Category: Latest News

Exploration Place’s Drone Light Festival returns starting tonight

September 21, 2023 | By The Active Age

Exploration Place’s second annual Drone Light Festival runs tonight through Saturday. The main event features 300 synchronized drones, choreographed to music in the sky above the Arkansas River. Other activities include a candlelight concert, fire dancers, floating water lanterns, food trucks, full access to the Exploration Place exhibits and dozens of other family-oriented activities. The […]

Senior Expo returns this month: PBS chief welcomes event as part of station makeover

September 1, 2023 | By Joe Stumpe

PBS Kansas chief Victor Hogstrom says there’s a simple reason why the public television station is bringing back the Senior Expo this month. “We knew it was a very popular event,” Hogstrom said. “Our audience is also that audience.” Hogstrom is all about audience engagement, and resurrecting the Expo is just one of many moves […]

Melon man makes many mouths happy

| By Joe Stumpe

When Kenneth Simons says he’s been raising watermelons all his life, he’s only exaggerating slightly. He started helping his dad raise them when he was 5 years old, or 85 years ago. “All I could do was walk around and be under his feet,” Simons, of Haysville, recalled. Within a few years, he was driving […]

Hoarding a ‘generational’ issue for some

| By Rose Conlon; KMUW

Before Beck Bright-Samarzia gets down to work, she suits up: back brace, gloves, N-95 mask. Inching through one of her clients’ living rooms, between stacks of boxes and bins, she explains she used to wear an industrial-grade mask here — before they got the dust under control. “It might look like not a lot has […]

Local Film wraps filming despite strike, blazing temps

| By Joe Stumpe

Like the protagonists in his current film project, Ken Spurgeon faced some challenges while making “Sod and Stubble” this summer. First came the strike by the actor’s union, SAG-AFTRA. Then came the blistering heat. After shutting down for a few days, Spurgeon received a waiver from the union that allowed him to resume filming, as […]

Square dance classes, Life Enrichment classes and more to do in September

| By The Active Age

Square dancing classes back The Village Steppers club is offering lessons for the next several months in addition to holding its regular dances. Starting Sept. 19 and continuing into early December, the lessons will be held every Tuesday and Thursday from 7-8:30 p.m. in the Oaklawn Elementary school, 5000 S. Clifton. The lessons cost a […]

Savvy Senior: Best Medical systems you don’t have to wear

| By Jim Miller

Dear Savvy Senior, What can you tell me about green funeral options? At age 80, I would like to preplan my funeral and make it as natural as possible. Old Environmentalist Dear Environmentalist, Great question! Green funeral options are becoming increasingly popular in the United States as more and more Americans are looking for environmentally […]

Langel family gift benefits McCormick School Museum

| By The Active Age

The McCormick School Museum has received a donation that will allow it to move forward on several key projects, including a security system, masonry repair, accessibility, an audio-visual system and a sign to advertise the museum. In a news release, the museum said it had received “a generous donation from the Langel family, who became […]

This rider lacked much horse sense

| By Ted Blankenship

For the most part, I believe horses are noble animals, and I’m sure they had a lot to do with making this country what it is today. Yet, my experience riding them has not always been satisfactory. My first attempt came when I was about eight years old. A neighbor had a sorrel saddle horse […]

Naan a versatile Indian bread

| By The Active Age

Congratulations to Annette Van Blaricum of Wichita, winner of a $25 gift certificate to The Spice Merchant for submitting this international recipe. From 2010-2012, Van Blaricum tutored two youngsters from India whose parents managed a hotel in Pratt. She found this recipe for the Indian bread known as naan on the internet and made it […]

September quiz: Colorful songs

| By Nancy Wheeler

Here’s one for music lovers. Name the song titles or colors associated with famous songs using these clues. The answers appear on page 14. 1. Wizard of Oz fans should be familiar with the name of the seventh studio album by English singer and composer Elton John, first released in October 1973? 2. What slow […]

September Theatre

| By Diana Morton

Crown Uptown Theatre, 3207 E Douglas Ave. Dreamgirls. Inspired by Motown and R&B legends of the 1960s-70s, Dreamgirls follows the rising stardom of the Dreamettes, an all-girl singing trio from Chicago. 8 pm Fri, Sat; 2 pm Sun, Aug 25-Sept 10. Tickets $30-$50. 316-612-7696 Kechi Playhouse, 100 E. Kechi Road, Slow Night. Set in the […]

Medicare counseling available through SHICK

| By Melissa Reeves Schrag

Are you new to Medicare and want to better understand the program? Do you have questions about eligibility, signing up, Original Medicare Parts A and B, Medigap (supplement insurance), Part D, Medicare Advantage Plans or how to get help paying for Medicare costs? The Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansas (SHICK) Assistance Program can help. […]

‘Unwinding’ of Medicaid could put your coverage at risk

| By Monica Cissell

In Kansas and across the nation, Medicaid beneficiaries are at risk for losing their Medicaid coverage and critical services. Safeguards were put in place to ensure that individuals on Medicaid would not lose their coverage during the pandemic. Since the Public Health Emergency ended on May 11, 2023, all states are resuming the regular renewal […]

Donate for chance to win Botanica family membership

| By The Active Age

Donate at least $50 to The Active Age, and you could win a family membership to Botanica. The Active Age will hold a drawing for a family membership each month for the next six months from among people on our “Honor Roll” list of donors. This month’s winner is Nancy Deyoe. . Donations may be […]

A purist on passion and purple jelly

| By Niki Lewis Shepherd

During the last week in August, I begin to look for them. Reason tells me I am foolish — it’s the hottest time of the year — and so much effort for ten small jars. Economically unsound. Yet, each year I pick wild grapes for jellymaking. After a week of watching the clusters swell through […]

Digital Active Age offered

| By The Active Age

Digital Active Age offered The Active Age is now available in a digital edition that allows you to flip through pages and increase the size of the print. It is emailed to subscribers on or before the first of each month. To sign up for it, contact joe@theactiveage.com.

Dancers don’t want music to stop

| By Joe Stumpe

“Take the ribbon from your hair.” As the Reno County country band eases into “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” Betty and Jack Sawyer rise and take their position at one end of the basketball court in the Orchard Park Recreation Center, slowly swaying to the music. At 94, Jack can’t hear or see […]

Win tickets to Sweden’s ‘Queen of Swing’

August 29, 2023 | By The Active Age

The Active Age and Crown Uptown Theatre are giving away four pairs of tickets to see Gunhild Carling, a Swedish performer who sings, dances, juggles and plays 11 musical instruments — including three trumpets at once on one song. Backed by a big band, Carling specializes in the classic jazz of 1920s era New Orleans, […]

How one small-town nursing home lost battle to stay open

July 31, 2023 | By Joe Stumpe

MOUNT HOPE — As the coronavirus pandemic decimated many nursing homes in 2020, Mary Schmidt felt pretty good about the situation at the Mount Hope Nursing Center. “We didn’t get COVID until November (of that year),” Schmidt, chair of the nonprofit community group that owns the center, remembered last month. “Staff and everybody did a […]

Senior psych, health care expands here

| By Joe Stumpe

In her job running the Catholic Care Center, Cindy LaFleur knows it hasn’t always been possible to get immediate psychiatric care for residents needing it. Wichita’s only geriatric psychiatric unit, located in Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph on Harry Street, sometimes has a waiting list, which means an elderly person might be admitted to the […]

Bunny group hopping — er, hoping — to spread the love

| By Joe Stumpe

Being cute and fluffy makes rabbits a natural as therapy animals, Joyce Gedraitis says. Unfortunately, those same traits don’t stop some people from tiring of them — or their rather prodigious offspring — as pets. Gedraitis, founder of a nonprofit called Bunny TNT (for training, nurturing and therapy), has been trying since 2006 to save […]

These Kansas towns didn’t stand a ghost of chance

| By The Active Age

With some 6,000 ghost towns in Kansas to choose from, it’s no wonder that the makers of a 2022 documentary on the state’s faded villages and towns have now produced a second episode. “Kansas Ghost Towns, Part 2,” will air on PBS Kansas at 7 p.m. Aug. 17 and again at the same time on […]

Kenya natives make connection with bread

| By Amy Geiszler-Jones

Breaking bread together symbolizes sharing and the forging of personal connections. But it was an afternoon of baking bread together that connected two natives of Kenya with members of the Bread Club of Wichita. David and Lillian Kapten, who came to the United States as college students, were the featured presenters at a recent gathering […]

Pop-up newsroom concept comes to library

| By The Active Age

The Wichita Journalism Collaborative has launched a pop-up newsroom called News Connect at the Advanced Learning Center Library. The collaborative, which includes The Active Age and 10 other media outlets and community partners, hopes News Connect will give members of the public an opportunity to interact with local journalists. In that way, they can contribute […]