Kansas Visitor's Guide 2007/2008 - (Page 20) JOURNAL Celebrate! Round and round at Wah-Shun-Gah Days. Kansas SUNFLOWER STATE Most weekends, and quite a few days in between, Kansas holds festivals and celebrations offering glimpses of the state’s history, traditions and hospitality. Here’s a sampling for every season. that once lived here is honored (in mid-June) at the colorful Wah-Shun-Gah Days powwow and festival in Council Grove (55 miles southwest of Topeka). More than 10,000 people gather in this historic Santa Fe Trail town to watch tribal dancers in colorful costumes dip and sway to the beat of drums. There’s also a parade, carnival, booths of native crafts, tours of historic sites and plenty of food and live music. What’s Halloween backwards? It’s spelled scary-good fun in Independence (125 miles southeast of Wichita), where the Neewollah festival (last full week in October) always begins with a drum-pounding parade of 30 or so marching bands. A pumpkin-decorating contest, fun run, bike ride, carnival, chili cook-off, dance and bandstand music are among the festival events. Perhaps Santa follows I-70, but however he guides himself, the jolly one always appears in WaKeeney the Saturday after Thanksgiving to enjoy the dazzling holiday lights in this interstate community (30 miles west of Hays). A 35-foot-tall Christmas tree handmade from pine boughs rises above the downtown, gleaming with lights and bows. SEE PLENTY OF TOWNS have pancake feeds, but they’re nothing like the Shrove Tuesday affair in Liberal (85 miles southwest of Dodge City). Here, the day (the day before Ash Wednesday) begins with local ladies in skirts, aprons and running shoes frantically racing along a 415-yard course while they flip pancakes in skillets. Their aim in the International Pancake Day Races is to outrun the times of the fleetest flippers in Olney, England, whom they’ve been racing against since 1950. Fireworks, music and theatrical entertainment are among the 60 events along the Arkansas River during Wichita Riverfest (nine days in May, beginning the Friday before Mothers’ Day). A parade, family activities, cultural and historical events, sporting events and food courts draw more than 300,000 people to the festival. Kansas derived its name from the Kaw, or Kanza, people. The heritage of that tribe and the many others Native dancing at Wah-Shun-Gah Days. THINGS TO & go to the web www.TravelKS.com For more information, turn to the Trip Planner beginning on page 84. 20 PHOTOGRAPHS, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: JOHN NOLTNER, MICHAEL C. SNELL, JOHN NOLTNER DO IN THE http://www.TravelKS.com
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