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Basehor’s Oak Creek Nursery held its annual Fall Festival recently, complete with autumn décor, pumpkins, gorgeous mums and plenty of family fun. The Magnolia View event space at Oak Creek is situated behind the office area and provided the perfect backdrop for attendees and vendors to enjoy the festivities on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.One of the most popular attractions was the barnyard petting zoo. Mary Ann Area of Silver Lake, Kansas, owns the business, and has brought her animals to Oak Creek for the past three years. She enjoys seeing children get up close and personal with her New Zealand rabbits, Nigerian dwarf goats, Juliana mini pigs, chicks, silky chickens and other unusual animals.“The kids particularly love the bunnies and goats. Not many kids today grow up on farms where they can see and handle animals like these, so I really enjoy giving city kids a farm experience like this,” Area said.Nearly a dozen vendors had booths set up offering everything from fall crafts to custom cornhole sets plus permanent jewelry and boutique clothing. The Up From The Coop band provided classic rock music and smoky barbecue smells permeated the air.Basehor resident Courtney Burdette brought her 7-year-old daughter Mackenzie to this year’s event at Oak Creek. Mackenzie attends Glenwood Ridge Elementary School and enjoyed holding the animals from Area’s barnyard.“Oak Creek always has great events like this one and I hadn’t seen the new event space so I wanted to come by and bring my daughter. The space is really beautiful and it is a gorgeous day to be outside,” said Burdette.Oak Creek co-owner Angie Hundley said that the business brought in hay bales, cornstalks, pumpkins and mums to kick off the fall season. She was pleased with the turnout of around 300 people. Most of those products came from local farmers within the Basehor community. An annual Oak Creek Christmas event is being planned for Dec. 10 beginning at 10 a.m. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be available for photos and event plans also call for a mobile coffee and bakery vendor to be on hand for the annual family-friendly holiday event.

The town of Leavenworth and Leavenworth High School are featured in a documentary film based on Ken Zacher, a LHS basketball coach in the 1970s. The title is “Full Court Press: The Ken Zacher Story.” The film will be presented at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 at the Leavenworth High School auditorium. Before coming to Leavenworth, Zacher’s coaching career included his racially charged experiences as the 1971 varsity basketball coach at Nowata High School in Nowata, Oklahoma.Zacher was fired by the school board there for refusing to replace the Black team captain with a white player. The team captain was tasked with escorting a white homecoming queen during the school’s ceremonial event that year. Zacher’s refusal sparked an uprising in the community.“It became pretty difficult,” said Bob Knoll, who coached with Zacher in Nowata. “Crosses were burned in his front yard, windows were broken, his cars had four flat tires. It was pretty vicious.” After his firing, with the help of University of Kansas basketball coach Ted Owens, Zacher became the Leavenworth High School varsity basketball coach in 1972. Knoll soon followed Zacher to Leavenworth. Zacher’s high energy and hardline style of coaching won him loyalty and praise from his dedicated Pioneer players. Zacher took the team to state in his first coaching year. Although they did not win the state championship, they won the sportsmanship award and finished with a 20-3 record that year.Zacher coached the Pioneers from 1972 until 1976, a year he was facing family issues. He also felt the backlash from parents about his stern coaching style. This led to a hearing with the Leavenworth school board to decide his coaching fate. The board narrowly agreed to retain him as varsity basketball coach. However, Zacher succumbed to suicide just before he was to begin his fifth year of coaching the team.The film about Zacher’s life is the brainchild of Dane Warner, a 1981 graduate of Nowata High School, who decided about three years ago that the Zacher story was compelling enough to create a documentary. The movie production company, End of the Road Production, states that its mission is to “bring awareness to mental illness, racial discrimination and suicide prevention.” The film is an award winner in the 72nd Christian Online Film Festival, selected in two categories - documentary and feature film. The film is also an official selection for the Direct Monthly Online Film Festival. Warner will be present at Thursday’s showing of the documentary at Leavenworth High School.Retired Leavenworth High School teacher Lynn Smith, who taught for 37 years at LHS and who also coached with Zacher in the 1970s, recalled working with Zacher.“He was a very stern coach,” Smith said. “He was tough on the kids – and that was for a reason. The kids loved him for it. What he did was in their interest.”Among the Leavenworth High School players Zacher coached were Clinton Johnson and Brad Sanders, both who went on to play at the University of Kansas under coach Ted Owens. One of Nowata’s star basketball stars, Warren Dennis, followed Zacher from Nowata to Leavenworth.

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Basehor’s Gary Hawk Elementary School has an award-winning teacher on their staff. Fourth-grade teacher Alyssa Larson has been selected as the USD 458 Horizon Award winner, which is an award given to exemplary first-year teachers throughout Kansas. Each elementary and secondary school principal within the school district can nominate an eligible staff member, which is followed by a formal application process with essays filled out by nominees. Once all nominees have the opportunity to submit their essays, the school district leadership team selects one teacher to represent USD 458. The Horizon Award Program is sponsored by the Kansas State Department of Education. Larson will now move to the next level with 32 representatives selected from across the state.Currently in her second year of teaching, Larson is a graduate of the University of Kansas. She graduated in May 2023 and began her teaching career with the Basehor-Linwood school district in August of last year. Originally from Lindsborg, Kansas, Larson fell in love with the Kansas City metropolitan area while she was attending KU.“When I heard about some potential job openings, I knew I had to apply in the Basehor-Linwood school district even though I was incredibly nervous for my first job. I did my student teaching for two semesters, one in a combo classroom of fourth- and fifth-graders, and another with first-graders. I could not have asked for a better experience in the classroom, but I ultimately knew fourth grade was my absolute dream,” Larson said.Larson was nominated by Gray Hawk Elementary School Principal Dustin Springer, who said Larson has shown exceptional leadership skills early in her teaching career and sees her as an invaluable asset to the school and community.“I am incredibly proud of Miss Larson, our Horizon Award nominee for USD 458. In just her second year, she meets each of her students where they are in their learning journey with compassion and a heart-centered approach. It’s rare to find a new teacher who so effortlessly combines skill with genuine care for both her students and the community,” Springer said.Larson is now working on the next phase of the award, filling out paperwork and writing additional essays. That information is due in early October and also includes letters of support from co-workers, administration, students and parents. Once all paperwork is received from nominees, a committee will review regional applicants and choose four elementary and secondary representatives in each region for an overall total of 32 winners throughout Kansas. Those winners will be notified in January 2025 with official recognition in February.Saying that she enjoys teaching because every day is different in the best possible way, Larson said she goes into each day with a general idea of what the day’s classroom lesson plans look like, but she also sees each day as an opportunity to make a new connection with a child.“Children are truly amazing and I love how curious their minds are. I’ve always loved school and learning, and each day I leave so fulfilled because I am constantly learning new things from my students, and each day they are learning something from me, whether it is content-related, a social skill or how to be kind and friendly. It is truly my dream job, even on the more challenging days. I’m living my dream of making an impact in the lives of my students,” Larson said.