By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
On the map: Wilson, Kansas Distance from Hays: 50 miles Drive time: 48 minutes
On my travels across Kansas, I have been to the Irish Festival in Chapman, the Scottish Festival in McPherson, Midsummer’s Festival (Swedish) in Lindsborg and, of course, Octoberfest in Hays.
My latest international cultural excursion without leaving the state of Kansas was to the Wilson After Harvest Czech Festival.
Wilson is not shy about promoting its Czech heritage. In that vein, it commissioned a 20-foot-tall Czech egg, which stands in the center of town.
Christine Couch Slechta was this year’s Czech Festival grand marshal. An art teacher, Slechta was the artist who designed the giant 7,000-pound fiberglass Czech egg.
Although she does not have any Czech heritage, she is known for her Czech egg art. Slechta, a long-time Wilson resident, learned the art from a Czech descendant who lived in Wilson. She gave me the lowdown on the eggs.
The eggs were originally given by young ladies to young gentlemen in Czechoslovakia during the Easter season. Symbols on the eggs indicated strength and positive outlook for the future. Slechta paints chicken, goose and ostrich eggs in both traditional Czech patterns and modern designs. The designs are painted first, and then the egg is punctured to empty the contents.
Czech immigrants settled in the Wilson area in 1874. Last weekend, the community celebrated its annual Czech Festival.
If you have a fine ear for polka, this definitely where you want to be. Young ladies also wear traditional dress to practice Czech folk dances.
I don’t think this is Czech at all, but one of the featured events at the Czech Festival is toilet bowl races. Toilet bowls are mounted on old push lawnmower frames. One person rides, and the other person “drives” through an obstacle course. I have to give the people of Wilson points for creativity. It was a spectacle, but a bit anticlimactic. Even souped-up toilet bowls don’t go too fast.
If you are in Wilson for Czech Festival or during any other time of the year, there are a couple of foods you need to know about. One is the kolache. This is a sweet bread roll with a topping of fruit preserves. The other are case noodles. I was told this dish varies, depending how Czech you are. They are dough triangles containing cottage cheese and onion. They are usually boiled. Some serve them almost like a soup.
So I sampled both of these at Made from Scratch diner. They had a buffet and abbreviated menu due to all the visitors for Czech Fest, but look for a regular diner menu of stick-to-your ribs homestyle cooking, which includes gigantic bierocks and scrumptious pie. Don’t forget the homemade ice cream.
Enjoy the atmosphere of a 1950s soda fountain at Grandma’s Soda Shop and Diner, 2524 E. Owens, where you also can order kolaches and bierocks.
The Historic Midland Railroad Hotel, 414 26th St., offers steaks, sandwiches and pasta in the downstairs Sample Room, so named because the hotel was a popular stop on the Union Pacific route from Kansas City to Denver and businessman used the hotel to show off their wares.
The Drummer’s dining hall on the ground floor is available as an events venue. The hotel also offers special dinner events. Check their website for details.
The limestone three-story hotel was built in 1899 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The hotel underwent an extensive $3.2 million renovation and reopened in 2003 with an interior reminiscent of its 1920s glamor. Today, the hotel has 28 rooms decorated with mission-style furniture, but with modern amenities like satellite TV.
Film buffs may recognize the building as a backdrop in the 1973 film “Paper Moon,” starring Ryan O’Neal and daughter Tatum.
Also on the National Register of Historic Places is the town’s circular stone jail. The circular limestone structure was built as a water tower in 1907. It was used as a jail until 1963 to hold prisoners until they could he transported to the county jail.
Unfortunately, one of the iconic Wilson landmarks, the limestone Wilson Opera House, built in 1901, burned in 2009. You can still see the shell of the building on Old U.S. 40 just down the street from the giant Czech egg. The opera house used to serve as the community’s historical museum, the Museum of Memories. The community hopes to resurrect the opera house by using the old stone to create a new pavilion.
Almost all of the historical items in the former museum were lost to fire or water damage. After almost 10 years, a new museum, the Wilson Heritage Museum, has opened in the former Wilson World newspaper office, 411 24th St.
The museum has been open for less than a year, and had many visitors during the Czech Festival this weekend. The museum contains items from Wilson schools, business, veterans and churches. In addition, the museum has a small collection of items commemorating the community’s Czech heritage, including dolls in traditional dress and Czech glass. In a tribute to the fire, the museum has on display a piece of molten debris that was salvaged from the opera house fire.
Also of note are two military monuments in the community. The Wilson Cemetery at 1916 Second St. features a granite statue of Civil War Union soldier, and a metal lion’s head that once filled horse troughs. In 1919, the community dedicated the World War I monument in Legion Park that features a U.S. infantry soldier.
Kansas Originals is not in Wilson, but just north of Interstate 70 at the Wilson exit. The store is run by the Post Rock Opportunities Foundation, a nonprofit corporation. Its mission is to provide marketplaces for the work of Kansas artists, craftsmen and food producers and to promote tourism, according to its website.
This is more than a tourist trap. It houses a variety of handmade products, such as jewelry, blown glass and wood products. You can also pick from a variety of Kansas-made food products, like popcorn, salsa and sauerkraut. A bookworm, I always make a quick perusal of the book section, which features Kansas authors and topics. The store carries fiction, non-fiction, guidebooks and children’s books.
We can’t talk about Wilson without talking about the 9,000-acre Wilson Lake. The Wilson I-70 exit will take you to the east end of Wilson State Park and is the best access to the dam. You can also access the Minooka Park section of the lake via I-70 exit 199 Dorrance and the Wilson Wildlife Area via exit 193, Bunker Hill.
You will need a state park pass to legally enter the state park. You can buy a year-long State Parks Passport for $15.50 when you pay your annual tags and taxes for your vehicle. You can also self-pay day passes or buy yearly passes for slightly more at a park office. The annual passes are good for any state park.
With its picturesque cliffs, Wilson is a popular spot with kayakers. There are plenty of places along the shoreline to put in, and the water is fairly clear for a Kansas body of water.
However, you do not have to have a boat to enjoy Wilson, the state park is internationally known for its 25-mile Switchgrass Bike Trail, which winds throughout the park and will take you through native grasses and wildflowers and near impressive rock features. There are shorter loops for those who aren’t up to riding the whole trial. You can hike and run sections of the trail, but it is recommended you go counterclockwise to bikers to avoid crashes.
The trail head is at Switchgrass campground on South Shore Drive west of the Hell Creek Bridge. I picked up a Wilson Lake guide, printed by the Wilson Lake Area Association at Kansas Originals at the Wilson exit, which contains a state park map.
Wilson also offers both natural and paved hiking trails. The Cedar Trail in the Otoe area is a one-mile paved loop.
The second-annual Lovegrass Music Festival will be Aug. 10-12 at Lovegrass campground at Wilson Lake. It will feature country, bluegrass and folk music. For more information, contact Aimee Riegle at [email protected].
I usually shoot pictures rather than creatures; however, in addition to being a good locale for white bass and striped bass, the state park offers 8,069-acres of public hunting at Wilson.
If you travel to Wilson Lake dam via K-232, you will be on the Post Rock Scenic Byway, giving you beautiful views of the Kansas short-grass prairie and worth an afternoon drive in and of itself.
If you reach the dam, you will be fairly close to Lucas via Kansas Highway 232. Lucas, north on K-232, is worth a stop as well, but that adventure will be for an upcoming Day Trippin’. If you do decide to take the byway north to Lucas, look for faces carved into the region’s iconic post rock fence posts thanks to artist Fred Whitman.
Honestly, my next road trip is still up in the air, but I will definitely see you on the road soon!
Other links to check out while you are planning your trip:
Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce