National Dump the Pump Day – a day meant to encourage people to ride public transportation and save money –  is Thursday, June 15th.

Locally, all services offered by the Flint Hills aTa Bus will be FREE on Thursday, June 15th.

Anne Smith, Flint Hills aTa Bus Director said that utilizing public transportation is not only a way to be friendlier to the environment by having less vehicles on the roadway, it can also help you save money.

“[Public transportation] is more beneficial to people economically than to try to maintain a car, especially as people start to get older and they don’t need the car everyday like when they were younger, but they still need to get around,” said Smith. “There can be a real benefit to them to start using public transportation.”

Smith noted the environmental benefits to public transportation. “Fewer vehicles on the road means there’s a smaller carbon footprint to the community.”

According to the American Public Transportation Association, for every $1 invested in public transportation, there is $4 in economic returns.

“In Junction City we are able to track our demand response riders and 52 percent of them use the service to get to work; so if you can get to work, then you have a paycheck and you are buying goods and services in the community,” said Smith. “Often times transportation is a barrier to maintaining employment.”

In Geary County, the aTa Bus services have filled a very large need in the community. Smith said that the Dump the Pump Day is celebrated every Summer to “raise awareness about the economic and environmental benefit of utilizing public transportation.”

For more information call 537-6345 or visit flinthillsatabus.com.

Thousands of people from across the state and the region attended the Symphony in the Flint Hills event in Geary County last weekend.

Michele Stimatze, Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) Director, visited the KJCK studios Wednesday morning where she noted that Symphony in the Flint Hills was a great start to a busy summer.

“The Symphony is just fantastic, a lot of people really enjoy the event,” said Stimatze. “Over 7000 people attended the event, we had over 600 volunteers out there working; all sales that were done at Deer Horn Ranch, the sales tax stayed in Geary County.”

The Deer Horn Ranch was the site of the Symphony in the Flint Hills. Stimatze also noted that all local hotels were sold out for the major event.

The next big event to draw tourism will be the annual Sundown Salute Fourth of July celebrations. This year they are slated for Friday, June 30th through Tuesday, July 4th.

“We have the Babe Ruth Midwest Plains Regional Tournament that starts July 21st and runs through the 30th, so we’ll have a lot of families in the community spending the night to watch their kids play baseball,” said Stimatze.

Stimatze also noted that the Geary County Free Fair will begin on July 24th and continue through July 27th, adding another boost in recreation and visitors to the community.

Highlighting the Summer events for the CVB are the events at Milford Lake on August 12th.

“August 12th is Float Your Boat, and we’re excited; we’d love to have people come out and build those boats out of cardboard and duct tape,” said Stimatze. “There also is a 5K fun run with walk and a bicycle race, so it’s a lot of exciting things going on.”

There will also be a rededication ribbon cutting ceremony for the 50th anniversary of Milford Lake.

For more information on Float Your Boat, or any of the other events this summer visit: https://www.junctioncity.org/.

Dickinson County Fire Department 1 (DKFD1) was called to assist the Chapman Fire Department (CFD) just before 5:00 am Wednesday morning for the report of a structure fire.

Crews responded to a residence at 131 E. 3rd Street in Chapman. Upon arrival crews observed heavy fire coming from the residence.

The CFD began work to extinguish the fire from the exterior and DKFD1 assisted with an interior attack.

Paul Froelich, DKFD1 Chief confirmed to JC Post that the home was occupied by Wayne and Lorene Brumbalow who were able to escape without injury.

Froelich reported that the home is considered a total loss and the American Red Cross has been called to assist the family.