LARNED — Come to the Santa Fe Trail Center Museum on Sunday, January 26, at 2 p.m. to celebrate the 159th birthday of the great state of Kansas. Beccy Tanner, a fourth-generation Kansan, will be in the West Gallery relating unusual and often funny tales of Kansas history not found in traditional Kansas textbooks. 

Tanner has spent over four decades covering the issues and legacy of Kansas for various newspapers including the Wichita Eagle, the Salina Journal and the Hutchinson News. She now teaches Kansas history classes at Wichita State University and in her spare time leads bus trips on the backroads of Kansas. She also freelances for KANSAS! magazine, the Kansas Leadership Center Journal and The Nature Conservancy of Kansas. In 2018, Tanner was named a “Kansas Finest” by the Travel Industry of Kansas.

“Now, although I am rusty on these next skills, I know the basic principles and premise for de-bloating a steer, running a chain-saw, raising a fine crop of tomatoes, and saddling a horse,” Tanner said. “In my lifetime, I have bucked bales, fixed fence, jump-started vehicles, renovated buildings and sloshed through muck. Those skills usually get me by in most situations.”

Participants are invited to bring their own “quirky” personal Kansas stories to share. Refreshments will be served. Admission is free; doors open at 1:30 p.m. The Santa Fe Trail Center Museum located 2 miles west of Larned on K-156.