Writing Screenplay (Overland Park, Kansas City, Hutchinson: schools, live in, centers)

[docudramaqueen]

I'm writing a screenplay set in a small town in Kansas, population 2,000 or less.

I'm interested in knowing if small Kansas towns have local town fairs, with carnival rides, etc. Or do you attend larger county and state fairs? Do you have small time carnivals come through town in the summer?

Also, do any of you live in towns that have small drug/alcohol treatment in-patient facilities?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[starlie]

The small towns in Kansas often have special celebrations unique to them. For example Fowler has Threshing Days, Wilson has a Czech Festival, Hays has an Octoberfest, Garden City has the Tumbleweed Festival. Tribune has their own "carnival" with rides that they use for their county 4-H fair, most of the other towns I'm familiar with have an amusement company that travels through...Ottaway Amusements or The Pride of Texas Carnival. I'm sure there are others...
Each county has a county 4-H fair and then there is the State Fair in Hutchinson...
I'm not familiar with any in-patient treatment facilities. The only ones I've heard of are in Norton or perhaps bigger cities.

[heavensrockin]

I know of a drug treatment program in Osawatomie, Kansas. It is on the grounds of the State Hospital there. I believe you would probably find drug treatment centers in most state hospital facilities. Unfortunately, most have to go to cities much larger than the 2,000 population that you mention as the town in your story.

I am in Paola, Kansas and our folks have to go to the Kansas City area. Often people who need drug treatment don't own a vehicle in running condition or have lost their license for DUI's, etc. Transportation to the recovery resources is a huge problem. I could probably go on forever about this subject.

I am the director of a transitional housing program and am somewhat familiar with this subject. If I can be of further assistance you can email me at jaypreston@my-fathers-house.com.

[MaryFrances]

Hi,
I happened to be looking for information on Paola Kansas, and saw your note.
I live in a small town of about 4,000, and we are 25 miles from Overland Park, so that's pretty close to do any big city stuff. Many of the small towns in the area have their own festivals and civic events. Spring Hill has a fall festival that has occurred for over 50 years, with a large parade and many activities, including fireworks, street dances, we had a circus this year, car shows and craft shows. We also had our hometown holiday celebration last weekend with school kids singing, the mayor lighting the christmas tree, Santa and Ms. Claus, and many fun things for the kids to do. We raffle off items to raise money for the community. It's great and there are many small town papers that can give you information on many of these events.

Hope this helps

[straw hat]

In some of the small towns founded by the German settlers, you can often find an October fest. Most small towns have the founders day fair. However we do not get many small carnivals passing through, we don’t spend enough money to make it worth while. Our fair board tries to get one to however all they could get was one with a couple of kiddy rides. Most counties still have the county fair for 4-H kids and a State Fair once a year. Around here we have city wide yard sale. Church is still a big part of the get to gathers.

[2005hawk]

Interesting questions. Most towns as small as you've inquired about (2,000 or less) do not have their own fairs, but almost every town, regardless of size, has some form of a festival. In Kansas, fairs are generally considered to include amusement, like a carnival, agricultural shows and competitions (livestock and crop/plant), a parade, food or cooking competitions. And sometimes, one or all of the following: a rodeo, a tractor pull, car races, demolition derbys, concerts, etc.

Most towns in Kansas with less than 2,000 people do not have fairs in this meaning of the word, though most do have one small festival that is either ethnically-related, food-related, harvest-related or is somehow related to the local churches or schools.

I would think that very few, if any towns with <2,000 population have in-patient treatment centers, though some towns with a population of 5,000 to 20,000 do (probably most that size do). Good luck with the screen play.

[ladydeann]

I am in Hesston, KS and for homecoming weekend the town does a big thing...well for a small town..its a big thing!
No carnival, but there is a car show, crafts fair, city wide garage sale, parade, bonfire, car smash, movie on the hill, most of it is geared around the homecoming football game...but they try to make it last the whole weekend...it is fun.

There are also a lot of little things that Churchs do throughout the year and block parties!

[docudramaqueen]

Thanks to all of you who responded to my questions regarding small towns in Kansas. I'll keep you posted as to whether or not I ever get this screenplay written. :-) All the posts were very informative.