Faron Wahl, Manager
For many years beginning in 1985, David Letterman’s show boasted the popular nightly “Top 10 List”. It became such a boon of late night TV that when the show moved to a different network, NBC tried to block the sketch’s use, claiming it to be their own “intellectual property”.
We’re drawn to notice and create such lists of ten. Casey Kasem’s famous “American Top 40” show eventually spun off a subsidiary “American Top 10”. An internet search will produce countless sites boasting the “best top 10’s” of every possible topic, even allowing you to discover your top 10 of all top 10’s. Why not?
Not to be left out of this long-running societal fanfare, here we go with the Top 10 Reasons for Visiting Prairie Village This Year:
10. History matters. It collectively comprises our very identity, imparts wisdom, and guides future public action. In my opinion, this one alone provides ample reason without the other nine.
9. Wise author, theorist, and philosopher Edmund Burke said so. “In history, a great volume is unrolled for our instruction, drawing the materials of future wisdom from the past errors and infirmities of mankind”.
8. History, fresh air, and exercise in one package. Most of us can use all three of these, and frankly, they make for an offering that’s better than most ways you can spend your day.
7. There’s more here than you might remember. Just since we opened for 2017, I’ve had multiple conversations with folks who are positively taken aback when they learn what we offer. Particularly surprised are people who haven’t been back for a while but thought they knew what was here. Most hadn’t seen it all previously, and we’ve grown our offerings since.
6. An original wood carousel you can’t experience anywhere else. These American treasures were popular at fairs 100 years ago; now they’ve vanished. Ours will return during 2017, full restored yet historically sound. As best we can learn, there isn’t another one like it out there still operating for the public, much less operable by steam.
5. Two designations on the National Register of Historic Places. The U.S. Department of the Interior doesn’t just toss these nuggets out like candy at a parade. We’re proud to roster two positions on their national listing: our carousel and the chapel car Emmanuel.
4. We offer a great value. At an admission of $5.00 for adults, $4.50 for seniors, and $2.00 for kids 6-12, you’ll have trouble finding a better deal for the family. A season pass is a better bargain yet. And $4.00 to ride a train? That simply won’t be matched anywhere.
3. Your ancestors would be proud of you. Typical family roots trace to the settling of rural America, and it’s a pretty short path. Those in your family line who came before you and bravely settled these parts would certainly assume you care to absorb how they did it and what they endured. We owe it to them to keep their honorable memory alive and accurate.
2. Netflix can wait. Were you really going to camp out on the sofa to watch that Netflix movie while the sun is up and there are things like this to do outside? Those spend-y visual effects will look better on your screen after dark anyway, and the popcorn will taste better later too.
1. A child in your life needs it. Whether it’s your own kid, a neighbor or grandchild, or any other youngster you can think of who is silently begging for some honest one-on-one time with a trusted adult or mentor, this is a wonderful place to invest that time. The need is heavy out there. Think about it.
