Proscenium
The proscenium arch over the Granada stage. Beth Thomas was in charge of recreating the molding.
The Granada Theatre originally opened Oct. 3, 1929, and re-opened Oct. 3, 2008 after a complete restoration. The Emporia Granada Theatre Alliance raised $3 million for the project.
A close-up of some of the ceiling stencils. Stenciled in place, by hand. The ceiling, the ceiling beams, and almost everything that’s in a difficult-to-reach-place is stenciled. My neck hurts just thinking about it.
Check out photos on the Granada’s website. There are pictures of the stencil-painting in progress.
Here’s the man in charge of putting the Granada Theatre back together - Bones Ownbey, project foreman. (Let’s give a standing ovation to Bones and his dedicated workers!)
A tremendous amount of work was done before Bones gave me a tour in July 2007, but to see what things looked 15 months ago, check out my interior shots from July 2007.
Chevrolet
An old Chevrolet added atmosphere to the re-opening of the Granada Theatre on Friday evening.
I don’t know the year of the Chevy. If you know, feel free to share that information with us all.
Sugarfoot & Peaches
Sugarfood & Peaches BBQ in Fort Scott, Kansas. Not exactly the south. But they have gumbo and Cajun boiled peanuts. There’s a white pig on the roof and a white dog in front of the left window (you can barely see him.) The dog is live. Don’t think the pig is.
When she lived in Georgia, my mom bought some boiled peanuts for me to try and they were one of the god-awfulest things I’d ever eaten. I suppose it’s an acquired taste, but why would you want to acquire that taste?
It wasn’t mealtime when Dave and I passed this BBQ place, so we kept on driving.
Over Ft. Scott
Looking through an underpass in Ft. Scott. Fort Scott (pop. 8,297) is the county seat of Bourbon County.
Visiting the Vet
Tiger hates going to the vet.
She sits on the counter at the vet’s office. She’s safe from doggies up there.
Free range kitty. The assistant put some treats out for Tiger in the exam room, but Tiger just steps right over them.
Tiger tries to hide. “You can’t see me.”
She found a cat-sized hideout between the exam table and the wall.
Dr. Stan Perry at East Emporia Veterinary Clinic looks at her belly - she’s been licking hair off her belly and her back. Stan says that hair-pulling behavior can 1) hormone-related after being spayed, 2) an allergy kind of a thing, or 3) stress/psychological.
Poor kitty, she’s crazy in the head from living with me.
Tiger gets a cortisone shot.
Stan’s just a really nice guy. He’s been one of our vets for years.
Yates Center Churches
When we passed through Yates Center last week, I snapped a couple of churches. This is the First Presbyterian Church.
Calvary Episcopal Church.
Apple Juice
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Hand-squeezed apple juice? Sorta.
At the Farmers Market this morning, I watched apples turn into apple juice.
The apple shredder chewed up the apples.
Dropping them into a bucket below, skins, seeds, core and all.
Then those bits of apples were pressed and apple juice was made.
Running the apple juice factory were the kind folks from Plum Bazaar.
The juice was good. Very good.
Night at the Museum
From The Emporia Gazette.
Museum night
Oct. 14 7 p.m.
The October Night at the Museum at 7 p.m. Tuesday will be a Vietnam roundtable discussion with Frank Lowery, Rich Jaggard and Karen Epp discussing different views of the war. The free program is held at the Lyon County Historical Museum and open to the public.
The Lyon County Historical Museum is at 118 E. 6th Ave. in Emporia.
Karen Ross Epp
Karen Ross Epp wrote “With Love, Stan: a soldier’s letters from Vietnam to the World.” Several years ago, Karen gathered together the letters Stan wrote home from Vietnam and published them in a very powerful and moving book. Karen was raised in Iowa and now lives in Newton.
A book about the Vietnam War was not something I normally would have picked up, but Karen (a stranger to me at the time - I’ve since met her) sent me a copy and once I started, I couldn’t put it down. I’d encourage anyone to read the book. I’m sure the round-table discussion will be worth attending.
Today’s Market
Overalls. Yep, these are real farmers at the Farmers Market.
Smiling brownies.
Bob Karr’s apples - from The Orchard several miles north of Emporia on K-99. I’ve purchased a couple bags of the Honeycrisp variety - those are the best apples on the planet. Today I got there a little late and the Honeycrisp were gone, but I picked up a bag of Fuji apples.
Barb Say (in the background) with her woven products.
Barb Say’s beautiful carameled apples.
Just Enough Wind
Leon Unruh, that ol’ brother of mine, who pens the blog Too Long in the Wind writes about wind today. He’s up there in Alaska, but remembers well the Kansas wind. Check out today’s essay “Just Enough Wind.” There are some great lines in the piece.
Filegirl Retreats
On her blog, Filegirl, Kristine’s headline reads: Some people think Kansas is uninspiring. I am not one of those people.
Kristine made a getaway from Kansas City last weekend for a retreat in the Flint Hills at the Tallgrass Spiritual Retreat Center. Sounds like she had a great time.
I’d like to do that, a retreat, sometime.
Tonight at the Granada
What a night at the newly restored Granada Theatre!
It’s been a busy first week at the Granada. A week ago was the Grand Opening Gala, 79 years to the day after its initial opening.
Last night, Chinese acrobats performed here.
Tonight - it was incredible music by the DeWayn Brothers and by Kelley Hunt.
A well-traveled bluegrass band from Emporia, The DeWayn Brothers got the music started this evening. From left: Josh Finley, Peter Gaskamp, Eric Nelson, Jamie Briggeman and Garrett Briggeman.
“This is the nicest venue we’ve ever played. Usually we’re in stinky bars with beer spilt on the floor,” Nelson said.
Their music was hot. Josh burned up that mandolin, I’ll tell ya. They gave a fantastic performance and received a standing ovation from the hometown crowd.
Kelley Hunt and her band open with “You’ve got to be the Vessel” from her newest album, “Mercy.”
“I can’t tell you what it felt like to walk into this beautiful theatre,” Kelley Hunt told the audience. “I’m so proud of you for doing this.
“I’ve been all over the world and this is the most beautiful theatre I’ve been in,” she said.
Kelley has memories in this old Granada, “I told my band-mates, right up there in that balcony…” (she trailed off.) “Well, I’m not going to say any more.”
For an encore, Kelley Hunt sings “Mercy.”
Kelley Hunt lives in Lawrence, but she grew up in Emporia and sang a hometown song, “Roses,” about Rose’s Grocery Store, a neighborhood store on Ninth Ave. that she ran and skipped to when she was a girl.
A couple other Kansas songs were in her lineup, including “Emerald City” and one about the Heartland - “…take me back to the Cottonwood River….”
When Kelley sings these songs all across the country, she carries a bit of us, a bit of Emporia, to that audience in Vermont or Tennessee or Iowa or Michigan. She sings about the Cottonwood River, ruby slippers, and Mr. Rose smoothing his apron. Her audience hears about the sunrises we see, the roll of the Flint Hills, the life we know here in Kansas.
Like in her performance last year for Emporia’s sesquicentennial, Kelley rocked and bluesed the house.
It was a treat for me to meet Kelley for the first time tonight.
Kelley signs a man’s bandanna.
***
My photos of the performances are taken with a point-and-shoot camera in the dark from the balcony. Dave does better. For a great photo of Kelley performing, check out Dave’s shot on Emporia Daily Photo.
Chicago Marathon
One of my friends, Bev Hinrichs, 37, is running in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. Yay, Bev.
Whoopin’ cancer wasn’t enough, Bev is gonna whoop up on Chicago.
In a recent story in the Gazette, Bev answers questions about the race: Ready for a Marathon.
Another Emporian, Jerid Thomas, is also running the marathon and the Gazette article also gives his motivation.
The race starts at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday and you can follow along with Bev’s (and Jerid’s) progress if you’d like.
Sign up to get e-mails or text messages when they cross the splits (10K, 1/2, 30K) and/or the finish line.
