Tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh fruit and more – the Geary Community Hospital (GCH) Farmers Market opens tomorrow, Thursday, June 1st.

Nikki Davies, GCH Marketing Director, said that a large turnout is expected tomorrow afternoon.

“The market runs from 4 to 7 pm in the front parking lot of the hospital; usually, it’s very busy from 4 to 5 when people are getting off work and on their way home,” said Davies. “We’re expecting a great turnout tomorrow.”

Davies said that the idea to facilitate a farmers market came from hospital CEO Dr. Joe Stratton in wanting to address the food insecurity concerns in the community.

“This is one way that we can address [it] and be a part of the solution; so this farmer’s market kind of just started as  his brain child…and has now transitioned to kind of being the ‘place to be’ on a Thursday afternoon in the summer.”

Last year the EBT system for SNAP families was added to the market, and this year up to $3000 in funds will be matched for those using that benefit.

“For our SNAP families, this is a really great benefit to utilize their tokens as well as double up their food dollars up to $25,” said Davies. “So they will spend $25 of their own SNAP tokens and then we can match that with another $25 to be spent at the market; it’s a win-win situation for our families as well as our farmers.”

The farmers market features a variety of local vendors that will increase further into the summer months.

“Just make sure to come out and support your local vendors, your local farmers – get to know them, it’s always great to know where your produce is coming from and how to prepare things too,” said Davies. “Our vendors, our farmers are very friendly and like to help and give advice as well.”

The farmers market will be every Thursday, beginning tomorrow – June 1st – from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm in the front parking lot of Geary Community Hospital.

The musical lineup for Sundown Salute 2017 has been announced with far more acts than originally anticipated.

The reorganized Sundown Salute Committee has been hard at work addressing an inherited $30,000 debt while trying to maintain the integrity of the annual celebration.

Dennis Beson, Chamber of Commerce CEO, formally endorsed Sundown Salute earlier this year and has been hard at work helping the committee bring the festival to life.

“If things go like they’re supposed to go, when people come out and attend the events and we avoid rain, then not only should we be able to break even, but we’ll also be able to pay off a lot of the debt that we were given when we started this project,” said Beson.

Debt has been the dark cloud hanging over the event for months, but the reorganized committee has made conscious efforts to be financially responsible.

“A big part of the reason that I wanted to come and help is that they had a lot of good things going; they were very economical with [musical] acts,” said Beson.

June 30th is the first day of Sundown Salute with DJs and dance party music, Quiet Riot headlines on Saturday, country music on Sunday, heavy metal on Monday, and patriotic themed music on the Fourth of July.

“I think we have a really wide spoke, wide variety of genres.”

Over fifteen musical acts are scheduled for the five day celebration, with twelve featured artists/groups; how did they manage to do so much, with less?

“I think what you probably won’t see this year that maybe you’ve seen in the past are some of the during the day type events where maybe we had BMX bikes, or maybe there was a magician,” said Beson. “I think the focus this year is much more on music – so that’s where I think we’ve cut a lot; we’ve just been good stewards of the money that people are sponsoring.”

Aside from the small daytime acts, Sundown Salute 2017 won’t cut corners when it comes to community favorites. The Ottaway Amusements Carnival will still provide games and rides for all five days, and the fireworks show is expected to be much more efficient than in past years.

Featured lineups for the June 30th through July 4th celebration include:

• Friday, June 30th: 5:00 pm – DJ Dmoe, 6:45 pm – DJ Supa Dave, 8:30 pm – Mike Scott
• Saturday, July 1st: 6:00 pm – Madman’s Diary, 7:30 pm- The Banned, 9:00 pm – Quiet Riot
• Sunday, July 2nd: 6:00 pm – Adam Capps, 7:30 pm – Matt Mason, 9:00 pm – Tate Stevens
• Monday, July 3rd: 6:00 pm – Brassknuckle Boulevard, 7:30 pm – Waffle Stomp, 9:00 pm – Season’s After
• Tuesday, July 4th: 7:30 pm – 1st Infantry Division Rock Band, 9:00 pm – 1st Infantry Division Band

The annual car show will be on Saturday, July 1st at 8:00 am, and the Abilene gunfighters will perform three shows on Saturday. The fireworks show is scheduled for Tuesday, July 4th at 10:15 pm (or at dark).

Sponsors are still needed for Sundown Salute; for more information call 785-414-8611 or email sundownsalutejc@gmail.com.

A ninth candidate has entered the race for one of three seats on the Junction City Commission; Bob Henderson, local business owner, is the latest to file for election.

“I first came to Junction City as the first retail development director for the EDC (economic development commission), that was before it was part of the Chamber,” said Henderson. “I think it’s very important that we have a City Commission that responds to our business; especially in such areas as the mil levy and property tax.”

In addition to wanting to be a voice for local business and property owners, Henderson is passionate about “cleaning up” the city.

“Mick McCallister just recently has been talking about cleaning up the blight, and I totally agree with him on that; I really think we need to cleanup the gateways into Junction City, the downtown area, Grant Avenue – all of that,” said Henderson. “Blighted houses cannot remain blighted houses, we need to take care of that.”

Henderson previously served on the Geary USD 475 Board of Education for 12 years, both as President and Vice President.

If the candidate list for the City Commision reaches ten, there will be an August primary election ahead of the November general election.

Other candidates include:

• Heinrich Biggs
• Tim Brown
• Michael Gray
• Michael A. Morris
• Larry Ruiz
• John-Charles Silva
• Jarrod Toothman
• Jeff Underhill

The filing deadline for the Junction City Commission is Thursday, June 1st at noon.

The Live Well Geary County Coalition has received confirmation from the Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Kansas, Pathways to a Healthy Kansas grant application committee that 15 sites across Kansas have been chosen for a site review, and that Live Well Geary County will be one of them.

Mike Ryan, Chairman of LWGC, said the site visit will occur June 6th.

Following the site visits, a grant award of $500,000 will be made to eight applicants across Kansas. Award notification will occur on June 30th. The community initiative to begin the grant will take place on August 1st, 2017 and the funding period will be from August 1st, 2017 to July 31st, 2020. Last year LWGC was selected for a site visit, but failed to be one of the eight finalists.

The purpose of the Pathways to a Healthy Kansas initiative is to inspire long-lasting, community-wide well-being by creating supportive, healthy environments; focusing on strategies that build community engagement and transform the way residents stay healthy as they work, play and interact socially. It also incorporates more opportunities to be healthy in normal daily routines–through access in schools, worksites, health care providers’ offices, food establishments and social networks. The initiative provides community coalitions with the tools and resources needed to remove barriers and engage their communities in ways that enable healthy eating and tobacco-free, active living to become a way of life.

The Pathways Team will be represented by the Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Kansas, the Wichita State University Community Engagement Institute and the Kansas Health Institute. Technical assistance will be provided to LWGC via the Public Health Center, Thrive Allen County and Work Well Kansas.

Ryan stated, “The opportunity for Geary County to be awarded a grant of this magnitude is receiving a ground-swell response from a variety of agencies to include: the Geary Community Hospital, USD 475, Delivering Change, Geary Community Health Care Foundation, the Geary County Health Department, Junction City Commission and  Geary County Commission, Flint Hills Metropolitan Planning Organization, Wheels of Hope and Geary County Extension to name a few.”

For many Americans, Memorial Day is the start of Summer – barbecues, beaches, and booze – but for those that have served in the Armed Forces, or have known/lost someone who served, today is a day of remembrance.

The Geary County Veteran’s Alliance hosted a Memorial Day ceremony at the C.L. Hoover Opera House this morning, which featured guest speaker Captain Jacob L. Lopez, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.

“This day is very important and I don’t think you get a true idea of the significance of the day until you begin to serve [in the military] and you meet and know people who did give their life for this country,” said Lopez. “As we continue to have our service members in harm’s way, it’s very important that we have every American stop and reflect on the day for those who did pass on and sacrifice for the country.”

Lopez is a veteran of three combat deployments to Iraq and recently returned from a seven month tour in Korea; for him, this day hits close to home. “It seemed just like yesterday to me, and it seemed just like yesterday that soldiers that served with me were killed in action – when I was rehearsing my speech, I didn’t really feel that flood of emotions until I was speaking to veterans that served before me.”

Amongst the many attendees were veterans, family members, and community supporters.

Mary Stahl, spouse of the late William “Bill” Stahl was amongst those in attendance. “I’ve been to everyone of these [ceremonies], and my husband used to come with to these and after he passed away I continued to come. I think it’s very important to honor our veterans.”

W.Stahl was a World War II veteran who fought in the “Battle of the Bulge” and was a prisoner of war. After separating from the military, he attended Washburn University where he went on to become a lawyer in the Junction City Community for over 60 years.

Dale Curry and Robert Jackson,Vietnam veterans, took time today to remember fallen comrades.

“It brings back memories..it still hurts,” said Curry acknowledging that community support in the years since Vietnam has helped the healing process. “We never got any recognition or anything when we came home, but now with the Iraq war and everything they’re doing a lot better.”

Jackson echoed similar thoughts. “It’s important for us to come back and visit and do things like this for those that have gone before us, and the ones that still [fight on the frontlines] for us.”

Jackson said that his hope for today’s service members is that they continue to “do what they’re doing” and remember why they joined the military.

Despite the emotional remembrances of those that gave the ultimate sacrifice, the ceremony was warm with camaraderie and friendship. In the Junction City community specifically, the military is something that connects us all – whether you or a family member has served – we are united in the preservation of freedom in America.

Thank a veteran for their service, and keep our Gold Star Families in your thoughts; today is much more than swimming pools and barbecues.