A dinner White would have been proud of
Tom Eblen
Saturday, May 12, 2007
A HUNDRED YEARS ago, a prized dinner invitation put local folks alongside the famous for dinner and discussion at the home of William Allen White, the Emporia newspaper editor who was known nationally for his trenchant commentary.
Dinner might have been an excuse, but what an excuse. It might feature aged Kansas steaks or basket after basket of fried chicken with plenty of home-grown victuals on the side.
Those more-than-ample dinners were only the first course of those evenings, though. White and his famous guests, joined by a few lucky local folks, stayed at the dinner table afterward and talked about the great events of the day. White might have thought the term salon too highfalutin, but that’s exactly what it was, a meeting of distinguished guests in a celebrity’s home.
Fast-forward a century. William Allen White is long gone, but his wonderful, old Red Rocks home is now a Kansas State Historic Site, under state ownership but with the vital involvement of people who think that William Allen White’s memory merits better understanding of what he meant to Kansans and to the United States in the first half of the 20th Century.
So the William Allen White Community Partnership borrowed the idea and held its first 21st-century salon on April 29. It was, of course, a fundraiser. Historic sites cost plenty of money, and the partnership must generate it. Beef tenderloin and asparagus, prepared and served by volunteers, highlighted a meal that could have been served in William Allen White’s time. And the 15 well-fed visitors were anything but shy in questioning former governor Mike Hayden, now Kansas Secretary of Wildlife and Parks.
What was resolved? Not a thing. Salons are for discussion, for expanding one’s understanding. A couple of visiting Kansas newspaper editors asked pertinent questions, and plenty of Emporians weighed in as well. Hayden, extremely knowledgeable about all things Kansas, spent most of his time reviewing the problems of outmigration, water and alternative energy sources.
Unfortunately, the limitations of the William Allen White house made it impossible to hold the dinner in the house. But Emporians Nick and Jan Laurent opened their home and provided a modern kitchen to boot.
And the visitors went home with full stomachs and expanded minds ... a pleasant way to spend an evening.
F Tom Eblen is a member of the William Allen White Community Partnership and the Kansas Press Association.