Patee surprised in Ellis with state ‘We-Kan’ award

Marci Penner, Kansas Sampler Foundation, surprises Dena Patee, Ellis Alliance Director, with the 2015 We Kan award. — Marci Penner, Kansas Sampler Foundation, surprised Dena Patee, Ellis Alliance Director, with the 2015 We Kan award Monday. (Photos courtesy Kansas Sampler Foundation)

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

ELLIS — “Only in a small town can you make a phone call and 14 people and 1 bulldog show up 12 minutes later for a ‘flash mob award ceremony.'”

Mari Penner and WenDee LaPlant, executive director and assistant director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation, were on the road last Monday–driving west on I-70 in their brightly colored ERV-Explorer Researcher Voyage–and made a phone call to clerk Margie Mickelson in the Ellis city office.

“We were 12 miles east of Ellis and asked Margie if she could put out the word to have residents gather within 15 minutes at Dena Patee’s office for a surprise award presentation,” Penner said.

Penner hides the award behind her back as she follows Ellis residents into the Ellis Alliance office. — Penner hides Patee’s award behind her back as she follows Ellis residents into the Ellis Alliance office.

Unknown to Patee, she had been selected for one of ten 2015 “We Kan” awards from the Kansas Sampler Foundation, which is based in Inman.

The mission of KSF is to preserve, sustain, and grow rural culture by educating Kansans about Kansas and by networking and supporting rural communities.

Patee is director of the Ellis Alliance, which coordinates economic development and chamber of commerce activities in the town.

“Dena has had so much passion for Ellis for many years,” Penner said, “which we see by our own observation and things we hear from other people. She’s doing everything out there for Ellis and it was time she be noticed and appreciated for that.”

Penner and LaPlant, surrounded by the 14 Ellis residents–including Mayor Dave McDaniel–presented Patee with the 2015 We Kan award for “Doing Everything, All Out.”

“There were a few red eyes,” Penner said. “It was really neat.”

The surprised Patee was in her office on Washington Avenue, along with her bull dog Junior, recuperating from Saturday’s Riverfest, while she counted proceeds from the annual community event and wrapped up her report.

patee dena and marci — Penner told Patee she’s “doing everything out there for Ellis and it was time you be noticed and appreciated for that.”

“Today was a great day!,” Patee wrote on her Facebook page. “Thank you to all those that came to support me and who work with me in our great little town!”

Most of the 2015 We Kan awards, made by Elk Falls (KS) Pottery, had already been presented to the recipients during the annual Kansas Sampler Festival, held May 6 and 7 this year in Wamego.

Penner and LaPlant handed out the remaining two awards in person as they journeyed west in ERV this week to Sherman, Thomas and Sheridan counties.

They were gathering research for an update to the 2005 “The Kansas Guidebook for Explorers,” which features every incorporated city in Kansas–all 626–and includes observations of the key elements in sustaining communities.