Antjea Wolff

PITTSBURG, Kan. — Thanks to food and beverage enthusiasts in the area, community members can enjoy German festivities this month without buying plane ticket. Saturday, Oct. 5 from 5 to 10 p.m., the Mirza Shriners are inviting the public to taste beers, eat delicious food and take home a collectible mug for $25. The beer festival will take place at the Shriner’s Temple at 110 W. 5th Street in Pittsburg. The party will have entertainment, games and an authentic German outfit contest.

PITTSBURG, Kan. — Last month, Schenker Family Farms LLC was awarded a grant to help strengthen the supply chain in the region. For the past 16 years, Cherie Schenker and her family have been working to get high quality meat and other products to more people in the area. The business recently received a $512,000 grant from the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program through the Kansas Department of Agriculture and USDA.

PITTSBURG, Kan. — Grab your flannel shirt and apple cider, and enjoy the last few weekends left of the pumpkin season. The pumpkin patches in the area still have plenty of fun and gourds left for all the fall lovers.

MULBERRY, Kan. — Misty Morning Farms, a produce grower at 1076 E 620th Ave Mulberry, will soon expand its operation as well as its growing plots with a recent grant provided by the Kansas Department of Agriculture and the USDA.

PITTSBURG, Kan. — For the past three days, 40 leaders from across the state have been touring and learning about the southeast Kansas area as part of Leadership Kansas, a statewide program dedicated to connecting leaders. The group toured places such as Big Brutus, Brush Creek, Pittsburg State University, downtown Pittsburg, Pitsco, Community Green Farms, Mpix and others.

PITTSBURG, Kan. — The secret is out: Five- to seven-course fine dining is now available in Pittsburg. For the past year, Chef Cesar Paul has been crafting unique dishes three days a week in a membership-only setting. But starting this month, Paul has opened this intimate, reservation-only dining experience, MENU by Cesar, to the public.

ARMA, Kan. — The Fearmonti family received the keys to their brand-new two-bedroom home from Habitat for Humanity of Crawford County on Sunday. Habitat for Humanity board members, collaborators, community members and friends and family of the Fearmontis gathered at the freshly built home at 316 S. Pine St., Arma, for a presentation of the keys.

PITTSBURG, Kan. — At the beginning of October, McKayla Crystal (nee Edwards) celebrated the completion of her new venue space, graduated from Pittsburg State University with her master’s in business administration, got married and turned 30, all on a single weekend. Since January, Crystal has been working with construction crews, in addition to her full-time job, to renovate her grandfather’s former auto service store, Harlen’s Auto Service, located at 206 N. Locust Street in Pittsburg. The project was completed just in the nick of time to be the venue for her wedding on Oct. 5.

PITTSBURG, Kan. — The large crowd that packed Memorial Auditorium Wednesday night fell silent as the orchestra music filled the auditorium and the Pittsburg High School Multigenerational Choir and Southeast Kansas Symphony launched into their first collaborative piece of the evening, “March of the Toreadors.” Wednesday marked the first time the two groups collaborated on an event performance since 2015.

PITTSBURG, Kan. — Most days, Chad Epler’s attention is focused on things like how much rain is in the forecast, the cost of fertilizer or fluctuations in the price for a bushel of corn. Recently, however, the Columbus corn farmer, took a break from the day-to-day tasks of operating a farm and learned about some innovative new uses for the crop that he knows so well.