Hillsboro Free Press

Marion had a great turnout for the Old Settler’s Day parade on Saturday. In addition to class floats over the years, including one from the Class of 1948, the parade included the Marion High School Marching Band and the Marion Middle School Marching Band. The parade was just one of many activities over the weekend for Marion residents to enjoy. Source: Hillsboro Free Press

Marion gained a new city administrator on May 1. Marion City Administrator Brogan Jones graduated in May with his Masters in Public Administration from Wichita State University. He just turned 28 at the end of June. This is his first time being a city administrator, but he lived in and worked for the city of Lyons in code enforcement building inspections so there is some crossover for him. Jones, who is married with a child on the way—his wife is due in August—is happy to be settling into small town Marion. He and his wife moved there recently and enjoy many [...]

Honoring two former city leaders who have recently died was a topic of discussion at the Hillsboro City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 27. City Administrator Matt Stiles said, “In the last few months, we have had some pretty big losses for community leaders—Delores Dalke and Larry Paine. Delores spent decades on the council and as mayor. Larry Paine was here for over 13 years and moved a lot of things forward for the city.” Stiles went on to say that he and Mayor Lou Thurston have discussed both leaders’ service and possible ways to honor their impact on the community. [...]

Chingawassa Days is a 25-year, time-honored tradition in Marion and it is happening the first week of June. “Chinga started back in ’97 and was just an idea that someone wanted to do something for our community to bring the community together in a big way. And it just started, you know. I think they started with just like a picnic on Friday and they had a little local band and it’s kind of just a community gathering,” said committee chairman Clayton Garnica. He went on to say “Over the years, you add different community members on and it just sparked [...]

The Hillsboro community recently mourned the loss of former Mayor Delores Dalke and many showed up to pay their respects at the heavily attended funeral at Ebenfeld Mennonite Church last week. Dalke died on May 12, at the age of 82, on what would have been her 61st Wedding Anniversary to her deceased husband John Foster Dalke. She served Hillsboro as the oldest and only female mayor for 27 years before leaving the position in January of 2018. Between her role as mayor and her service on many boards and commissions, Dalke contributed much to making Hillsboro what it is today. [...]

In the March 21 Hillsboro City Council meeting, the council heard from S. Lincoln resident Ronald Wilkins who recently moved to Hillsboro. “My wife and I would like to have chickens, but in asking around we found out they were not allowed in town limits. We would like to ask the council to change that.” Wilkins presented a well-planned out and lengthy slideshow including research he had done in the county regarding other towns’ rules for chickens. Based on the information he presented, the council agreed to have an ordinance drawn up for them to vote on in the April 4 [...]

The Kansas Rural Center is in the first of a three-year grant project to develop a cooperative food hub for 12 central Kansas counties along I-135, including Harvey, Sedgwick, Reno and Marion Counties. The project is just getting off the ground. According to Ryan Goertzen-Regier, program and administrative manager for the Kansas Rural Center, they received a grant from the USDA and started during the last quarter of 2022. He said they have funding for staff to work on the project for three years. Source: Hillsboro Free Press

While many small towns in Kansas have their downtown districts emptying out and buildings falling into decay, Peabody is working on fixing theirs up. This is all thanks to the Peabody Main Street Association ((PMSA), a Kansas registered 501(c)3 non-profit community development organization, that focuses on downtown preservation and revitalization. “All the buildings in our downtown business district are on the National Register of Historic Places because of their unique architecture. Only a few of those even exist in the entire country. Our group’s focus is on preserving that architecture and also assisting commerce in that district,” said Morgan Marler board [...]

The City of Marion is celebrating Public Power week by hosting a food Drive and a Teacher School Supply Drive. Bring items to Margo Yates at the city office and enter the drawing for a chance to receive $25 off your City of Marion bill. Please bring nonperishable food items only. Suggested items for teachers are sticky notes, paper towels, white paper plates, ziplock bags in gallon and quart sizes, small packages of Kleenex, fun band-aids, sidewalk chalk, crayons, washable markers, pencils, glue, craft paints, peppermints, Tootsie rolls, M&Ms and skittles. Source: Hillsboro Free Press

The cities of Hillsboro and Marion have partnered with NetWork Kansas to host the Kansas Ice House Entrepreneurship Program, a five-week class to develop entrepreneurial skills for business and life. This program, Think Like an Entrepreneur, is led by Tabor College professor of business administration, entrepreneur, and author Dr. Melinda Rangel. Classes will be held from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday evenings, Oct. 18-Nov. 15 at the Marion Community Building. The cost of the program, including dinner, is $50 per person. A $25 discount is offered to those who attend four of the five class sessions. The Kansas Ice House Entrepreneurship Program [...]