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Community
‘Big Rural Brainstorm’ starts
tomorrow in Newton
By James Jordan
Newton Kansan
Marci Penner of the Kansas Sampler Foundation has spent many years promoting rural Kansas. This weekend, she is inviting leaders of rural Kansas to Newton for a “Big Rural Brainstorm,” which will be Friday and Saturday at the Meridian Center.
Penner has promoted tourism widely, but she said this week that this event is not about tourism, but “what we can do at the grassroots level to help sustain our rural communities.”
She will have 200 people at the event, and they will brainstorm for ideas for promoting rural Kansas.
There will be people from across the state, from very small towns in western Kansas, to the northeast, and some from larger towns. She said that together people can share ideas and come up with some new things that can be done for rural areas.
Since the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s the population of rural
Kansas has been on the decline. This may or may not be a bad thing, but Penner wants to keep the small towns and rural areas viable and relevant.
There will be no speakers. The small groups will discuss various topics, and there will be gatherings to report to the entire group.
She is more interested in having people share and talk about ideas than having a “program” for people to listen to.
Community
‘Big Rural Brainstorm’ starts
tomorrow in Newton
By James Jordan
Newton Kansan
Marci Penner of the Kansas Sampler Foundation has spent many years promoting rural Kansas. This weekend, she is inviting leaders of rural Kansas to Newton for a “Big Rural Brainstorm,” which will be Friday and Saturday at the Meridian Center.
Penner has promoted tourism widely, but she said this week that this event is not about tourism, but “what we can do at the grassroots level to help sustain our rural communities.”
She will have 200 people at the event, and they will brainstorm for ideas for promoting rural Kansas.
There will be people from across the state, from very small towns in western Kansas, to the northeast, and some from larger towns. She said that together people can share ideas and come up with some new things that can be done for rural areas.
Since the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s the population of rural
Kansas has been on the decline. This may or may not be a bad thing, but Penner wants to keep the small towns and rural areas viable and relevant.
There will be no speakers. The small groups will discuss various topics, and there will be gatherings to report to the entire group.
She is more interested in having people share and talk about ideas than having a “program” for people to listen to.
