Chase County Doin's by Sue Scott Smith - Oct.

December 24, 2009 - And the packages under the Angel tree were numerous. Rev. Pat (disguised as Santa Claus) and Mike (disguised as Santa’s helper) collected the gifts this weekend. Thanks to Chase County for your grand generosity!

Our next TallGrass Pickin’ jam session will be Friday evening, (yes, New Year’s Day evening) January 1.......7:30 PM, and maybe at the Emma. What a great way to begin the year!

Saturday, January 2nd, join us at 2:00 PM at the EMPORIUM if you are interested in registering for the Covered Wagon Doll, Handkerchief Doll, Church Doll Craft Class......to be held on Saturday January 16 at 10:00 AM. It is necessary that we have registration so that we’ll know what supplies to have on hand. There will be a nominal fee for this class, just to cover cost of supplies. These are old-time folk crafts skills that need to be preserved.

And pay close attention now.......The Benderville Reunion Planning Session will be held on Saturday, January 9 at 1:00 in the afternoon. Anyone who has ever lived in Benderville; anyone who ever WANTED to live in Benderville; and guests of Bendervillians are welcome to attend. We saw some great photographs this morning......of Bendervillians. What a hoot! We’ll see ya’ there!

So........Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.......in our Holiday Community of Chase County, Kansas! We’ll visit again next year!

December 17, 2009 - Okay.......who signed up for the snow????

At this writing, there are still 10 tags left on the Angel Tree at the Emma. Gifts are beginning to pile up under the tree, but those remaining tags need to be filled. Gifts are to be under the tree on the 18th. We know it’s been a tough year for everybody, but sharing a little bit is a good thing.

Friday night the 18th will be TALLGRASS GOSPEL and CHRISTMAS CAROLS. There were a good many Christmas tunes sung last week. We had a great time!

Saturday night, December 19 will be the final CONTRA DANCE for the year. And NEXT year, the Contra Dances will be held on the 4th Saturday of every month. Thanks to the Chase County Contra Dance Society (and the Recreation Commission) for a great year of music and dancing.

The Emma will not hold a jam session on Christmas evening. But the Emma WILL be open for a jam session on New Year’s Day (January 1) evening. If you’ve had enough football for the day, we’ll see ya’ there. We’ll begin the year 2010 on a proper musical note!

On Saturday, January 2, anyone who is interested in learning about making "Prairie Dolls" or "Covered Wagon Dolls" or "Church Dolls", is invited to attend the free seminar at 220 ½ Broadway at 2:00 PM. The Class for making the dolls will be held on Saturday, January 16th at 10:00 AM.

Golly, it hardly seems possible that we’re that close to the end of another year. We cannot imagine that time has flown by so rapidly. And we cannot imagine that we’d have rather spent the time anywhere else on earth.......than in our Blessed Community of Chase County, Kansas.

December 10, 2009 - Let’s see.........it’s white; there are no leaves on the cottonwood tree, so it can’t be cottonwood fuzz. (Opening door)........and it’s COLD out there, so it’s gotta be snow! Hmmm!

Oh, well......it’ll give us plenty of indoor time for planning the BENDERVILLE REUNION. That’ll be held on Saturday, January 9th. We’ve got time for specifics about the self-guided tours of Benderville, and the dinner menu. Music for the evening will be provided by the Benderville Guitar-Wrestling Team. Oh, yeah, it’ll be an event!

Music for Friday, December 11 will be K-177 BLUEGRASS PICKIN’.

The LAST jam session for the year 2009 will be TALLGRASS GOSPEL PICKIN’ (and Christmas Carols) on Friday, December 18 at 7:30 PM.

And this month’s CONTRA DANCE will be Saturday, December 19 at the EMPORIUM. NEXT YEAR, the Contra Dances will be held on the 4th Saturday of each month.

There will be no jam session on Christmas night, December 25. But there WILL be a jam session on New Year’s Day NIGHT, January 1.......and that’ll be the first session of 2010......TALLGRASS PICKIN’.

The basket-making class at the Flint Hills Arts & Crafts College was a success! Five of us came home with pretty classy-looking reed baskets......all finished. We’ll be doin’ that again sometime. Class offerings for next year (for your long-range calendar) include: on Saturday, January 2, at 2;00 PM at the EMPORIUM, there will be a short, free seminar on making "Prairie Dolls", where we will view examples of the dolls to be created, and sign up for the class. The actual class for the construction of PRAIRIE DOLLS will be held at 10:00 AM on Saturday, January 16th.

THEN, on Saturday, February 6 at 2:00 PM, there will be held a short seminar to learn a bit about "Giant Pumpkin Growing", to sign folks up for the GIANT PUMPKIN GROWING Class to be held on Saturday, February 20.

All in all, life is good, in our snow-dusted Community of Chase County, Kansas!

December 3, 2009 - Chase County Country Christmas was AWESOME! (And so was the weather!) It was another fine production by our Chase County Chamber of Commerce! Hats off to all of you!

Here’s another "Hats Off" to a very special friend of Chase County. The Western Music Association website says that JUDY CODER and The MORNING DOVE SONG won the 2009 Western Music Association Award for "Best Collaboration". For those of us who have heard her sing that tune a couple of times this year......we are hardly surprised! What a remarkable, unique piece of music, sung by a remarkable, unique performer!

This upcoming Friday night will be the December edition of TALLGRASS PICKERS. Saturday evening, plan to attend the Cottonwood Falls United Methodist Church annual SOUP SUPPER and AUCTION at the Masonic Temple.

There will be no MENS PRAYER BREAKFAST on Thursday, December 12th. "Somebody" won’t be here to cook that morning.

K-177 BLUEGRASS PICKIN’ will be Friday, December 13 at 7:30.

TALLGRASS GOSPEL PICKIN’ and CHRISTMAS CAROLING will be Friday, December 18.

There will be a CONTRA DANCE on Saturday, December 19 at 6:30.

There will be NO music on Friday, December 25th.

And we will begin the year 2010 on Friday, January 1 with TALLGRASS PICKIN’.

And so it is........is our gettin’ close to Christmas Time Community of Chase County, Kansas!

November 26, 2009 - Oh, yummy! It’s Thanksgiving Time! Good friends; good company! And turkey.....Yum!

Many of you will do the "shopping thing" on Friday. Then, on Friday evening, you’ll enjoy the "Caboose lighting" in Strong City.

Friday night, November 27th will be OLD TIMEY ROCK ‘n ROLL & VINTAGE COUNTRY.

Followed by Saturday, November 28th, which is CHASE COUNTY COUNTRY CHRISTMAS! That’ll begin at 8:00 AM on Saturday with Biscuits and Gravy by the Lion’s Club at the Emma Chase Café. Immediately followed by a plethora of activities throughout the day. With the CourtHouse Lighting at 7:30 PM. Followed by Christmas Caroling and Wassail at Prairie PastTimes. See those festive red posters throughout town. And get your "Biscuits and Gravy" tickets from any Lions’ Club member, and your "Tour of Homes" tickets at the Chamber Office. It’ll be a special day.......and for the next 30 days or so, our CourtHouse (and bridge) will wear their "Christmas clothes". Some traditional things are VERY comforting!

And then...........and THEN........it is DECEMBER! Mercy, how’d THAT happen?

On Saturday evening, December 5th, the Cottonwood Falls United Methodist Church will hold their annual SOUP SUPPER and AUCTION.......at the Masonic Temple. You can get another chunk of your Christmas shopping done there.

Remember how vital your business is.......to our small Kansas Communities. We urge you to shop locally whenever you can and be super creative with your gift-giving this year. We are always comforted to think how much better equipped we "Rural Kansans" are to deal with these "times of economic crisis", than folks in metropolitan areas. We think it all boils down to "common sense".........in our Sensible ‘ol Community of Chase County, Kansas! Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

November 19, 2009 - Now, least we forget: Are there any of you out there who might be interested in learning to weave baskets? There will be a BASKET WEAVING SEMINAR at the EMPORIUM, 220 ½ Broadway, on Saturday, November 21st at 1:00 PM. The seminar is free, given by Donna Jeanneret of Olpe. She will tell us a bit about basket weaving; show us some examples; and sign folks up for the BASKET WEAVING CLASS to be held on Saturday, December 5. There will be a charge for the Class, depending upon which basket you choose to make. And you can certainly learn more about THAT at the free Seminar.

And for your VERY long range calendar, Diana Sigel, giant pumpkin-growing Queen of Chase County, is planning a GIANT PUMPKIN-GROWING seminar for very early February, 2010. So, if the urge to grow a giant pumpkin or two has ever come over you, you’ll surely need to plan to attend that seminar! She’ll even hand out giant pumpkin seeds! We’ll announce the date and time after the first of the year.

Let’s see........this coming Friday (the 20th) would be the third Friday of November, so that would make it TALLGRASS GOSPEL PICKIN’ night.

Followed closely by the third SATURDAY of November (the 21st), which would be BASKET WEAVING SEMINAR day and CONTRA DANCE evening.

CHASE COUNTY COUNTRY CHRISTMAS is not far off. So, next week’s line-up looks like this: Thursday the 26th is Thanksgiving. Friday evening the 27th is OLD TIMEY ROCK & ROLL and VINTAGE COUNTRY. Saturday, Nov. 28 is CHASE COUNTY COUNTRY CHRISTMAS! Whew!

Posters for CHASE COUNTY COUNTRY CHRISTMAS are obvious all around the Community.

Saturday evening, December 5, the Cottonwood Falls United Methodist Church will have their SOUP SUPPER and AUCTION........at the Masonic Temple.

Do you have your Christmas shopping done? Remember to shop locally whenever you can! In our almost-Thanksgiving Time Community of Chase County, Kansas!

November 12, 2009 - Judy Coder’s Concert was just FABULOUS! Carla (the Bass player) has just been named the Bass Player of the Year by the Association for the Preservation of BlueGrass Music.....and we can surely see why! And Judy’s newest tune.....about the Mourning Dove.....where she yodels and "coos".....is one of 5 nominees for "Best Collaboration" in the Western Music Association. If she doesn’t win THAT award, then, we’ll surely want to hear the winning song! That tune is absolutely remarkable! And perfectly suited for Judy’s clear-as-a-bell voice.

There is another wonderful weekend of music ahead of us in Chase County. Friday night, November 13th, will be K-177 BLUEGRASS PICKIN'.

And Saturday night, we’ll enjoy an evening Concert by "GENERATION BLUEGRASS" at 7:30 PM at the EMPORIUM. We KNOW that these are wonderful musicians, and we’ll assume that they’re as much fun as their photograph indicates. It’ll be a bibbed-overalls evening!

ALSO this weekend, the thespians at Chase County High School will present "YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU". There will be an evening performance at 7:00 Saturday evening, and a matinee at 2:00 Sunday.....at the Auditorium at the High School. You probably ought to plan to see THAT!

Saturday night, November 21st, join us at the EMPORIUM for the Chase County Contra Dance Society monthly CONTRA DANCE. Beginner instruction at 6:30; the dance begins at 7:00. Please bring clean soft-soled shoes for dancing.

For your calendar........plan to attend the Cottonwood Falls Methodist Church Dinner and Auction on Saturday, December 5th. Dinner begins at 6:00 and the Auction follows.

There’s plenty to see and do.....during this busy ol’ weekend Community of Chase County, Kansas!

November 5, 2009 -

Oh Gosh! There is stuff to do THIS week!

There’ll be TALLGRASS PICKIN’ on Friday night at 7:30 PM.

Run out to the BAZAAR BAZAAR this Saturday evening (Nov.7th) for dinner at 6:00. Turkey and Dressing and ALL the trimmings. Followed closely by the annual AUCTION of hand-made, home-made items from the ladies and friends of the Bazaar Ladies’ Aid.

Quickly purchase several hundred dollars worth of stuff before you hit it on back to Cottonwood Falls to attend JUDY CODER’s Concert. Judy and "COWGIRL SWING" will perform at 7:30 PM. This is a special event. Judy and some of her gal buds are trail riding in the Flint Hills this weekend and it always inspires Judy to sing! And we get lucky because she likes to sing HERE!

Then, next Friday (the 13th), plan to join the K177 BLUEGRASS Pickers for their Friday evening music at 7:30 PM at the EMPORIUM. We’ve been receiving phone calls wondering if we’re playing inside or out-of-doors. Hmmmmm, let me think THAT over for a minute!

And then, for SECOND SATURDAY on the 14th, plan to do some of your Christmas shopping at the EMPORIUM where GENERATION BLUEGRASS will perform at 7:30 PM. We wonder if the kid in the photo who is barefooted, will wear shoes now that the weather is a little cool.

But the sun IS shining.........in our FallTime Community of Chase County, Kansas!

October 29, 2009 - Oh, MANY CONGRATULATIONS to all of our wonderful musicians who so richly deserved their selection as an "8 Wonder of Kansas CUSTOMS". How much fun it has been for the past 10 years to meet with all of you on Friday nights, and to enjoy your comradery and witness your musical growth. We are told that there’ll never be another 8 Wonders Contest, so, forevermore, you all will be known as "Wonders of Kansas". All of us will look forward to many, many more Friday evenings of "Music at the Emma"......with all of you..... extra special people.

So, THIS coming Friday night will be CONTRA and FOLK MUSIC jam session. There will be a pretty good group of folks from Newton in the audience.

Friday, November 6 will be TALLGRASS PICKIN’ at 7:30 PM.

Then, Saturday evening, November 7, will be one busy evening. First of all, get yourselves out to the BAZAAR BAZAAR for dinner at 6:00. Quickly purchase everything at the AUCTION following dinner and then run to town for the last part of JUDY CODER and COWGIRL SWING’s Concert at the EMPORIUM. The Concert will actually begin at 7:30 PM. Oh, yeah........it’s a tight schedule, but you can do it!

Friday night, November 13th, we’ll have another K-177 BLUEGRASS PICKIN’ at 7:30 PM.

Then, for SECOND SATURDAY on Saturday, November 14, there’ll be plenty of shopping for you do at Country Marketplace from 1:00 to 8:00 PM.....an opportunity for Christmas gift shopping, we think. And at 7:30 PM, plan to be in the audience for the "GENERATION BLUEGRASS" Concert.

Remember, now.........this coming weekend we’ll need to set our clocks BACK on Saturday evening to signal the end of "Daylight Savings Time" for the year. So that it can get dark in the middle of the afternoon. Oh, well.......the only thing we know for sure.....is that this, too, shall pass.....in our sneaking-up-on-Wintertime Community of Chase County, Kansas!

October 22, 2009 - This column comes to you from Quincy, Illinois. We’re on VACATION! Isn’t this cyberspace somethin’?

We’ll see you at Music on Friday. And by then, we ought to know if "Music at the Emma" has been voted an 8 Wonder of Kansas CUSTOMS. Whatever happens, it’s wonderful to know that our friends and musicians have been honored by being named "Finalists".

Speaking of music on Friday (and we were), this Friday will be the 4th Friday, ergo OLD TIMEY ROCK ‘n ROLL & VINTAGE COUNTRY. Wonder if that drummer will come back?

And next Friday night will be CONTRA and FOLK.

Friday evening November 6 will begin the month with TALLGRASS PICKIN’.

Followed on Saturday evening, November 7th by JUDY CODER and COWGIRL SWING at 7:30 PM.

Also on Saturday evening, November 7th (but at 6:00 PM) join the fine folks of the Bazaar Ladies Aide for the annual BAZAAR BAZAAR Supper and Auction. Now, actually, you can squeeze all of this in on Saturday evening. Be at Bazaar for dinner at 6:00. Stay for the auction and quickly buy a couple hundred dollars worth of wonderful handicrafts. Then, load it in the car and head for the concert at the EMPORIUM. You should be able to get there for the last half! It’ll all work!

SECOND SATURDAY on November 14th will feature a wonderful opportunity to purchase some Christmas gifts at the COUNTRY MARKETPLACE beginning at 1:00 in the afternoon. Then, plan to stay for some fine BlueGrass music by GENERATION BLUEGRASS at 7:30 PM. There are at least 3 generations of musicians in this music group.

Fall colors abound here in Illinois, (and earlier, in Missouri). As we trust they do in our beloved FallTime Community of Chase County, Kansas!

October 15, 2009 - Music this past weekend was wonderful! We had a guest from Scotland at Friday night Pickin’. And Second Saturday evening’s special music was grand! And Pickin’ at Breakfast at the Emma on Sunday morning was just as much fun! The "Howlin’ at the Moon" folks are so much fun, we’re gonna have to bring them back for a summertime Broadway gig!

Okay......here’s a little "mission" for many of you: There are several of us who remember seeing an actual map of Cottonwood Falls hanging around town somewhere, with the area of "BENDERVILLE" plainly marked on the map. But none of us can remember WHERE we saw such a thing. Can anybody tell us where we might locate it? If you know, just call us at 273-6020. Now, this is IMPORTANT stuff here; we wouldn’t put you all to work on this detective project if it weren’t!

Saffordville United Methodist Church invites everyone to their annual Harvest Supper and Auction on Saturday, October 24th at 6:00 PM, to be held at the old Saffordville High School Gymnasium.. Tickets are $7.00 in advance; $7.50 at the door. Wonder if Walt made the noodles again this year?

Well, let’s see what’s happening: Friday night the 16th will be TALLGRASS GOSPEL PICKIN’.

Saturday night the 17th there’ll be one fine CONTRA DANCE at the EMPORIUM at 7:00. Beginner instruction is at 6:30. Matfield Green Radio Show will provide the music.

There will be no MEN’S PRAYER BREAKFAST on Thursday morning, October 22nd for that one day only.

OLD TIMEY ROCK ‘n ROLL and VINTAGE COUNTRY is Friday night, October 23rd.

And this month, there will be a Fifth Friday.......so we’ll be playing CONTRA MUSIC and FOLK.

Have you voted for Friday night Music at the Emma at 8wonders.org? We have only a week or so to get this done.

We’ve heard tell of a snowflake sighting this past week! It just doesn’t seem right, but we CAN remember things like this from our childhood. It may take a LOT of music to get us through a very long, grouchy Winter.......in our "keep on pickin’" Community of Chase County, Kansas!

October 8, 2009 - We’ve surely had a couple of spectacular weekends of music in Chase County. Dan Bliss and Nick Charles truly outdid themselves a weekend ago. And last weekend, Chiara String Quartet played their little hearts out. What fabulous music! The acoustics in the EMPORIUM are simply amazing! No WONDER we have such great memories of the Rhythm Merchants!!!!

And we got 10 years of Music at the Emma celebrated in fine fashion! It was a fun evening. It hardly seems possible that we’ve been meeting for the jam session nearly every Friday night for the past 10 years. Many thanks to every musician who has EVER participated. We, who listen, are grateful to each one of you! Now, be sure to vote for 8 Wonders of Kansas Customs!!!!

And there’s more to come. Besides the regular Friday night sessions, we’ve got some fine professional music on tap. For Second Saturday, October 10th, we’ll welcome “HOWLIN’ AT THE MOON”, a Country/Gospel foursome from Newton.

MATFIELD GREEN RADIO SHOW will return to the EMPORIUM for the CONTRA DANCE on Saturday, October 17th.

THEN, JUDY CODER and COWGIRL SWING will join us on Saturday, November 7th for an evening of swell music.

And Second Saturday, November 14th, we’ll enjoy the music of “GENERATION BLUEGRASS”. They’re excited; we’re excited, and it’ll be a fine evening!

Do any of you remember Nathan Granner? We’ve got word out to him........that a cold old Wintertime evening could be much warmer with another evening of Opera. We’ll let you know what we can work out!

Congratulations to Great Pumpkin gal, Diana Sigel. Rumor has it that she might bring one of those big old pumpkins to Second Saturday for you all to admire! I wonder if we could figure out how to have a “guess the weight” contest? We’ll work on that idea!

Tentative plans for Second Saturdays for next year are being discussed (and enjoyed). There's a lot of planning to be done for the New Year - not too far away - in 2010.........for our Remarkable Community of Chase County, Kansas!