The annual Kansas Day event at Kauffman Museum on the Bethel College campus will be focused on wild and domestic animals found in Kansas, both now and millennia ago.
“Kansas Critters” is the theme for Celebrate Kansas Day! activities on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 27.
Food trucks from LeJ’s BBQ, Tacos El Ponderosa and Sage & Juliette Coffee, as well as chili, hot dogs and cinnamon rolls from the New Shalom Youth (New Creation and Shalom Mennonite churches in Newton), will be in the museum parking lot at the corner of North Main and 27th Streets in North Newton beginning at 11:30 a.m.
The museum and grounds open at noon for an afternoon of special activities and programs.
Attendees should park in the Thresher Stadium parking lot or the Luyken Fine Arts Center parking lot to leave the museum lot open for food trucks, the Health Ministries mobile clinic, and handicapped parking.
Admission to Kauffman Museum and all museum activities are free on Kansas Day.
The Chisholm Trail Interactive History Tour is back for the second year, in which participants get to fill the roles of longhorns and drovers on the trail from Texas to the railhead at Abilene, Kan.
The tour starts at 12:30 p.m. and again at 2 p.m. just outside the museum’s front door and will follow the paved path to the Chisholm Trail marker in Chisholm Park about a quarter mile north of the museum.
Special programs begin at 1 p.m. in the museum auditorium, with Stephanie Carlson, education coordinator at Dillon Nature Center in Hutchinson, and “Kansas Day: A Celebration of Animals in Our State.”
At 2 p.m., Ian Trevethan, the education and outreach coordinator for the Sternberg Museum in Hays, will present “Life and Death in the Western Interior Seaway of Kansas.” Audience members will learn about fossilized creatures that lived here 80-100 million years ago.
Finally, at 3 p.m., is “Exploring the Changing Distribution of Kansas Mammals” from Matt Peek, wildlife research biologist with the Kansas Department of Wildlife.
Also inside the museum, there will be special activities to help attendees learn about and celebrate Kansas animals.
These include an “Animals of Kauffman Museum” scavenger hunt, a reading corner, “Skulls and Skins” identification and make-it-and-take-it crafts of origami birds, animal masks, prairie animal portraits and rock painting.
Hand-crafted Kansas cookies will be for sale inside the museum.
Special animal-themed activities outside the museum are a petting zoo sponsored by INTRUST Bank, an adoption drive organized by Caring Hands Humane Society of Newton, a bird feeder craft station and a farmhouse singalong.
A favorite animal-related outdoor activity is horse-drawn wagon rides, sponsored by Citizens State Bank of Goessel.
Other favorites from past Kansas Days are Buffalo Chip Tic-Tac-Toe, Prairie Dog Cornhole, old-fashioned schoolyard games, a branding station, rope-making, corn-shelling, and the always-popular popcorn popped in a kettle over an open fire.
There will be blacksmithing with Bill Moffett, and a display of vintage washing machines. The historic farmhouse will be open and the Native American teepee will be set up for visits.
Please note that some activities will depend on good weather.
KMUW-FM Wichita Public Radio is the major media sponsor for Celebrate Kansas Day!. Kauffman Museum’s other 2024 partners, in addition to those listed with specific activities, are the City of North Newton, Choose Newton, Bluestem Communities, Bunting Magnetics, Conrade Insurance and Union State Bank.
For more information about Kauffman Museum, including regular hours and how to become a museum member, visit its website, kauffmanmuseum.org, or Facebook page, or call 316-283-1612.
