FLINT HILLS EXPRESS

[Bonnie M.]

I just got back from Longton where the Free Fair Parade was held.

I always miss being back there, when I hear about the Longton Fair, with the "Bean Feed" and the Parade, etc.  Diane said she's 20 hours, I think, from Elk County.  We're probably at least 24 hours, sometimes more, coming from the west coast.  We do usually fly, (to Tulsa, then rent a car,) but not as often as we'd like.  Usually a couple of trips a year is about all we can squeeze in.  So, I can't be at your "Forum reunion."  But, who knows?  Maybe....someday!

Velva Hoyt made one of her beautiful quilts, to raise funds for the Fair Association, I'm always anxious to hear if "I won!"  If I do, I'll let you all know about it.  My chances of winning are
"slim to none!"

[Judy Harder]

Bonnie, you would have enjoyed the parade. I think even being an 'off' year we had a big big parade......for us. think both ways took about 35 minutes.

Last night I looked for Rudy and I did see"empty-nest" but didn't see our  famous editor.
Then today I just plain forgot to look for him.
I did notice someone taking pictures with a fancy(large)  type camera....like I have seen from photographers but I am pretty sure that wasn't Rudy.
This person stood behind me where I was sitting, and I couldn't turn around and be rude by staring at him.
then I got busy watching the parade and just forgot to look.

Like I said it was a good one. Had a little bit of everything.........from all the fire trucks and emergency vehicles and the law I wondered who was keeping PEACE in the county........we had all the deputies with Doug being front and center..............and then we had a nice allotment of 4-wheelers...........and a lot of them were John Deere type (used around here a lot for farm/ranch work.........and horses galore and a  couple of heaped up race cars and the cheer leaders did their thing while walking down Kansas and then we had Lots and lots of kids and their parents and pets with them. (I think there were more people in the parade than watching it) the kids were very happy collecting the candy that was thrown at them.

The heat stayed away until afternoon. I decided to ditch the rest of the fair........I can take just so much heat and then start to fade.....
so, I played  old lady this afternoon and stayed home.
I may go back down for the water melon feed but will most likely stay home and let it go on without me.

We have had a good attendence for a 2 day fair.
I do NOT know who won anything, but I am sure this next week that will be announced in the weekly newspaper.
Hope you all are keeping cool.

Hugs and God bless

[Teresa]

Notice that we now have a tab at the top that will take you directly into the Flint Hills Express. 

[flo]

Is this going to be just for the Flint Hills Express - or the thread that now has everything in it? 

[flo]

never mind - I see now that it says Topic: Flint HIlls Express - that's me - open my mouth before my brain is fully in gear. 

[Bonnie M.]

Thanks, Judy, for the fair and parade update.  We used to spend a lot of time working on the Church and 4-H floats for the parade.  I guess that still happens?  Lots of fun!

[emptynest]

I have taken entries to the Longton Fair for the last couple of years, and I think it is very well organized.  A lot of hard work and pride goes into making sure everything is done thoroughly.  I don't just say this because there are several hard workers in the congregation that I serve, but I have just noticed the pride and hard work that keeps it all going.  In other words, they are not about to let their community die for lack of participation or trying.  I noticed that in the Bazaars and Fundraising Events along with the Community Thanksgiving Dinner and a few other functions.  I wish all of our small communities would take such pride............and be committed to the survival and growth of their town.

[W. Gray]

The Eureka Herald was mentioned above.

The last time I read the Herald was two and one-half years ago. I was startled at the newspaper size. Not that it is newsy or is long, the paper size is huge. I found it cumbersome compared to most newspapers.

The Herald may be press constrained to its size but it seems a good many newspapers have downsized in recent years to make reading less of an effort and conform to the fact that newspapers have lost much traffic to over the air news.

Maybe Rudy can jump in and explain the different sizes.  I think there may be more than just jumbo and average.

Then there is the Rocky Mountain News which is tabloid size, a nice format. However, if there are two people scrambling for the newspaper each morning, it is a slow process of separating the sections for sharing, which are interleaved together. As a result, we read the Denver Post in which the sections are already separated.

The Rocky Mountain News, by the way, started in Kansas as a Kansas newspaper. It is still located where it started. Those who know their Kansas history will understand this statement.

[Rudy Taylor]

Yes, my friend Dick Classen at the Eureka Herald is restricted to his page size by the company that does his presswork. And they're
really behind the times. As you probably saw this morning, the NY Times changed to a 12" page width which is fast becoming the industry standard.  They said it will save the Times more than $10 million annually.

Our own page size is determined by the Parsons Sun which does our presswork.  We must follow their format.

[W. Gray]

Other papers are going to the 12 inch size, also. Boston Globe for one. They say they will reduce everything by 5% to fit on the page.

Some things can get by you in life without one even noticing.

I was having trouble imagining a 12 inch newspaper when I measured the Denver Post. Darned if is not already at 12 inches. I would never have thought so.

It seems to me an article ran several years go in the Flint Hills Express about a printing operation in Caney that kept busy by printing for a number of newspapers. Is that owned by the Parsons Sun?

Thomas E. Thompson of the Howard Courant was quite successful but apparently Fred C Flory of the Howard Citizen was more successful at least when it came to the printing plant. Tom told the Kansas City Star he was worrying about coming up with the money to modernize his operation when Flory offered him the use of his. I have heard that in the last few years until Thompson died, they had separate offices running their separate newspapers in the same building housing the press. Flory ran a Democrat paper and Tom ran a republican paper but they got along fine.