BURDETT — It’s your chance to dress up in your favorite space costume and compete in the first-ever Interplanetary Golf Tournament.
Saturday’s 10 a.m. Rediscover Pluto Miniature Golf Course ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Burdett City Park is simply out of this world. Burdett is the hometown of Clyde Tombaugh, the Kansan who discovered Pluto in 1930.
Saturday’s mini-putt tournament will donate funds to the Burdett Senior Center. The champion will receive the Kuiper Belt buckle, named for the solar system that Pluto is part of. A prize will be awarded to the person with the best space outfit.
Entry for anyone 5 and older is a free-will offering, that includes lunch served by the Burdett Seniors.
Each hole is named after a planet. A former lighthouse has become a rocket ship and an old tire has become the rings of Saturn. The layout is decorated by bright blue landscaping with planetary facts listed on metal signs.
It required two years of fundraising by Burdett Pride. Burdett Pride helps promote community involvement, community cooperation, and community development by participating to improve the quality of our community for everyone here and the surrounding Burdett area.
Area youth groups pulled all the turf, wooden boarders and dug up the grass. The youth groups helped as a community service project.
Redesigning Burdett’s miniature golf course with a solar system theme was one of four pilot projects by KanStarter, a program whose umbrella organization is the Kansas Sampler Foundation.
The community crowd-funding idea started with Marci Penner, Kansas Sampler Foundation director. Leonard Mostrom said Penner’s fundraising idea provided local residents with inspiration. WeCanSupport helped raise more than $7,000. The Golden Belt Foundation contributed $4,500. Tabler Furniture donated the new carpet. Metal signs were constructed, depicting fun space facts.
In 1977, the original mini putt course was constructed by the Lions Club as a community improvement.