|
The Kansas Sampler Foundation is a public non-profit 501(c) organization. The Foundation is located at the Kansas Sampler Center near Inman, Kansas. According to the organization's web site () and publications, the mission is to preserve and sustain rural culture by educating Kansans about Kansas by networking and ''encouraging the support of rural communities.'' The support is generally in the form of encouraging awareness of, and commerce with, rural businesses. Methods include positive messages of motivation encouraging people to celebrate the sunflower state. Founded in 1993 by Mil and Marci Penner, the Kansas Sampler Foundation is based at the Penner family farm. The Foundation stresses keeping rural Kansas vigorous. Accentuating ''rural culture elements'' like architecture, art, commerce, cuisine, customs, geography, history, and people — the goal is to get more Kansans to realize (and visit) the treasures in their state. Any one of these elements puts a person, place or thing on the list of places to see. They are reasons to celebrate towns. There is also a checklist to help communities catalog what they have to offer. Small rural towns are seen as critical to the continued character of Kansas. ==Kansas Sampler Festival== Supporters sample rural Kansas culture elements by attending the Kansas Sampler Festival.〔"Kansas City, Mo., Businesses to Offer Discounts, Giveaways during Tourism Week," Rick Alm. The Kansas City Star, Mo. Distributed by Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. Washington: May 4, 2002. pg. 1."Statewide events in Kansas kick off today with the annual Kansas Sampler Festival.."〕 It takes place annually, roving to different Kansas communities every two years. About eight thousand people attended the 2006 festival in Garden City, Kansas. Approximately four hundred volunteers worked together to help put it on. It returned to the Lee Richardson Zoo in the spring of 2007. It has taken place in Inman, Kansas, Pratt, Kansas, Independence, Kansas and Ottawa, Kansas and in Concordia, Kansas, in the years since. Much of the work of the Foundation matches the grass-roots, forward-thinking example of businesses and attractions featured at the Kansas Sampler Festival. The currency of awareness is spread in newsletters, and attitudes among member-supporters are tilted towards accentuating positive, mutual success and common survival — indeed a core value of the Foundation. There are group outings, and campaigns by members to trek across Kansas, finding out-of-the-way attractions, people and stories. There several areas of interest under the umbrella of the foundation, and many ways to participate. Principal among them is the Kansas Explorers Club. Foundation director Marci Penner said, "The club helps people know what there is to see and do in the nooks and crannies of the state." The Foundation's goal is to get 5,000 Kansas Explorer Club members. Organizers believe that "with that number of explorers driving around the state and spending money in small town cafes and specialty shops and appreciating the historic sites and natural landmarks it will help keep our towns alive and thriving." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kansas Sampler」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|