Month: June 2022

Speech planned today on Santa Fe Trail and Hispanic entrepreneurs

A speech is planned at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at the Wyandotte County Museum about the role of Hispanic entrepreneurs and the Santa Fe Trail.

Dr. Gene T. Chavez will present the interactive discussion.

The Santa Fe Trail, a commercial route opened in 1821 between Missouri and New Mexico, included Hispanic and American entrepreneurs who made the trail a two-way international trade route, encouraging a cultural exchange between two nations.

Dr. Chavez is historian-in-residence at the Kansas City Museum, and Board of trustees member at Wyandotte County Historical Society and Museum.

Sponsored by the Wyandotte County Historical Society, the program is free and open to the public.

Re-enactors at museum Saturday and Sunday

The Wyandotte County Museum, near 126th and State Avenue, is the host of a living history event June 25 and 26.

The event is named “Buchanan’s Blunder: 1858.”

Re-enactors are in front of the museum, inside Wyandotte County Park at Bonner Springs, portraying an expedition from the 1850s preparing to fight in the West.

There will be training exercises, mounted horses, firing demonstrations and organization re-enactments.

The event is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.

The schedule includes:
9 a.m., troop parades in individual camps;
10 a.m., infantry drill;
11 a.m., artillery demo;
noon, roll call dinner (food provided only for reenactors);
1 p.m. Gov. Cummings speech portrayed by Ralph Monaco;
2 p.m., “Hispano Capitalistas and the Development of International Trade Along the Santa Fe Trail” presentation in Wyandotte County Museum auditorium by Dr. Gene T. Chavez;
2 p.m., dragoon drill (mounted and dismounted);
3 p.m., artillery demo;
3:30 p.m., evening parade.