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The Leavenworth City Commission has hired a new city manager. Scott Peterson is scheduled to step into that role Nov. 4. Peterson currently works as… Login to continue reading Login…

JET Produce & Meats was recently named the recipient of a Resiliency and Foods Infrastructure Grant to expand its facilities, including a commercial kitchen and a larger farm store. The grant will provide $388,000, about half the cost of the planned expansion.The farm, located at 26627 Tonganoxie Dr., is a third-generation farm that not only is a friendly open space for consumers to explore but also the location of the farm’s store where consumers can purchase the farm’s products directly. The farm is also a familiar presence at local farmers markets each week.The Thomas family operation kept the community supplied with farm-fresh foods when there were food supply chain issues during the pandemic. The farm attracted a personal visit from Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, who enjoyed a tour of the farm, then signed a proclamation declaring March 2023 as “Kansas Agricultural Month.” An interactive animal area was added to the farm last spring for the farm’s spring open house. Thomas applied for the grant early this year after creating the plans for the expansion.“The state had about $6 million to work with from the USDA,” Thomas said. “Their goal was to fund equipment and infrastructure to help the middle of the food supply chain. A lot of the other programs funded by the state have been focused on either the production or the retail. So, this grant is for everything in the middle.”The grant will pay for about one-half of the cost of Thomas’ planned expansion. The “middle’ in food supply jargon is “everything between farm production and selling in stores.” To address this, Thomas is making room for more local producers and products.“This project is focused on the middle of the (food) supply system,” Thomas said. “On our own dollar, we’re going to be expanding our storefront. We’re going to triple or quadruple the size of our existing store. That will allow us to carry more 'made in Kansas' products. There’s a Kansas trademark program called 'From the Land of Kansas.' We’ll partner with them. We’re going to partner with more of the businesses to become an official 'From the Land of Kansas' retail store. They currently have one in Salina and in Colby. This would put one on the east end of the state. And of course, since we’re close to the state line, we’re big supporters of our Missouri friends as well. These are folks that are just a couple counties into Missouri so they’re our neighbors, too.”Thomas plans to break ground on the project by mid-October, after securing the additional needed funding. The expansion is exciting not only for Thomas but for the other local food suppliers and consumers who will enjoy access to more products.“What we’re wanting to do with it is build a new warehouse and aggregation facility that’s got cold storage and climate-controlled warehousing and a commercial kitchen,” Thomas said. “And also, a grain cleaning and milling area. The overall thing being that – as our farm has grown, we’ve needed more and more cold storage - more walk-in coolers. Different vegetables like different temperatures so you have to have more than one room – just having good, clean warehouse space for temperature-stable products, like grains and dried beans, even like winter squash and pumpkins – they don’t need to be cold. They need for it not to be 100 degrees, and they need to not freeze.”Thomas said his approach of openness with his farm enterprise is just something that he feels is advantageous for the farm, other farm providers and consumers.Adding the commercial kitchen to the new facility is one of the ways Thomas will add another connection with other food suppliers. “One of the things that the state has really been pushing for is more products that are made in a clean, certified kitchen area,” Thomas explained. “It’s for food safety. It’s for product quality.”Kansas law allows for direct-to-consumer sales of some homemade foods, such as cookies, jams, jellies, honey, eggs, juices, etc., to be sold at roadside stands or farmers markets. This is considered the “cottage food” industry. When makers want to graduate to selling at storefronts, though, a commercial kitchen is required for production. Thomas’ expansion plan is to make a commercial kitchen available to other local food producers.“The space we are building will not only be used by us but we’ll have it rentable,” Thomas said. “There’s a website that the state maintains. Once (the kitchen) is up and running, people will be able to go to that website and see that there’s a kitchen in Leavenworth. Whether it’s an existing small business or if it’s somebody who wants to start a small business and has outgrown the capabilities of their home kitchen, our kitchen will provide a good opportunity.”The Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure grant program is funded by $420 million available through the American Rescue Plan to support local and regional producers in the middle of the supply chain. While JET Produce & Meats was awarded an infrastructure grant, additional local farms were awarded equipment-only grants. These farms are Next to Nature Farm, Jirak Family Produce and Bramble Rose Farm in Basehor.

A Leavenworth County site was among the first six recipients of a Barn Adaptation and Restoration Needs grant offered through the state agency Kansas Tourism.

The Leavenworth school district has launched a "See Something, Say Something" feature on its website that enables people to bring school threats to the attention of district officials.

The Camp Leavenworth festival drew an attendance of between 4,500 and 5,000 people, the interim city manager said.

Once again this year, the Basehor-Linwood High School parking lot was the site of the annual Basehor Car Show held in conjunction with the Basehor Dairy Days community event. This was the 27th year for the car show which also featured local organizations, food trucks, activities for kids and vendors. This popular event serves as a fundraiser for the Basehor-Linwood Education Association as well as the Basehor VFW Post 11499.This year’s car show had 375 cars entered in a variety of categories. One of those cars was Bill Martin’s 1927 Ford Track T four-speed. Originally painted silver when he purchased it in 1986, he repainted it with its current purple and orange motif in 1999. While he does drive the car around town and has taken it to shows in Dallas, Columbus, and St. Paul, Martin always makes time to take it to local car shows.“I’ve been participating in the Basehor Car Show for several years and I love that it benefits the school. For me, car shows are all about having fun,” said Martin.One of the favorite contests at the show each year is the loudest exhaust contest. Any car show entrant who wanted to participate in this contest paid an additional entry fee. VFW member Dave Gunn once again served as judge and he used an app to register each entry, standing 6 feet behind or beside the exhaust pipes of each car.This year’s winner was Anthony Thomas and his 2017 Corvette Z06, which registered an impressive 127.3 decibels. Thomas was awarded a cash prize for his efforts.“I am normally out of town for this car show, but I’ve always wanted to come. My friends encouraged me to enter the loudest exhaust contest, but I never thought I would win,” Thomas said.One big technology enhancement to this year’s car show was the addition of a program to help car registration and the judge’s results through a web app developed by Basehor-Linwood High School graduate Brady Holland. Holland’s efforts saved car show volunteers countless hours as no manual tabulations were required. This automation benefited not only volunteers, but registration was all handled much easier. Holland is already thinking about enhancements for next year for this web app.Scott Gibson’s Ford Customline was named Best of Show; Art Miller’s Chevy Impala Convertible was named VFW Choice; Doug Olson’s 1955 Chevy Sedan Delivery vehicle was named BLEF Choice, and Ken Ussery’s 1969 SC Rambler received the Chairman’s Choice Award.