Grab your surfboard and old Levis and win!

Surfboards in Kansas are a bit unusual, but if you own one head down to Threads For Him, 117 W. 6th Street, Concordia, and you could win a pair of Hurley Shorts today.  Make sure you are wearing your most worn pair of Levi jeans.
Featuring Levis, Silver, Carhartt, Dockers, Cinch, Tony Lama Boots, and Red Wing, Threads has stylish men's clothing. Although high school and college students can get 10% off with a student ID, proprietress Kristina Edin emphasizes that Threads For Him has clothing for all men not just young men.


Friday, June 1 and Saturday, June 2, Threads is celebrating its Grand Opening with free hot dogs, drawings and live remotes with 94.9 and KREP.  The first ten couples to book a wedding will be entered into a drawing to win tuxes for the whole wedding party.  Even if you don't have a reason to shop for the man in your life, (you can always think of one) stop by and check out the great decor.  With the help of friends, Kristina has decorated her store with old and re-purposed found items.
Congratulations and Welcome Threads For Him!

Concordia Glows at Night!

There is a new glow in town!

Tired, drab, out of date, and a bit run down used to be how we described downtown Concordia.  Then, over the past few years we have watched a transformation. A group of retailers began to lead the movement to revitalize the downtown not by forming a committee, but with paint brushes in hand and designer friends on speed dial. The result is a fresh new historical look.

While new and historical seem to be opposites, the combination works. Retailers are working with their buildings' unique architectural details and accenting them with new colors, techniques and 'vintage' signage.
One of the newest additions, Threads For Him, is adding a unique mix of color to the downtown city lights.  Take a cruise down main street, or in our case Sixth Street, at night and check out the emerging 'cityscape'.
I can hardly wait to see what's next.

2011 WeKan! Conference

Susie Haver and Tammy Britt of Cloud County Convention & Tourism were featured “breakout session” speakers at the 2011 WeKan! Conference.  The conference is a project of the Kansas Sampler Foundation.

Held every two years, the WeKan! Conference is a gathering of passionate community doers and advocates who want to help communities thrive.  This year the theme was PowerUp and PowerOn Rural Kansas!

The WeKan! Conference invites speakers from rural communities to share grassroots ideas, practices and resources.  Haver and Britt shared ideas on “Promoting your neck of the woods to locals and explorers” which featured planning scavenger hunts and a shop rally.  Cloud County Convention & Tourism sponsored a session on “Making it cool to cook again!” given by Faye Minium, Marilyn Rowlison, and Billie Jo Frakes, Morland; and Mari Detrixhe, Clyde.   

This one day conference encourages networking and brings together communities of all sizes.  The energy is contagious and everyone leaves with new contacts, new friends and loads of great ideas. 

Other area attendees were; Joan Nothern and Lynda Huffer, Glasco; Johnita Crawford and Mari Detrixhe, Clyde.  For more information on the WeKan! Conference or other events sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation go to:  kansassampler.org. 

Lazy S Farms Entertains Well Known Chefs

A group of nine well known chefs and food processors from across the United States recently visited the home of Larry and Madonna Sorell of Lazy S Farms, Glasco, for a homemade gourmet meal.  

The tour was organized by Heritage Foods USA.  Lazy S Farms began raising heritage animals in 1999.  Heritage animals refer to lines of farm animals unchanged by genetic medications.  Currently, Sorells raise unconfined Red Wattle pigs, Standard Bronze turkeys, Large Black Hogs, Scottish Highland Cows, Katahdin Sheep and Gloucestershire Old Spots Pigs, all without growth hormones or stimulants.  Heritage Foods processes and sells the meat to well known restaurants and meat markets such as Bi-Rite Market, Otto, Lupa and Ma Peche. 

Heritage Foods USA was founded ten years ago to offer more options in the marketplace for high-quality, humanely raised meat products grown by small and medium sized independent farmers.  Each year they invite chefs who purchase their products to visit a few of the farms where their meats are raised.  The chefs are given the opportunity to observe and even touch the animals they may someday soon be serving. 

Touring Lazy S Farms this year were, Sam Edwards III, Edward Hams, Surry Virginia; Tien Ho, Restaurant McPeche;  Zach Allen, B & B Ristorante/Carnevino Italian Steakhouse/Otto; Chili Montes, Bi-Rite Market; Nicholas Fantasma, Paradise Locker Meats; Patrick Martins, Katy Keiffer, Dan Honig, and Andrea Trabucco-Campos all from Heritage Foods USA.

Back row from L to R:  Larry Sorell, Andrea Trabucco-Campos, Dan Honig, Sam Edwards III, Zach Allen, Patrick Martins, Madonna Sorell.

Front row L to R:  Nicholas Fantasma, Tien Ho, Chili Montes, Katy Keiffer

  

Save the Date for QuiltFest 2011!

Another announcement by Smilebox

Happy New Year!

It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the beginning of 2011.  I just realized that the month is already one third of the way over and I have already broken my New Year Resolution!  This year I vowed to do better in keeping up with my "To Do" list, be nicer, and sign up for another "Year of Peace".  So far the only thing I've managed to do is sign up to keep a "Year of Peace".  My 'To Do" list is two pages long and I broke the "be nicer" vow when I spouted off to a negative person droning on and on about something trivial last week.
From now on I am going to treat every Monday like the beginning of the New Year.  Instead of a "New Year" resolution, it will be a "New Week" resolution.  Maybe that I can handle!
Happy New Week,
Claude

Snow without the mess!

While I may like snowflakes on my eyelashes, not everyone does. So the Concordia Christmas Lighting Committee came up with an idea that gives shoppers a special treat; snow without the mess!
Not only do we have snowflakes hanging from the streetlights, this year shoppers are greeted with floating snowflakes on the corner of Broadway & 6th. If you haven't seen them, make sure you head downtown this week in the evening. Thursday evenings the shops are open late!