From the Alvin and Rosalee Sarachek studio, PBS Kansas Presents Positively Kansas, It's Time for Positively Kansas coming up.

The beauty of nature inspires amazing art.

See what happens when the great outdoors becomes an artist's studio.

Also, we go to Haynesville, where they love celebrates the holidays as a community.

Then we'll learn what makes this historic barn so unusual, and why it's a popular attraction for country and city folks alike.

I,m Sierra Scott, those stories and our Kansas Wild Edge Report are all cued up and ready to roll.

Another edition of Positively Kansas starts right now.

From the Mona Lisa to Whistler's Mother.

It's always an important question.

What inspired the artists for several artists in Wichita recently?

The inspiration was their surroundings.

Chris Frank gives us a look.

One doesn't really need to have a great reason to take a stroll along a trail at the Great Plains Nature Center in northeast Wichita, but that's especially so on a pleasantly mild late afternoon early evening in mid-October, when the day's wind is lessened along with the temperature.

Yet on this fall day, the center's Quail Trail is busy with activity.

Tonight, at the Great Plains Nature Center, we have what's called art on the trail.

And so art on the trail is just an opportunity for local artists to come out and fill our quail trail, with different art.

And then the community is invited out to come and enjoy it.

There are.

Jewel says there are 25 artists set up along the trail.

Those include stone carving, plein air sewing, painting, sketching, wood burning.

Artists.

So a variety of artistic mediums are represented along the trail.

So we've really just wanted to open up to different mediums and kind of create a space where people can come out and just feel free to interpret nature the way that they would like to, and show the community what that can look like.

How are y'all today?

Good, good, good.

I'm doing pretty good.

Thank you.

Local artist Trey Gresham incorporates several Kansas and Wichita specific symbols in his painting.

Those symbols are painted on top of his artistic interpretation of the location along the park trail.

He sat next to bison and the.

And then a little bit of Kansas.

My inspiration came from, Drew Struzan, who's the guy that did the Indiana Jones and, Star Wars movie posters back in the day?

Try to emulate that.

He packed so much into those posters in made it look really good.

So that was a nice little homage.

Thank you.

I appreciate the.

Gresham has managed to get the Western Meadowlark, keeper of the Plains A bison A, B and the letter W for Wichita.

I thought about doing some, airplane on there to represent us, be in the air capital.

But, you know, who knows what's going to like when it's finished, so.

Well, like, he indicates, these are all works in progress, subject to change with the winds of inspiration.

But I got a good reason.

Yeah.

Brushes and paint are not the only way artists put on canvases here.

They.

What's this?

A sewing machine on the trail?

It's a DC powered, so I have a battery.

That it?

Oh, wow.

Melissa Long of Haynesville sews art instead of paint.

She's got different colors of thread.

I'd rather let other people define what I'm doing.

I just like to enjoy it.

Bruce and Pam Van Beber surprised to see such detail in long sewing art.

I mean, that is so clever.

I've never, I, I think, very much in the box and I would never have come up with something like this.

And she does such a great job, and they're all different and they're all those attending, like the opportunities to observe hours of set work, but also the chance to interact with the artists about their techniques and inspirations.

And when did you start your project?

Today, I started it, it it must have been 4 p.m. when things started going.

And you've already come this far on a beautiful painting.

That's amazing.

I'm trying.

So the kind of art that I like to do is typically some kind of outside painting for the sake of sanity, to get myself out of the studio.

But I also like to do sculpture and, ink drawings and all different kinds of things.

So a good variety to keep things interesting.

Events like this keep people returning to the 240 acre center with all its twisting trails, wetlands, and wildlife.

But art on the trail also attracts new visitors.

I just love seeing all the artists.

I love the nature.

It's kind of everything that I love.

So I and I haven't been here before.

I've never been to the park before, so I thought this was a good event to see for the first time.

We are hopeful just to continue our mission and continue providing, resources for the community, make it accessible for anybody in the community to come and learn about nature.

And you're going to learn something about yourself, too.

It's just inevitable.

And while those attending hard on the trail are learning about the artists and their works, the Nature Center is discovering the public's interest in this by the turnout.

Because of that, we should expect to see more of these art on the trail events in years to come.

At the Great Plains Nature Center, this is Chris Frank for Positively Kansas.

This was a second year for Art on the trail sponsored by fidelity Bank.

Like the song goes, there is no place like home for the holidays.

Anthony Powell shows us.

That's especially true if you live in Haysville.

On a beautiful December evening, Christmas spirit filled the air in downtown Haysville, the city's historic district known as the Center of town, the perfect site for the village Christmas celebration, a tradition that's been going strong for decades.

It's great.

Everybody comes together and, the kids love it.

I also love it.

We all just get together carriage rides, horseback rides, or strolling through the marketplace where numerous vendors presented gifts and Christmas decor.

There was truly something for everyone.

Well, it's time when people like to get together and participate in all these little activities like we're having today.

We just got off of the wagon ride, so that was interesting.

My first, for those who didn't feel like doing something specific, there were plenty of interesting sights and sounds to take in just by leisurely walking around the historic district.

When it comes to getting into the spirit of the season, the folks here in Haysville sure go all out.

It was just a few months ago, back in October, that we were covering the city's massive fall festival, which draws thousands of thousands of people.

And now, just two months later, they're at it again with the Village Christmas celebration.

It's a true community spirit.

Everyone gets into it.

I don't care where they are and anywhere.

And Hazel, you'll find it.

And I've never been in a town like this.

That's one of the reasons why I just love Hazel.

Just, I see the same people, different community events, whether it's at the Village Christmas or the Fall festival.

Meanwhile, as night fell, many folks crossed the street to Pride Park, which, like the historic district, was filled with Christmas cheer.

So.

Soon it was time for Santa himself to make an appearance.

Five.

Four.

Three.

He eventually joined Mayor Kesler for the ceremonial lighting of the city tree.

Afterwards, there was music to be the child that Mary will hold as Pride Park lit up the darkness with breathtaking displays of the season.

He's on his way back at the historic district, there was a similar spectacular night scene.

No matter where you are in downtown Hazel this time of year, you come away saying, this is a city that defines being in the Christmas spirit.

In Haysville, I'm Anthony Powell for Positively Kansas.

No matter the time of year, capturing up close images of wildlife is challenging.

In this week's Kansas Wild Edge Report, Mike Blair shows us how he does it.

If you love to watch wildlife, you owe it to yourself to sit in the blind.

True.

At the right place in time, you can get spectacular sightings from the comfort of your car, but you'll never see the relaxed, natural movements of wild animals that aren't alerted to your presence.

A pop up blind can be bought for less than $100, and you can leave it out in all weather, but some corn or other food close by and wildlife will be drawn like a magnet.

I constantly use blinds for wildlife photography, and here in a woodland setting, you'll see what came close in just a few hours.

One day.

I got into the blind before daylight to avoid scaring animals that show up early for breakfast, and it didn't take long for deer to appear.

They came from every direction, each stopping for a few minutes to eat before moving on.

Pretty soon, the raccoon showed up fresh off the night shift and ready to den up for the day.

He didn't even stop for a bite before he left.

Morning light came up in autumn.

Leaves fell in the breeze.

Abandoned our G.O.P.

spider.

Roused in the warming air.

Squirrels leisurely walked through the treetops until reaching a treasure trove of goodies.

Another buck came by, dropping his nose to check for the scent of those before moving on.

All this happened in just three hours.

But I had a few days and it was even better.

Game birds found the green a surprise.

Covey of quail showed up delightful.

Since these wild game birds are seldom observed while relaxed and feeding.

And once on the free food, they would come back again and again in all kinds of weather.

The same was true for wild turkeys.

And not just any turkeys.

Big wary gobblers with long spurs and beards and showy fans.

When sunlight hit their iridescent feathers, spectacular color showed.

It was a great chance to see them at point blank range, but maybe even better.

The blind provided a chance to watch their normal behavior as they strutted and talked while approaching in the early morning light.

Besides eating, wildlife often puts on a show around a blind.

Food makes it a hangout, and interactions are common.

This can result in unexpected displays you'll never forget.

Like these bucks good naturedly sparring near the blind.

Blind.

They're a great way to see wildlife.

I'm Mike Blair for Positively Kansas.

On the other hand, if you want to get an up close look at a barn, there's no hurry.

Chances are it's not moving very fast.

Jim Grawe has the story of a truly historic barn that has stayed put for over 110 years.

Before the advent of tractors, wheat farmers had to pull their plows, threshers, and wagons with draft horses each W from.

He had a lot of acres on his Kiowa County farm, so he needed a lot of horses and a big barn to put them in.

In 1912, he hired local builder Pat Campbell, who is believed to have consulted with Halstead architect Benton Steele, to come up with a cutting edge design in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

There's a really a big round barn building movement nationwide because they were thought to be cyclone resistant.

We know the tornado that didn't prove to be true, but, that was coming out in agricultural journals at the time or in the early 1900s.

The barn is actually polygonal with 16 sides.

Hay was stored above 15 stalls that ringed the perimeter in the center, a granary where the feed was kept and then shoveled out into the stalls.

This shape was considered to be a more efficient use of materials and space, but it did require great skill to build, supposedly for the volume of space you got for hay storage.

It cost less to build a round barn in, actual dollars lumber than it would to build a rectangular barn.

But it took a lot more labor making all these measurements and stuff to do this.

They were very much the exception, because, first of all, you had to have somebody who could build them.

Each one of those sections had to be built and had to come together at angles that were difficult and had to be perfectly done, was very, very hard to do.

The June 14th, 1912 edition of The Anvil News reported that H. W Frome is hauling out lumber to build a new barn on his farm south of town, and when completed, Mr. Frome, he will have one of the largest and best arranged barns in the county.

Frome he was a self-made man, his granddaughter says.

He was a German immigrant who came to the United States with $0.50 in his pocket.

He became one of the wealthiest farmers in this area.

The barn cost him $8,000.

This an architectural wonder of Kansas because I can't imagine trying to do this all by hand.

Now, Pat Campbell is believed to have done most of the carpentry work, aided by Mr. Promi.

That's one of the most fantastic examples of carpentry, I would say in Kansas.

Mrs. 50ft tall, the span was 70ft.

That's very big.

But these horses are very big to the barn accommodated 28 work horses and one big stallion, but only for a few years.

In 1916 Frome, he bought his first tractor and soon he didn't need the horses.

This design just didn't work well for parking the new automated equipment, so this became strictly a hay barn.

It remained a unique landmark though, and airline pilots used it as a navigator point, but it was used less and less for farm purposes anyway.

It's always been a big deal to me, and you have no idea how many children have been conceived in this barn by 1960, according to this Hutch News article, the barn had become a tourist attraction by 1987.

Phyllis Birney, whose father in law had purchased it from the from his 33 years earlier, successfully applied to get the barn on the National Register of Historic Places, but it was showing its age as nothing much had ever been done to it.

The shingles that were put on in 1912 were still there in 1992.

The floor was rotting away.

In 1993, Bernie sold the barn for $1 to the Kiowa County Historical Society, which then applied for an $80,000 grant to restore it.

But that grant required a $20,000 match, and we had six weeks to raise it.

And in a community of around 200 people, how do you do that?

We contacted, everyone who had ever graduated from the high school and sent out an appeal and said, do you want to save a part of your, of your memories of the community you grew up in?

And the money came in from all over the country?

The restoration was a community effort fueled by pride and respect for those from the past who had helped shape rural life through the generations.

By 1995, restoration was complete, leaving 95% of the barn still original to 1912.

Structurally, it was so well designed, it's held, and it remains a fixture on the wide open landscape along a gravel road just outside Mullen Vo.

It's a testament to the great vision, skill and hard work that has defined rural Kansas life for generations.

Well, that's a wrap for this week.

PositivelyKansas@KPTS.ORG is our email address.

If you have a question or story idea, Im Sierra Scott, thanks for watching.

We'll see you again soon.