HUMBOLDT – Humboldt council members were bitten by nostalgia Monday evening, and kicked in $1,000 to help make the town’s 160th birthday celebration more of a party.
“The more (money) we have, the more we can afford to do,” said Tom Rutledge, one of four Humboldt Historical Preservation Association members who came with hat in hand.
Rutledge explained old-time baseball teams from Wichita and Topeka will be on hand May 20 to play a late-1800s vintage game. An honest-to-goodness stage coach, from the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm Historic Site, Olathe, also will be at Walter Johnson field to provide rides.
Getting the stagecoach to Humboldt doesn’t come on the cheap, Rutledge said, but the baseball teams, usually accompanied by a hefty charge, won’t cost a dime.
“They just like coming to Humboldt and we’re going to feed and water them,” Jan Coykendall, another of the HPPA gang, chipped in.
“We have some other things we’re talking about, but we don’t want to mention them until we have enough money,” Rutledge added. Though, he let slip that children’s activities are certain to be on the ticket.
Hotdogs will be served for a donation.
The celebration won’t be as extravagant as Humboldt’s 150th, but “we want to keep doing things to keep the town alive and young,” Rutledge said.
The city’s contribution is a good start and organizers think others will kick in. Rutledge or Coykendall, or anyone else connected to HPPA, would be delighted to make certain a donation gets to the right place.
COUNCIL members will decide at the April 10 meeting whether to permit Jane Works to put up a chicken coup at the Growing Place, where pre-school children are tutored.
“I think it would be good for the kids to learn about chickens and such things as how to gather eggs,” Works said.
City Administrator Cole Herder was asked to visit further about Works’ feathered friends – she envisions a flock of 15 or so – and report back to council members on what enabling action would be required.
A deal also was struck with Community National Bank for a four-year lease-purchase agreement for Humboldt Police Department to acquire a sport utility vehicle and pickup truck, to replace two vehicles a little long in the tooth. Cost of the two — acquired through the Kansas Highway Patrol Partnership – is $59,369. The first three years’ payments will be $13,727, and the fourth a about $8,000.
Council members approved an ordinance which makes it possible for council and mayoral candidates to file by petition, which was omitted by state law when spring city and school elections were shifted to November. In Humboldt filing may be accomplished by paying $20, up from the previous $5, or by petition with 30 signatures.
