plots.

Explorers arrive as individuals, families, and small groups and stay a short while, leaving little environmental impact on the scenic wonders of Kansas, which include:

• Over half of the remaining tallgrass prairie of North America
• Over 250 species of grasses across four ecosystems
• The largest marsh (Cheyenne Bottom) in the interior of the country (surrounded on three sides by bluffs as high as 100 feet)
• 456 out of 650 nesting bird species found in North America
• The oldest rocks at the surface found in the world (in the southeast corner of Kansas), deposited 345 million years ago
• Rock fossils along all nine scenic byways

 Return to Summary