October 2023

MANHATTAN – Don’t let the size of their town fool you: The residents of Toronto, Kansas have big things in mind.It’s why more than a third of the southeast Kansas town’s 200 residents showed up recently for a meeting with K-State Research and Extension agents to figure out how to make their quaint community more vibrant.“We talked about strengths and opportunities, which helped us narrow their focus,” said Tara Smith, a family and community wellness agent in K-State’s Southwind Extension District.“Toronto has a wonderful community center, and the people have a lot of ideas on how to improve that, but it’s already a neat hub of the community.

The new Newton Public Library will feature more windows, and more natural light, throughout the building.The trade off of more windows means less wall space – and hence less space to hang art.The current library has a collection hanging on the walls - from posters created for reading campaigns to notable local artists whose works dot the walls.