LARNED — Help the Santa Fe Trail Center Museum send summer out with a bang!
The public is invited to the Santa Fe Trail Museum from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday to celebrate the Sizzzlin’ Summer Shindig.
Hands-on activities, lunch, barrel train rides, crafts for children age 6 to 12, and more are featured! Activities and lunch are included in the regular admission price. Fort Larned Historical Society members are free.
Learn about snakes with the Kansas Wetlands Education Center from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. They will share fun educational facts about snakes from this region. They are bringing live (non-venomous) snakes as well as skins and skeletons.
Between 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. “Doc Rock” will share the wonder of rocks, minerals and fossils. Learn how to tell the difference between a rock and a mineral, how to identify fossils, and how stones are polished.
Have a stone, mineral or fossil you need help identifying? Bring it with you and “Doc Rock” can tell you what it is.
From 1 to 3 p.m. employees from the Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo will educate visitors about native animals of Kansas. They are bringing live animals and many hands-on items to help you learn more about the wildlife that is native to this area. They may even bring a Great Horned Owl.
Take a break from the fun and enjoy a hotdog, bag of chips and bottle of water between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Children ages 6 to 12 will get to enjoy Make It and Take It craft projects with an American Indian theme. The craft tables, along with helpers, will be set up during the event.
Pawnee County Humane Society volunteers will bring a few of the cats and dogs available for adoption. Interested parties will have to go through the application process before being approved for adoption.
While you are at the museum don’t forget to stop by Bahama Mama’s to buy a shaved ice. There is no better way to beat the heat!
“We appreciate our local sponsors — American AgCredit, Larned Board of Tourism, and Straub International,” said Becca Hiller, Museum director.
All of the buildings on the museum grounds will be open for visiting as well.
For information, call 620-285-2054 or email museum@santafetrailcenter.org. The Santa Fe Trail Center Museum is two  miles west of Larned off K-156.