By Brandy Nance
nance@emporiagazette.com
If you’re looking for something to do over Labor Day weekend, there’s a sprinkling of activities in the area.
The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve will have a quilt show and living history activities over the weekend. The preserve is located two miles north of Strong City on Kansas Highway 177. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, living history interpreters at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve will demonstrate wool spinning, natural fiber dyeing and small loom weaving and present period music. They also will demonstrate 19th-century techniques of Dutch oven and ranch stove cooking, while preparing a meal for the ranch hands.
At 10:30 a.m., an interpretive program on historic cooking will be presented at the cooking area. From noon until 1 p.m., ranch workers will stop for a mid-day meal under the walnut tree by the barn. At 2:30 p.m., a special program, Dyeing on the Prairie, will be presented in the barn with examples of dyed fibers on display.
The preserve’s Prairie Quilt Display will be held during all three days of the holiday weekend. Viewers can view and vote on their favorite quilt from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. At 1 p.m. Monday, the winners will be announced. Quilting demonstrations will be available all three days.
Cottonwood Falls will be packed with activities Labor Day Monday with the first ever Wranglers on the River. The day will carry a Western theme centered around cowboys, ranching and music.
The day-long event will begin at 8 a.m. with biscuits and gravy at the Emma Chase Cafe and end at 5 p.m. with a performance by the Diamond W Wranglers on the Cottonwood River Bridge in Cottonwood Falls.
Activities include covered wagon rides, cowboy trick roping from 1 to 2 p.m., a raptor (hawk and owl) demonstration at 11 a.m., face painting, camel rides, a petting zoo from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with zebra, water buffalo and kangaroo, and balloon animals. At noon, Crossroad band will play on the Cottonwood Falls bridge; at 2 p.m. The Skirts will play.
In addition, food will be available including brats and hot dogs, sno cones, cotton candy, funnel cakes and popcorn. Vendors will line the downtown street of Cottonwood Falls throughout the day and will have items for sale such as jewelry, candles and food. There will be someone who spins on site as well as a blacksmith.
Buttons for the event cost $5 and can be had at the Chase County Chamber of Commerce in downtown Cottonwood Falls and several businesses in Cottonwood Falls and Strong City. Participants are asked to bring their own lawn chair.
Other events include:
• 8 a.m. Saturday, Emporia Farmers Market, Seventh Avenue and Merchant Street. The market will have a breakfast burrito fundraiser in conjunction with the regular market sales.
• “God Inspires” art exhibit, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Emporia Arts Council, 618 Mechanic St.
• The Skirts, 7 p.m., Sunday, at the United Methodist Church in Cottonwood Falls. The Skirts are an all-women bluegrass/folk band.
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