Little Balkans Days celebrates heritage of Southeast Kansas

August 30, 2008 09:21 pm

— By Andra Bryan Stefanoni
news@joplinglboe.com
PITTSBURG, Kan. — Loud boos and hisses filled Pittsburg’s Memorial Auditorium and Convention Center Saturday afternoon, but for the several hundred audience members attending the melodrama “Love Rides The Rails,” that just meant they were having a good time at the expense of the villain.
The production was part of the annual Little Balkans Days, an event started in 1984 to celebrate the heritage of Southeast Kansas. The area was nicknamed after the Balkans in Europe, where many of the community’s immigrant settlers — later employed largely by the railroad and the mines — originated.
This year’s event included numerous activities that were a nod to those early railroad and mining days.
Riding the rails
Approximately 250 people were on board the train for a 9 a.m. ride southwest to Chicopee, a ride that is a cooperative effort by Heart of the Heartlands and WATCO.
“This track was one that a lot of immigrants came in on to stay at the Europe Hotel in Pittsburg,” said Ron Morgan, a member of the Heart of the Heartland. “In the old days there would be coal smoke coming in all the windows. Now wouldn’t that be fun? But it beat riding a horse and it beat walking.”
Passengers heard such history from Morgan via a microphone during the 20-mile round-trip ride, and for many, like a group of students from China, it was a chance to slow down and see agricultural fields and wooded areas draped by autumn clematis and bordered by black-eyed Susans.
“I love trains, and I hardly ever miss a chance to see one or ride one,” said passenger Jonathan Dresner as he waited to board the train with his wife, Woody, and son, Max. “I grew up on the East Coast and loved listening to folk music, hobo music, train music.”
In front of the historic Colonial Fox Theater on Broadway, a marquee enticed passersby to take a tour of the theater, which is on its way to restoration and revival through the efforts of the Colonial Fox Foundation.
“We’ve had about 75 people come through already,” said Pat Jones, foundation member. “It is definitely generating more interest in getting it renovated, and it has been great to hear the memories of the people who used to go here. We’re taking those written narratives to compile and preserve — we have stacks and stacks of them so far.”
Book bargains
A few blocks away, a steady stream of festival-goers browsed tables of gently used books at the annual sale put on by Friends of the Pittsburg Public Library.
Now on the National Register of Historic Places, Pittsburg Public Library first opened its doors on Jan. 18, 1902, but the early days of the library, like the mines, was not without controversy.
According to library records, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie already was well known for his philanthropy towards libraries across the country, and the Pittsburg community approached him for much needed support.
His donation of $40,000 angered the miners of the area and in order to appease them, the board agreed to leave the Carnegie name off of the front of the proposed building. It was one of the few Carnegie libraries built in Prairie Style architecture, another concession to the miners who did not want an elaborate, ornate facility.
Today’s library patrons said it continues to play an important part in the community for its free access to printed resources, but also for its special programming throughout the year that is geared toward children, young adults and adults.
Kathy Stuckey, president of the Friends group, said the annual sale is the primary funding source for the programs that to date have served 10,000 people — a feat the founding fathers of the library would consider admirable.
“I look forward to this sale all year. I return books I bought here last year and buy more, so it is sort of like I’m paying a rental fee to get them,” noted Colleen Brooks, Pittsburg, of her purchases, which included a stack of novels and biographies bought for between 50 cents and $1 each. “Most of them look brand new. Where else can you get such a bargain?”
Nearby in another of Pittsburg’s historic buildings, Memorial Auditorium, the 21st annual Little Balkans Days Quilt Show also saw a steady stream of festival-goers interested in seeing 153 entries.
“This is one of the biggest quilt shows in the Four-State Area,” said the show’s chair, Elma Hurt, a member of the Little Balkans Quilt Guild.
“It probably is partially because quilters love to show off their work —to many of us it is as exciting as Christmas — and it is for quilters to see others’ work and get inspired,” she said. “But one of our goals is to further the love and art of quilt making, and the important role it has in history.”
‘Dog Days’
At the newly-dedicated Pritchett Pavilion in downtown Immigrant Park, more Southeast Kansas heritage was brought to life by The Little Balkans Troupe, which presented “Dog Days in the Coal Camp,” an original compilation of narratives, songs and historical vignettes.
One, narrated by local performer Bill Sollner, described how an army of women — wives, mothers and sisters — protested the unfair working conditions their husbands, sons and brothers had to endure in the deep shaft coal mines of Southeast Kansas.
“The Governor of Kansas denounced the group, declaring the women ‘aliens’ and ‘foreign born’ and called in the National Guard and a machine gun regiment,” Sollner read. “It made headlines, and The New York Times dubbed the women the Amazon Army ...”
J.T. Knoll, who coordinated the Little Balkans Days Folklife Festival, served as emcee of the performance, which was attended by a packed house.
“This is what the heart and soul of Little Balkans Days is all about because by doing this we head back to the early days of immigration and honor not only the seekers who came here and formed this community but their descendants who have stayed here and made the area thrive,” Knoll said.
Other activities throughout the weekend included a petting zoo, carnival rides, car and motorcycle show, chili cook-off and arts and crafts show.
The event concludes today with a golf tournament, extended train ride to historic Corona Depot, a baseball tournament, a bocci tournament, the continued quilt show, a fishing derby and a family movie in the park.

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