Party on The Green

Here in Matfield Green, it's like April in October: Electric green baby grass is poking up through bare rocky soil.  Not on the surrounding hills like after spring pasture burns, but at “The Green”, our new park on the Flint Hills Scenic Byway (KS-177). Fueled by major gifts from The Kemper Family Foundations, The Ard Foundation, Mary and  Mike James and an anonymous board director, we launched construction on The Green -- a rest area, park, and bicycle support station. The park is owned and maintained by the nonprofit Matfield Green Works and open to the public. The accessible toilet -- the only public facility on a 27-mile stretch from Cassoday to Cottonwood Falls -- is already being used by travelers, railroad workers and county employees. A multilevel watering station is in operation, offering a drink bowl for dogs, a wheelchair-height fountain, and a bottle refilling port.

Pads have been poured for a sheltered picnic…