The traditional Chapman Labor Day parade starts at 2 p.m. on Monday. Participants should assemble at the Beemer Ball Complex and floats will be judged at 1:15 p.m.

City Administrator John Dudte says many of those who bring their cars into Chapman for the Labor Day celebration’s car show will have those vehicles in the parade. “Of course all the traditional activities of a parade. Bring the little ones, there’ll be lots of candy.”

The parade travels down Fifth Street through the center of Chapman.  Some have said over the years it never rains on Labor Day in that Dickinson County community. The weather forecast for Monday calls for sunny skies and a high temperature of 89-degrees with no rain is in the forecast.

The celebration activities in Chapman on Monday include the Steve Miller Memorial 5K Run / Walk at the Chapman Middle School track. The registration fee is $25. You can register on-site at the track. The run / walk begins at 8 a.m. and there will be a free kids run at 9 a.m.

There will be pancakes and sausages at the American Legion at 6:30 a.m., the C/77 Car show in the high school parking lot from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m., Touch a Truck at the District Gym lot from 8 a.m. to noon and Art / Craft and Food Vendors will be downtown from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Antique Tractor Show will be held south of the high school at 9 a.m., the Quilt Show at the Methodist Church from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Kids Activities in Sheeran Park from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Toy Show in the high school multi-purpose room from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the American Legion will operate a Beer Garden in Sheeran Park from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

There will also be the Smokey Hill Liquor Beer Garden from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. with food and live music. All proceeds will BE donated to the Wounded Warriors and Infinite Hero.

There will be a Hamburger Feed at the American Legion from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Barn Quilt Self-Guided walking and driving tours.

Junction City Commissioner Phyllis Fitzgerald has led an effort to spruce up the downtown area with hanging flower pots. Now some new flower pots are being added at the street level.

Eight flower pots have been located on North Washington Street on the corners between 10th Street and 7th Street . They have been placed in locations where trees existed in the past but had to be removed. Fitzgerald said the funding for the project came from downtown businesses, private citizens and friends from partnering neighboring communities.

The Phil Weishaar Memorial BBQ Cook-off will be on the schedule on this opening day of the Chapman Labor Day celebration. The cook-off is named after the former longtime teacher, coach and later mayor of Chapman.

City Administrator John Dudte said Weishaar was a pillar in the community. “Spent his life serving the community in many different ways. ” Dudte noted when he arrived in Chapman, Weishaar was one of the first people to visit him. “A great legacy in Chapman. We’re just proud to just do something that honors him. Phil loved BBQ, he loved judging BBQ contests so we wanted to do something that tried to commemorate all the service that he provided through teaching and through coaching.”

Dudte added that through the tornado period Weishaar did all he could “to keep Chapman standing up. ” He worked hard to help the city recover from the EF-3 tornado that hit Chapman on June 11, 2008.  Weishaar passed away in April of this year after a battle with colon cancer.

To register for the BBQ call Austin Murphy at 785-223-7266.

The rest of the Saturday activities include a Co-Ed Slow Pitch Softball Tournament beginning at 10 a.m. at the Beemer Ball Complex, a street dance downtown from 7 – 11 p.m. and the American Legion Beer Garden will be open in Sheeran Park from noon until 10 p.m.

Other activities will range from a fireworks show at 8:30 p.m. Sunday to the annual Lions Club Labor Day parade at 2 p.m. Monday.

The dirt work for the new Junction City High School project is about 95 percent finished. That’s the report this week from the Chief Operations Officer for USD 475 David Wild.

Wild stated there are three utility crews on-site working on storm sewers and the water loop that will go around the facility and offer the necessary fire protection. “Got steel scheduled to start arriving around mid-September and of course concrete footings will start shortly thereafter. They’ll start in the main auditorium area as well as the mechanical rooms, and then start working east to west.” Some paving work will also begin so staging of materials and equipment can begin to allow the beginning of vertical construction.

Wild said now you see a lot of flat land. “You see the building pad. It’s become very distinct out there but the vertical construction is what I think is what everybody’s waiting to see, when they can actually see something happening. Much of what’s happened to this point is either at or below grade.

Wild expects to see walls begin to go up in the October time frame. “I think that’ll be the exciting part.”

The goal is to have the high school finished and in use by August of 2021.

The North Central-Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging will have a Listening Session on Aging and Health Issues for Rural Kansans during the annual Sunflower Fair in Salina. It is scheduled on Sept. 17 at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the 17th.

The Sunflower Fair is a day of information and fun for Kansans, but especially for older Kansans, people living with disabilities and caregivers.

Registration is $20 before Sept. 10 and $25 after that date. The cost does cover a banquet lunch. To register in advance call the Area Agency on Aging at 800-432-2703. You can also go to www.ncfhaaa.com or sunflowerfairks.com. They may also be mailed to the Area Agency on Aging at 401 Houston St., Manhattan, KS 66502.

The Listening Session on Aging and Health Issues in Rural Kansas is the event’s 3 p.m. closing session.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Kansans to express what’s right about living and growing older in our state and also a forum to express concerns and hopes about services and health care,” said Julie Govert Walter, Executive Director of the Area Agency on Aging.

Lacey Boven, Region VII Administrator with the Administration for Community Living in Washington D.C. will facilitate the session. She serves as ACL’s official liaison with the National Rural Advisory Council.

Many people from Geary County over the years have attended the Sunflower Fair.