Visitors to get samples of Kansas

By TIM UNRUH

Salina Journal

CONCORDIA -- Dozens are preparing Concordia's City Park for the 20th annual Kansas Sampler Festival this weekend.

Still others are working downtown to complete a showcase of Concordia's past -- the Whole Wall Project. A few are doing both, preparing for thousands of visitors.

"It's really awesome to watch the artists at work," said Tammy Britt, co-director of the Sampler Festival.

The Whole Wall Project, a 140-foot brick mural that depicts the development of Concordia and Cloud County, is going up at her office, at the corner of Sixth and Lincoln streets.

Artists Catharine Magel, of St. Louis, and Mara Smith, of Seattle, have been working side-by-side with two brick masons and a brick tender to complete as much of the $350,000 project as they can in time for the festival. But the rainy weather has slowed progress.

"We can't mix mortar with rain," Britt said.

"This year it's really wonderful that people are going to see part of the mural up," said Susie Haver, the other festival co-director.

Included in the mural are local scenes such as St. Joseph Catholic Church, the Nazareth Motherhouse, the Republican River bridge, the Brown Grand Theatre, a biplane owned by aviator Charlie Blosser, Orphan Train riders and Minersville, which was a camp of coal miners in the late 1800s. The Cloud County Historical Society plans a narrative to explain each element when the mural is finished by early summer.

"They have the south one-fourth of it in really fine shape," Britt said. "There have been a lot of onlookers. People are driving by and stopping by."

Thousands of visitors are expected for the festival, which features 135 Kansas towns.

The festival will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission costs $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 7 to 14; children ages 6 and younger will be admitted free of charge.

The Sampler Festival is a project of the Inman-based Kansas Sampler Foundation, with Cloud County Convention & Tourism as the local host.

The brick mural is among the local attractions for visitors to the Sampler Festival. Other attractions, including the Orphan Train Museum, the Brown Grand Theatre and the Nazareth Motherhouse, will be open for tours, with a free shuttle between the festival and the attractions.

The festival gives folks a sample of what's available in Kansas' small towns -- and large ones, too, said Marci Penner, of Inman, the Sampler Foundation's founder. The festival was staged on the Penner farm near Inman for the first eight years and then made two-year stops in Pratt, Ottawa, Independence, Newton, Garden City and Concordia. Last year's festival was attended by 6,100 people.

Next year's Sampler Festival is in Leavenworth.

"The goal of the festival is to get people to come to your place throughout the year," Penner said.

The festival educates and promotes Kansas as a package. Small towns without hotels or a transient guest tax to raise promotional revenue are presented along with cities such as Salina, Manhattan and Lawrence.

Concordia, which benefits from a countywide guest tax, has no hotel rooms available this weekend, Haver said.

"There's all these small, feisty little towns that want so bad for you to know their story," Penner said. "But we're really pleased to have bigger cities ... to come as well, to sort of anchor it all."

Among the exhibitors is Ellsworth, which will have its own exhibit and is tied to the Kansas Cattle Towns Coalition, which will stage a cow camp with a chuckwagon.

"The biggest thing is the exposure. It's really a nice event," said Dennis Katzenmeier, of Ellsworth.

The festival, as a whole, says Kansas has a lot to offer, Penner said.

"It can't be underestimated what the collective portrayal does at this festival," she said. "A common comment is, 'I had no idea Kansas has this much to offer.' "

Kansas tourism advocates have had to be patient, Penner said, but the state's "collective message" is starting to take hold.

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.

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