Up to 8,000 people from all over the world descend on Lake Shawnee every year, and will again for the 20th year in a row September 3, 4 and 5 for the Shawnee County Allied Tribes’ Inter-Tribal Pow Wow. It attracts attendees from local regions as close as Oklahoma, Nebraska and Missouri and from as [...]

To start everything off, first an explanation, then a confession. I’m not from Topeka. I’m not even from the Midwest. I moved here when I was younger, moved away, moved back again, moved away again, moved back again—and I believe there’s a couple more away-and-back moves in there. The point is, I’ve been inconsistent—Topeka’s on-again, [...]

The Jayhawk Theater is a historic, cave-like structure encapsulated in a space between the Jayhawk Tower and the modern-day Upstage Gallery in downtown Topeka. In its heyday, it was host to legendary performers like Bob Hope and George Burns, Vaudeville shows, a million goose bump-inducing cinematic moments, on-stage wartime marriages and lots of necking in [...]