​     The Purple Peace Foundation’s Cruise for Consciousness car show returns to Armstrong Park this Sunday, August 1st from 11:00am—3:00pm. Over 300 cars are expected at the event.
     While car enthusiasts are excited to have the opportunity to connect after a year off due to COVID-19, families like Shannon Walter’s understand what the car show means to the people the Foundation serves.
     The Purple Peace Foundation, started in 2012 in memory of Amanda Brady, who died in 2011 from a seizure, serves families impacted by epilepsy.
     Cole Colledge, now 20 and working full-time at Sam’s Club, has been involved with the Foundation for several years.     
     Cole’s mom, Shannon Walter, said she reached out to the Foundation not long after Cole’s diagnosis after seeing a post about the car show.
     “We have just become family since then. Without this organization, I really don’t know where I’d be today,” Walter said.
      “As a parent, I’m his care taker and his voice. There are many things I didn’t know. It’s like being a new parent all over again. Having a support group for myself, my son, and my daughter has meant the world to us.”
     One the most memorable experiences the family was able to have thanks to the support of the Foundation was a trip to Disneyland for its annual Epilepsy Awareness Day. While a trip to the happiest place on earth is wonderful, Walter said the access to countless resources and tools for families is the real draw.
     “You are able to have conversations with doctors, lawyers, service providers. You name it, they have every resource there.”
     One of the best parts of their involvement with Purple Peace Foundation is the normalcy they feel at activities with families who also deal with epilepsy.
     “I know my son says he feels ‘normal’ with the group. If someone has a seizure during an event, everyone jumps into action, but it is manageable and no one feels strange about it,” Walter said. 
     “When this has happened to another person at an event, I have been able to say, ‘See, you aren’t alone.’.” 
     There is no cost to attend the car show on Sunday. For more information on the Foundation, visit www.purplepeacefoundation.org.
 

​     The Board of Aldermen approved a resolution to enter into an agreement with candid, LLC for branding services as outlined in the City’s strategic plan during its July 26th meeting.                
      “The main deliverable of the project is a ‘brand position’ which in its simplest form will define how Grain Valley differs from other cities and how we can stand apart, while making sure we portray the most accurate image of the city as possible,” Deputy City Administrator Theresa Osenbaugh said.                
     A new logo and tagline for the City, related marketing materials, along with branding guidelines for staff are included in the overall package. Osenbaugh emphasizes these elements are but a piece of how the City’s brand will be communicated.    
     “The brand position will largely be formed from the qualitative and quantitative research which will include the direct input of the community. As we look to attract more businesses, amenities, residents and travelers, it is imperative that Grain Valley communicates exactly what makes us the best choice for relocation or tourism.”
     The contract with candid, LLC, a Lee’s Summit based firm, totals $33,500; $19,400 to be paid in 2021, with the balance paid in 2022. Research and key messaging sessions will begin in August, with the targeted completion date of March 2022.
     In other business, the Board also approved a resolution to continue construction of phase 2 of the pedestrian trail at Blue Branch Creek. Phase 2 will provide connectivity between the Sni-A-Bar Farms neighborhoods and the high school campus and downtown corridor.
     The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Aldermen will be Monday, August 9, 2021 at 7:00pm in Council Chambers at City Hall.
 

     The Board of Aldermen approved a resolution to enter into an agreement with candid, LLC for branding services as outlined in the City’s strategic plan during its July 26th meeting.                
      “The main deliverable of the project is a ‘brand position’ which in its simplest form will define how Grain Valley differs from other cities and how we can stand apart, while making sure we portray the most accurate image of the city as possible,” Deputy City Administrator Theresa Osenbaugh said.                
     A new logo and tagline for the City, related marketing materials, along with branding guidelines for staff are included in the overall package. Osenbaugh emphasizes these elements are but a piece of how the City’s brand will be communicated.    
     “The brand position will largely be formed from the qualitative and quantitative research which will include the direct input of the community. As we look to attract more businesses, amenities, residents and travelers, it is imperative that Grain Valley communicates exactly what makes us the best choice for relocation or tourism.”
     The contract with candid, LLC, a Lee’s Summit based firm, totals $33,500; $19,400 to be paid in 2021, with the balance paid in 2022. Research and key messaging sessions will begin in August, with the targeted completion date of March 2022.
     In other business, the Board also approved a resolution to continue construction of phase 2 of the pedestrian trail at Blue Branch Creek. Phase 2 will provide connectivity between the Sni-A-Bar Farms neighborhoods and the high school campus and downtown corridor.
     The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Aldermen will be Monday, August 9, 2021 at 7:00pm in Council Chambers at City Hall.
 

    Local officials, in an effort to combat a  significant rise in virus cases and hospitalizations in the region, have begun instituting mask mandates and vaccination efforts. In Eastern Jackson County, the 14-day percent positive has tripled since June 6 and case counts have quadrupled.
     Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas announced July 28th the City will reinstate its indoor mask mandate regardless of vaccination status, effective 12:01am on Monday, August 2nd.
     Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who is running for the open U.S. Senate seat, was quick to announce he would sue to block the mandate. Schmitt filed a lawsuit Monday to block St. Louis area mask mandates.
     Jackson County Executive Frank White, Jr. announced a new health care mandate that requires all full-time and part-time County staff to show proof of full vaccination or receive weekly COVID-19 testing. The new policy takes effect on September 30.
     “The delta variant we’re fighting now is much more contagious and requires us to act with a sense of urgency,” White said.
     “Science and facts show the vaccine is the absolute best way protect ourselves and others from serious illness or death. Our new policy will help us ensure staff and guests to our facilities remain safe, while also improving our chances of defeating this virus once and for all.”
     Masks will continue to be a requirement in all county buildings and facilities for staff and visitors regardless of vaccination status.
     The City of Grain Valley has not implemented its own mask mandate, but is watching for news from Jackson County, according to Deputy City Administrator Theresa Osenbaugh.
     “As in the past, the City will watch closely for any health orders released by Jackson County as we fall under their jurisdiction. The City has not implemented our own mask or vaccine requirements. We have ensured all employees have been made aware of how they can obtain the vaccine but have not surveyed staff to identify who has been vaccinated,” Osenbaugh said.
 

    As is the case most weeks, I never know what to write about. I try to avoid too many personal stories about my own family members. But when your maternal family has been in the Grain Valley neighborhood since 1854, and your father’s family came in 1922, avoiding personal stories is rather difficult.
     Sometimes I look around the museum and I’m inspired by artifacts I see and sometimes a recent donation to the Historical Society provides a story. Many times, I rely on a picture for my inspiration. Such is the case this week. However, the photo I have chosen is my mother.
     My mother was the second daughter of Loren “Elmer” and Mittie Rumbo. Elmer came to Grain Valley from Kentucky but Mittie was born in Grain Valley, as was her mother, Anne (Herrington) Sanders. Mom had one sister, Opal. My mother attended 12 years of school, 5 in the original brick building, one year in a church, and her final 6 in the “new” two-story, built in 1926 after the fire. She graduated salutatorian of her class in 1932. While she had planned to attend college, it was not to be. On Christmas Day, 1931, Grandfather Rumbo’s feed store burned to the ground. It was during the Great Depression; the family business was destroyed and college was no longer an option.
     She moved to Sni Mills for about a year. She lived with her married sister and worked at the Sni Mills general store which was owned by Opal (sister) and Clyde Fristoe. Soon Clyde bought a grocery store in Grain Valley and my mother returned to live with her parents in the house where she was born. I think she had various retail clerk jobs around town until March 25, 1937, when she and my father were married. After a honeymoon on the East Coast, they returned to the “little house” at Sni-A-Bar. My mother ran the boarding house and she often noted that “my salary was $150 per month and your father only made $100 per month!” I think she had to pay the woman who helped her prepared meals for the Sni-A-Bar workers.
    They left Sni-A-Bar in 1942, and after managing a dairy farm in Fowlerville, Michigan (1942-45), they moved to Lee’s Summit, Kirksville, Tarkio, North Kansas City, Independence, and Lake Tapawingo. After WW II, my dad was employed by a number of large cattle operations to get the purebreds ready for a dispersal sale.  They returned to Grain Valley in 1949 with two children, one ready to start first grade. They purchased Loring Hardware, later known as Napier Hardware.
     My mother worked at our hardware store. She kept the books, ordered and stocked merchandise, and waited on the costumers. But just before Christmas in 1959, another huge fire destroyed the family business. Napier Plumbing & Heating continue after the fire and she continued to “keep the books.” In January 1961 my parents bought the school buses in Grain Valley and Oak Grove. They operated Napier Bus Service until 1983. In 1973, with the gas shortage in full swing, they bought DX Travel Mart in Oak Grove In order to have enough gasoline to run the buses in Oak Grove and Lone Jack. And mom continued to “keep the books.”
     In between, she raised two children and made sure that they both graduated from college. I think that was her only disappointment in life, she wanted to go to college; she wanted to be an accounting teacher. She would have been a good one!
     If you would like to know more about Grain Valley history, homes, businesses, or people, drop me an email. If I don’t know, I will try and find out for you.
     Visit the Grain Valley Historical Society during its Missouri Centennial Celebration through August 15th. The museum, located at 506 Main, will be open Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 10:00am—4:00pm, and Sunday from 1:00pm—4:00pm. 
 

​     The Grain Valley cross country team is gearing up for the upcoming fall season this summer, meeting five days per week to run on various trails in the Eastern Jackson County area.
     Last season, the girls team qualified for state, finishing 16th, and will return three of its top six runners. On the boys side, Grain Valley has a younger team full of runners that are looking to make their first appearance at the Missouri State High School Cross Country Championships.
     That’s why the Eagles have been putting in a lot of work over the summer. So far, the summer camps have been going well, according to head coach Nick Small. Small said there should be 20 runners each for the boys and girls teams when the season starts in late August.
     “Our numbers have looked pretty good, but we have a lot of kids on vacation right now,” Small said. “”Most days we meet off campus so we can change the scenery a little bit.”
     “We have a lot of fresh new faces joining us and the veteran runners have been doing well, too.”
     Some of the trails the teams have run on include Little Blue Trace Trail in Independence, Lake Jacomo, and Burr Oaks Woods in Blue Springs.
     “We have put in hundreds of miles every day,” Carson Hill, a transfer from West Virginia said.
     Added Nathan Allen: “We have been training our bodies for different layouts, so we can get ready for the races we have coming up.”
     The summer training has also included some shorter runs on the track at Grain Valley High School.
     “We have done some sprint workouts and shorter runs in intervals,” Payton Bell said. “We have been doing some 400 (meter runs) on repeat today.”
     The girls team will be young but return a few from the 2020 team that qualified for state. One of those runners will be Ella Casey, who led the girls with a 99th place finish at state. About four runners will return that have varsity experience.
     “We will have a younger team because we graduated a lot of seniors last year,” Casey said. “I think our goal is to get as many to state as we can. I want to make it to state and (earn a personal-record time).”
     For the boys, Small is looking for some new faces to step up and provide a spark as it will have mostly freshman runners.
     “Carson has come right in and stepped into a leadership role,” Small said. “He’s taking it on really well. We have mixed in some of our juniors from last year and we also have Nathan Allen joining us from the track team.”
     Having such a young team could make it a little more difficult to advance far in the postseason, but some runners on the boys are confident this team can make an impact.
     “We want to make it to state and finish in the top 10,” Mason McCain said. “I want to break the school record and get a medal at state.”
     Grain Valley’s first meet will be Aug. 28 at home, and Small said his team has prepared well for the start of the fall season.
     “Our kids usually do a pretty good job of stepping up when they need to, and I can see that already with their mindset and their training,” Small said.
 

​     The Grain Valley tennis program has had a lot of success in recent years and the 2020-21 school year was no exception.
     Last fall, the doubles team of Chelsea Gorden and Finley LaForge made the state semifinals before finishing fourth, the first duo in the history of the program to do so. On the boys side, this spring, twin brothers Carter and Cade Compton made it to the state boys doubles tournament and took eighth.
     This season, Grain Valley hopes to sustain the success a few of its players had last season as more than 20 athletes participated in a summer cap last Tuesday and Wednesday at the high school.
     So far, veteran head coach Randy Draper has liked what he’s seen.
    “There are things these guys and girls are trying to add to their game and work on this summer, and this camp helps with that,” Draper said. “A lot of them are playing in tournaments that help them keep sharp.
     “The high school tennis season is really short, so you have to get better outside the season or you’re behind. I am pleased. We have some good players and I like the way they are hitting the ball.”
     A lot of the work players have been doing during summer camp has involved working on forehand shots and Draper’s personal favorite shot, volleys. The players have said the work they do during the camps has been beneficial.
     “We have been working on doubles of course because it makes everyone better,” Gorden said. “We all have been in Summer Slam Tournaments, too, getting some work in before the season.”
     Added LaForge: “There is a lot of team bonding that goes on during this time. We get to know each other really well. Every practice, we keep getting better and better.”
     The Compton brothers echoed those sentiments.
     “This gives us a chance to get better,” Carter Compton said. “We’re off the whole summer, so it gives us time to get better. My serve was bad, so I have used the summer to work on that.”
     Not only that, but Draper has also had the girls play against the guys in scrimmages, which give the camps a unique dynamic.
     “I grew up with the Comptons, so it’s pretty fun to play against them,” Gorten said. “They were new to tennis and they had a really successful season. It’s nice to have new competition because girls tennis and guys tennis are pretty different. The guys hit a lot harder.”
    Kade Compton admitted the girls put up a tough fight against the boys.
     “It’s pretty even,” He said. “Coach Draper splits everyone up. It’s pretty fun.”
     The girls team will play this fall and will likely return most of its top six singles players from last season, including LaForge and Gorden. While many of the players will still be underclassmen, the majority of players will have at least one varsity season under their belts.
     “We had three freshmen in our top six last year,” Draper said. “We are still young, we are just more experienced this time and we have some good senior players that will help us.”
     While LaForge and Gorden said they hope to make it back to the girls doubles tournament and do even better than they did last year, they have some big team goals as well.
      “We want to make it to state as a team,” LaForge said. “We were pretty close last year. This year, we are taking a big step forward. Everyone is putting in a lot of work.”
     On the boys side, the Comptons are the only returning players that were in the top six for singles. Draper will depend on a lot of newer players to fill in the remaining four spots.
     “Those guys are really good,” Draper said of the Comptons. “We have some other guys that are working hard, too. We lost some really good players from last year’s team and we have some young guys trying to step into those spots.
     The first official practice for the girls team is Aug. 9. The boys will start their season in March 2022.
 

​     We love summer, don’t we?  In about May, people start asking each other about summer plans. We launch our annual bathing suit diet (and yes, I typed that with a straight face...) Breweries begin advertising their fruity summer offerings. Baseball standings grace the paper’s front page.  Our neighborhood pools become the daily hangout.
     Dinners just naturally get served later, as the day light extends. Supper at 8:00? Sure, why not? The Europeans do it, we think. Let’s eat on the patio! Fireworks tents pop up everywhere, and the neighborhood bombers build up their stash. Self-tanners replace winter dry skin potions on drugstore shelves.
     Convertible owners make their annual attempt to make the rest of us peasants jealous, as they roll those tops down, don cute, sporty hats, and play their music just loud enough at stop lights to makes us take a second glance.
     Large family reunions start giving t-shirt printers all the business they need, as the Jones, and the Smiths, and the Roberts families gather generations together to lie and swap stories and mourn those who are gone. Rock salt disappears off store shelves to be used in the slushy ice mix on the outside of a hand cranked ice cream maker, and I don’t mind telling you how sorry I feel for those of you who never got to have my Nanny’s burnt sugar ice cream straight from her White Mountain freezer.
     Even musical artists get in on the action, right?  Every generation has a song or two that make them think of summer.  While Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer” might not have been your jam, I can still sing most of the lyrics. Maybe the Beach Boys’ “California Girls” makes you think of the ocean. They wish they all could be California girls?  What about us Missouri chicks with Iodine and baby oil farmer’s tans?
      Or if you are old school, can’t you just imagine George Gershwin penning “Summertime” on the fire escape of his stylish New York apartment in the stifling heat, thinking he better write another song to pay for that stylish New York apartment?  Old George had us thinking about easy summer living and catfish practically jumping from the water onto our line.
   I truly am a sucker for the sights and sounds of summer. You can find my nose jammed into a bottle of Coppertone’s original suntan lotion, the stuff we wore before we knew we were supposed to block the sun, inhaling the scent of that tropical concoction.
     I am pretty sure fresh peaches is what Heaven will smell like, and I don’t even have the words to describe the smell of a rain shower on a summer day except to say I just love it—earthy, damp, promising. I even like the powdery yet medicinal smell of the calamine lotion we used as kids to cover the tops of the mosquito bites we had scratched open.
     And the sounds that accompany summer are pretty good, too.  Early morning lawnmowers and weed whackers that bother some folks don’t disrupt my sleep at all. The thwunk of a paper hitting the driveway reminds me of fair-haired boys I once crushed on, making a little bit of money on their paper routes.
     Kids with grass stuck all over their bare legs, shrieking in the sprinklers, with their pffft pffft pffft pffft noise. Concerts of crickets and cicadas as the sun sets. For those of us of an age, the scratchy sound of a drive in movie coming through a rusty speaker attached to a car door is a great summer memory.
    Maybe for you it is the hiss of a well-seasoned steak hitting the glowing grill or the neighbor’s wind chimes, which irritate you during all the other seasons, but during the summer seem just about right. And the hssssst a pop top makes when somebody reaches into a cold cooler and opens a soda can is something we all know. 
    A creamy orange push pop or a dipped cone costs a lot more than it used to, but it is the perfect treat through lots of generations, and kids love the tinkly, tinny sound of the ice cream truck music as it rumbles through the neighborhood, like a siren’s call hearkening sailors.
     When you are a mom or a spouse, the sounds of summer might take on a little different twist. At my house this year, those sounds have just about put me over the edge, and the typical daily playlist rings a little more domestic. 
     It starts with a slamming screen door, because who would want to gently close it as you go out to the deck to have your coffee, when if you let it slam it might wake up everybody in the house? 
     Maybe it is the squeak the cabinet makes when someone opens it to get our ANOTHER glass  which they will eventually leave on a table somewhere to make another dewy water ring. The breaking of the seal on the refrigerator door as it opens to the food- seeker, one who stands looking for just the right FIRST snack of the day, is never pleasant to a mom’s ears.
    This summer, I have heard the air conditioner constantly laboring, as a certain 15 year old decides she is hot from “lurching” around the neighborhood, and lowers the temp to cool down. But I can just barely hear the air conditioner over the television left running in another room since early morning.
    At my house, the background music is always a running washing machine, chugging its way through yet another load of the clothes my family has worn for four minutes and then discarded in the hamper, nestled right next to the damp towel they used for the third shower that day; or maybe its companion the dishwasher, running another half-full load so no one has to fill a sink with hot soapy water for the good old hand washed look.
    One of my least favorite soundtracks is the groan that comes when I wake my teen before noon, followed by the loud protest that it is still early. It just barely beats out the rushed requests at the window of the car as I head out to the grocery to please buy more ice cream, frozen lemonade, and grapes. If you read that with a whine, you are right on track.
     Driving to work today, I hit on a radio station running a marathon of summer songs:  “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini”, possibly one the longest but most fun song titles ever; “Under the Boardwalk”, which somehow seems more ominous to me now; and “Summer Lovin’” from Grease, filled with all its innuendo. By the time “Summer Breeze”, a song from my era came on, I was singing along, oblivious to the less exciting soundtrack playing at home.      
     Happy summer, ya’ll. I hope today you eat a piece of fresh fruit, catch of whiff of chlorine from the pool, or think of an old summer love.  I know I will!
    Cathy is a retired public school English teacher and Public Information Officer.
 

​     Have you been to California, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, or Nevada?  How  about  Glasgow, Paris, or Madrid?
     They are all within a short drive because they are all towns in Missouri.
     According to the 2010 U. S. Census,  Florida is currently  listed as an uninhabited village with a population of 0. Geographically, it is within the Mark Twain State Park. Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site has the two-room rented cabin Samuel Clemens – Twain’s real name – was born in, first editions of many of the author’s works, a handwritten manuscript of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and many of the furnishings from Twain’s Connecticut home. The site also has a public reading room for personal study and research.
     If you are a fan of Clemons, it is well worth a visit. By the way, it is in Monroe County, not far from Paris or Mexico.
 

​     For 26 years, Truman Heartland Community Foundation has recognized the volunteer and philanthropic spirit in communities throughout Eastern Jackson County at the annual Toast to Our Towns Gala. This special event is a formal celebration of local philanthropy—an opportunity to recognize those individuals and businesses who go above and beyond to make our towns better places to live, work, and serve.
     We invite all those living in the area to join us on September 25 at the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center for this extraordinary celebration of community service. Presented by Blue Ridge Bank and Trust Company and benefiting Truman Heartland Community Foundation, the Toast of our Towns Gala will be an evening to remember.
     The night begins at 6:00pm with a cocktail reception hosted by TruckMovers, followed by dinner. There will be a short awards program to recognize the remarkable impact of those individuals and businesses who have given so freely of their time, talent, and resources. 
     Following the program, guests will continue to celebrate our honored guests at a lively Mix, Mingle, and Music after-party, hosted by GEHA. Jim and Mary Stilley of Lee's Summit will be presented with the Heartland Humanitarians of the Year award for their steadfast dedication and advocacy for youth and adult education programs, cutting-edge medical technologies, issues of diversity and inclusion, and the science of climate change.
     Continental Siding will receive the Heartland Service Award for outstanding philanthropy to both the Independence community and their close-knit family of employees, ensuring at least some stability during a very unstable year. Local Mayors of will honor their Citizens of the Year at the event, describing how each has made a positive change in the region: Blue Springs will recognize Cindy Miller and Dale Carter, Grain Valley will recognize David Ward, Independence will recognize Karen Downey, Lake Tapawingo will recognize Tom Goddard, Lee's Summit will recognize Bob & Candy White, Oak Grove will recognize Maeghan Timothy, Raytown will recognize Stan Sagehorn, and Sugar Creek will recognize Allan Thompson.
     And finally, we will recognize the outstanding leadership of local healthcare heroes from six local hospitals who worked selflessly and tirelessly in their hospitals throughout the pandemic to keep the rest of us safe and healthy. Those being honored are Dr. Lorraine Duncan with Centerpoint Medical Center, Laura Peckham with Truman Medical Center-Lakewood, Angela Haley with St. Mary's Hospital, Dr. John Ireland with Lee's Summit Medical Center, Susie Krug with Saint Luke's East Hospital, and Amy Latimer with Children's Mercy Hospital East.
     We hope you will join us for this celebration as we honor these individuals who have made a significant difference in our community. Although their areas of impact are quite varied, they are united by a common goal, improving and enriching their local communities. 
     Truman Heartland Community Foundation is delighted to bring this in-person event back to our supporters in 2021. Like everyone else, THCF had to pivot to digital last year due to COVID. So, the opportunity to gather once again and celebrate our local communities and these very special people holds even more meaning.
     The 2021 Toast of our Towns Gala will not be a socially distanced event, and guests are advised to follow all applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines to ensure the health and safety of all our guests.
     You can learn more about the Truman Heartland Community Foundation honorees, event sponsorship opportunities, and individual tickets sales at www.THCF.org/Gala or by calling 816.836.8189.