A local conservation advocacy group will soon hold the first annual Kaw Valley Field Day, offering free, family-friendly fun.
Save Our Soil Kaw Valley Foundation will hold the event from 3 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11 at Shirk’s Barn, 1359 North 1900 Road in Lawrence. The site is about 2 miles northwest of the Lawrence Regional Airport; click here for a map.
Kaw Valley Field Day is free to attend and will include hayrack rides, activities, a pumpkin patch, local vendors, food trucks, beer and wine. All ages are welcome.
The Watkins Museum of History will offer Flint corn “craft-ivities” for kids from 3 to 6 p.m., and farm machines will be on display from 3 to 7 p.m., all “amid the beautiful landscape of the iconic Kaw River Valley.”
There will be live music across two stages. A lineup of regional Americana artists will perform: Chuck Mead, Jenna and Martin + Friends, The Swallowtails, Brody Buster, Sky Smeed, Ryan Manuel and Cade Polsgrove, according to a news release from organizers.
The foundation “is dedicated to protecting the rare and irreplaceable glacial and mineral soils of the Kaw River Valley — some of the most fertile and productive farmland in the world,” according to information from event organizers. “… By safeguarding the land, water, and rural traditions of the Kaw River Valley, we uphold the belief that agricultural use — not industrial development — is the highest and best use of this prime farmland.”
The group originally formed to challenge a massive solar farm proposed to be built north of town, filing a lawsuit against Douglas County that is ongoing in District Court.
But “Along the way, our group recognized that whether we win or lose in court on this single project other challenges to preserve the prime agricultural land in the Kaw Valley will inevitably follow,” according to the foundation’s website. “As these challenges will grow and continue in the future, we knew we had to plan to grow and evolve as well.”
Learn more about the event at kawvalleyfieldday.com.
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