It's Our Anniversary!

This month we celebrate a year of this blog, a year of recognizing everything good right outside our door.  If you’re a new reader, please take the time to look back through older posts – I promise it will bring a smile to your soul.

Ann and I have been kicking around the idea of a ‘Best of’ Blog as we acknowledge our anniversary.  The trouble is, we know and love every one of these contributors, and we love their stories.  How do you choose the top 10 from such a fantastic list?  In the end, we couldn’t.  We did decide to highlight a few, just in case you missed them…

• A Top 10 list of AC awesomeness… http://anewconversationinruralamerica.blogspot.com/2011/06/top-10-reasons-i-love-atchison-county.html
• A sparkling review of Fourth of July in Rock Port, but more importantly, a review of life lived in this place where people have your back… http://anewconversationinruralamerica.blogspot.com/2011/07/lil-firecrackers-and-lil-blue-jays.html
• A dad’s story of coaching his son’s baseball team… http://anewconversationinruralamerica.blogspot.com/2011/07/baseball-and-bathroom-breaks.html
• The Fairfax Fair, and a ‘mixed’ marriage… http://anewconversationinruralamerica.blogspot.com/2011/08/east-coast-boy-fairfax-fair.html 
• Friday Night Lights, Atchison County style… http://anewconversationinruralamerica.blogspot.com/2011/09/friday-night-lights.html
• The women before us, what an excellent heritage we have… http://anewconversationinruralamerica.blogspot.com/2011/09/woman-before-me.html 
• A tale of customer service: the story of one of the many ‘good eggs’ we are blessed and honored to call our own... http://anewconversationinruralamerica.blogspot.com/2011/10/customer-service-summa-pharmacy-style.html  
• A history of our wonderful county hospital... http://anewconversationinruralamerica.blogspot.com/2011/12/part-2-of-2-band-aids-babies-and.html
• Who needs Taco Bell when you have friendliness, families and farms? http://anewconversationinruralamerica.blogspot.com/2012/03/no-taco-bell-or-target-but.html 
• There’s no logic or bias behind this inclusion…this story is just about my incredible Mom... http://anewconversationinruralamerica.blogspot.com/2012/04/kind-of-gal-you-want-to-thank.html

There are many, many more excellent posts and stories on our blog, and we hope you’ll take the time to check them out, if you haven’t yet.  We know we’ve only scratched the surface so far and we can’t wait to hear what others have to say about why they love Atchison County so much.  It is truly a wonderful place to live, and if you aren’t lucky enough to call this your home, at least you get to live here vicariously through this little, joy-filled blog.

A Year Later

A year ago Memorial Day weekend I stood outside my parents’ house and listened to Dad tell us a flood was coming, and it was going to be huge, bigger than anything in our recent history.  I was here for the Flood of ’93, but other than knowing that my new-Sheriff-Dad was dealing with crazy hours and stress, my 15-year-old self wasn’t tremendously affected.  Last year, I heard Dad’s words but didn’t fully comprehend what it would mean to our county and our region.

I-29, Shelton Fireworks - Looking West from Bluffs - June 27, 2011

Looking West on Hwy 136 - June 27, 2011

It was indeed huge.  We were flooded in some instances for 4 months.  To the North, the Interstate was closed. Traffic was re-routed through secondary highways, through towns that weren’t remotely prepared for that kind of volume.  To the West lies the Missouri river, and obviously, there was no way to cross.  Hosts of families living on this side of the river had someone in their household who worked on the other side.  Most stayed apart from their families through the week and came home on weekends.  Others made the multiple-hour commute every day so that they could see their kids.  Families who lived on the bottoms were displaced for months.

Last summer and early fall, all I felt was gloom and doom and hopelessness.  I sat in shocked sadness, watching all that cropland sit underwater.  I saw businesses lay off employees and leave.  I would look through my office’s ‘all about Atchison County’ website, and I kept landing on the page where we brag about everything we have access to (barge, interstate, rail, nearby airports) that were essentially eliminated during the flood.  I was worried about what we would look like on the other side of this thing…whenever that happened.

Then, little by little, week by week, things started to change.  The importance of our existing local businesses became even more important.  My office did a little “Shop Local, we’re all in this together!” campaign, something that we created because we were desperate to do something, anything, to help.  I don’t know if it made a huge difference in sales taxes or not, but it was a reminder sign in the newspapers and in stores all over the county we are responsible for our communities and for supporting each other. 

I-29, Shelton Fireworks - Looking West from Bluffs - June 14, 2012

Roads opened up and repairs began.  Construction on our levees and roads brought newcomers to our county who are still shopping, eating, and staying here.  Since early this year, a massive wholesale water construction project has been underway, bringing even more visitors and workers here.

Looking West on Hwy 136 - June 14, 2012

Businesses that had temporarily closed have reopened and others have been able to bring their regular numbers of employees back on board.  Most all of our businesses were able to persevere, and while last year will not go down in the books as an easy or profitable one, they made it.  A few, like the campground, have not reopened yet due to the severity of the damage, but they are now starting their long road of recovery.

A year later, there’s good news to be found if you look around.  The vast majority of families who were displaced during the flood chose to relocate elsewhere in the county.  The mild winter we experienced allowed road and levee repairs to start much sooner than anticipated.  While some farmers continue to deal with significant sand issues on their land, many have planted and are back in their fields.  The tax base has held, far better than I anticipated.  And regardless of how people feel about the Corps, they have done a tremendous job restoring our levees.

The bottom line in all this is, we ‘made it’ this far largely because of the kind of people we are here.  We pull together in catastrophe.  We help our neighbors.  We work together to get things done.  I’ve said it before and I’ll surely say it again, but in good times and in bad, I am so proud to be a part of this county and these people.  

~MMB

Shall we Dance?

This week's post comes from Debbie Johnson, Lynn Hunter and Donovan Jones....3 of Atchison County's very talented musicians/actors/directors. I have had the pleasure of being a part of two productions at the Liberty Theater in the pit orchestra and I've missed very few of the musical productions. Each time I set foot in the theater, it is a very rewarding experience. Thank you to the Liberty Theater Group for all you contribute to our community!

Though some may think life in a small community means seclusion from the finer things in life, life in Atchison County is not so. With the establishment of the Atchison County Memorial Building/Liberty Theatre, there has been an awareness brought back to life for the fine arts. 

Since 2004, with the opening production, "The Sound of Music", hundreds of thespians and lovers of the theatre have volunteered their time and talents in an effort to provide live entertainment for Northwest Missouri. Some of these wonderful shows include: "The Wizard of Oz", "The Odd Couple", "Little Shop of Horrors", "Forever Plaid", "Always, Patsy Cline", "Polterheist!", and "Thoroughly Modern Millie", just to name a few. Through the comedies, dramas, mystery dinner theatres, choral groups, and classic musicals, many a smile has left the theatre with a yearning to return at each upcoming event.

 

 This years Summer musical, "The King and I" by Rodgers and Hammerstein, will exemplify the talent within our portion of the state once again. With actors ranging in age from four to sixty-four, this show will be enjoyed by all ages. Some of the popular songs from this musical include: "Getting to Know You", "Whistle a Happy Tune", and the infamous "Shall We Dance?". While Anna and the King fall into a deep romance, the love between Lun Tha and Tuptim is intercepted by the powers that be. The play-within-the-play, "Uncle Tom's Cabin", brings new light to the Harriet Beecher Stow literary classic.

The theatre will be undergoing renovation beginning in the Fall of 2012. We, the Liberty Theatre Committee, hope that you will all join us the last weekend of July and first weekend in August for our final production this season.   

We hope you will decide to become an associate of the Liberty Theatre with one final sponsorship for this 2012 season. And for those who have already joined with a donation, A HUGE 'THANK YOU' TO EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU! You may contact any of us if you have questions.

THE LIBERTY THEATRE COMMITTEE:Scott Deatz, Steve Hoffrogge, Lynn Hunter, Malisa Linthicum, Debra Wyatt, Deb Johnson, Jan Carpenter, Donovan Jones, Annie Schmerber, Debbie Martin