Sesquicentennial ideas and possibilities are listed below:
- VFW – Planning activities on both Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day (weekend before)
- Lincoln County Historical Society/Museum
- Revamped/enhanced homestead exhibit
- Sunday programs (once a month) on a variety of topics
- Website will have virtual tour of historic sites
- New signage at historic sites around the county with QR codes that connect to the information on the website
- LCEDF
- Live Lincoln County magazine featuring 150th anniversary
- Historic designations of downtown Lincoln and Sylvan Grove
- Chamber – January ‘What’s Up Luncheon’
- Post Rock Festival – Theme will be 150th Anniversary
- Methodist Church – The Lincoln church will also be celebrating their 150th Anniversary
- Vesper Community Center
- Farmers Day, February 8, 2020
- Veteran’s appreciation March 28th
- One ‘official’ celebration on (or near) the actual date of the anniversary. This would be sometime around October 6, 2020. (Jyll Phillips has done some additional research and October 6 is the date the first board, appointed by the governor, divided the land into townships.)
Marketing/Social Media ideas:
- 150th logo all organizations can use on their letterhead, flyers, etc.
- Special hashtag for social media
- Add a big 150th logo to all signs entering into the county/communities
- Special calendar of events of all the 150th happenings throughout the year
- Special page on the Live Lincoln County website
- 150th buttons, shirts, etc.
- Businesses could pick a day to have a discount/sale and anyone who wears their button into the store that day gets the discount
- Historical Twitter feed – i.e. tweeting actual lines from old newspapers, tweets from diaries/letters of past citizens, see this website for examples: http://mentalfloss.com/article/57845/15-twitter-accounts-history-buffs
- Snapchat filter
Ideas brainstormed for possible special events/activities:
- Citywide/countywide spruce up projects
- “Big Penny” project (similar to the World Largest Czech Egg in Wilson, create the world’s largest Lincoln penny (perhaps even covered in real pennies: https://www.google.com/search?q=penny+floor&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwijgJLCjqnkAhVDA6wKHS7CDGAQ7AkoAXoECAsQCw&biw=1442&bih=908)
- Have a slot for pennies, like a wishing well, that can be opened up in X years
- Cemetery tour (in October)
- Search for the county’s “Oldest”
- Oldest business (with the same name, in the same family, etc.)
- Oldest person
- Oldest building
- Parade Ideas – 150 tractors, 150 wheat truck, 150 horses, etc
- School Ideas
- Music program
- Coloring contest
- Kids tour historic sites
- Time capsule – open one that already exists and/or create a new one
- “Do you recognize this?” photo contest – old houses, bridges, schools, etc.
- Recreate historical events
- Baseball tournament with ‘town’ teams – follow old rules, ice cream social afterwards
- Horse dive
- Clown Band (have old photo from Sylvan Grove Clown Band)
- Corn structure at the county fair
- Do something like Lindsborg’s Living Dala horse – https://www-1.kansas.com/entertainment/article232332522.html
- Poster contest
- Original KS state flag exhibit – made by Hazel Avery
- Recognizing our ghost towns
- Caricatures of business owners drawn on their storefront windows (Lincoln did this when celebrating the 100th anniversary)
- Geocaching/Scavenger Hunt (similar to Eagle Communication’s Golden Egg Hunt)
- Witching for water/graves/etc.
- Concert at bandshell
- Tour ideas and/or create trail map for:
- ATV tour of historic sites
- Auto trail
- Poker run
- Bike trails
- Create historical timeline
- Sporting events
- Softball tournament
- Kickball tournament
- Baseball tournament (see above)
- 150th Anniversary Quilt – auctioned off as a fundraiser or donated to the museum – https://www.thereporteronline.com/news/quilt-helps-celebrate-th-anniversary-of-st-michael-s-lutheran/article_6d2a2515-58ee-5641-8a48-e66b58792703.html
Possible Topics to explore:
- History of each community
- Beverly – Colorado Boys, Fire of 1927, Schools
- Shady Bend – Discovery of Mystery Stone in 1913
- Westfall – Commerce, Suelter Tire Service
- Barnard – Early dreams of railroad, commerce, Betty’s Place
- Lincoln – County seat fight (Abram to Lincoln), many more that could be listed
- Sylvan Grove – Robbery, railroad
- Native American History
- WPA era
- Railroads
- Schools
- Black settlements in the county
Possible News Stories to explore:
- Changes in agricultural practices in the area since 1870
- Resources might be the county extension agent, area farmers, the historical museum, the K-State or Ft. Hays State Extension programs
- Changes in energy production over the last 150 years
- Cow chips
- Coal mines near Denmark
- The natural gas pipeline which came through the county around 1925
- Electricity and the creation of the Rural Electric Cooperative
- Wind farms
- Sesquicentennial Farms (150) – Kansas Farm Bureau also annually recognizes Century Farms (100) that have been in the same family, and deadline to apply for this year is May, 15, 2020. Gather up a list of any Sesquicentennial or Century Farms in Lincoln County.
Possible Holidays/Connections to explore:
- Kansas Day -January 29 – celebrate the life of Hazel Avery who lived in Lincoln, owned a successful millinery shop there, and was the designer of the Kansas State Flag.
- Lincoln’s birthday or President’s Day
- Memorial Day
- D-Day – June 6 –https://cindyentriken.com
- Independence Day – celebrate the construction of the Lincoln city park and the Boy Scout cabin by the WPA.
- Purple Heart Day – August 7 – Lincoln County veterans who received a Purple Heart
- Women’s Equality Day – August 26 – celebrate the life and work of Dr. Cole and her Sanitarium. If you include her Sanitarium, Lincoln has had at least three hospitals -Dr. Cole’s, Dr. Malcolm Newlan’s hospital which I believe still stands and is a private home, and the current hospital which has been expanded over the years.
- National POW/MIA Recognition Day — September 18 — Any Lincoln County veterans POWs or MIA during WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, more recent wars
- Veteran’s Day – November 11 – names of every county resident who served in every war.
- Pearl Harbor Day – December 7 – celebrate the heroism of Donald K. Ross who was awarded the Medal of Honor https://cindyentriken.com/2014/12/pearl-harbor-two-days-later/
- Various schools and colleges in Lincoln County
- Use old postcards to show how business building appearances have changed over the years
- Celebrate the accomplishments of Lincoln County citizens since 1870 (you’d have to do some research to decide which citizens to include)
- Milestones in the growth and development of Lincoln County since 1870
- Another idea is asking residents for old photos that show how some of the houses looked in the past.
- Major events in Lincoln County since 1870 (old newspapers would give you a place to look, or perhaps the Kansas State Historical Society or the Lincoln County Historical Society)
- Presentations/displays of the ghost towns of Lincoln County
- Arrange tours of the county sites which are on the National and State Registers of Historic Places – Kansas Historical Society.
