The Goekler males wit their bikes and gear: (from left) Caden, Isaac, Ryan and Canyon. The boys seem to have found their competitive niche with cross-country mountain bike racing on trails in state parks around Kansas. Don Ratzlaff / Free Press Bonding by biking. That?s the strategy one Hillsboro family has chosen as way to combine ?together time? with physical […]

Hillsboro native Amy Cameli and her family pulled their car off on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 56 between Canton and Lehigh Saturday evening so she could photograph a full rainbow perched on the southeast Kansas horizon. The Cameli family, who reside in Georgia, were on the way to visit Joel Klaassen, founding publisher of the Free Press, and wife […]

? Planners blend new events with tradition. An assistant to the judge takes the leash from Morgan Gaines of Peabody during the obedience portion of the 4-H Dog Show Saturday morning at the fairgrounds in Hillsboro. The show was the first 4-H event prior to the official start of the Marion County Fair today. A second 4-H event, the annual […]

? Despite challenges, the Marion County Fair offers affordable family entertainment. Even under the best of circumstances, county fair planners are challenged annually to create an entertainment environment that will attract a general public that seems underwhelmed by anything less than a Worlds of Fun experience. In a perfect world, effort would be rewarded proportionally with public response. If that […]

We may be far-removed from an island, but we?re living in its time zone this summer. Our family has limited commitments right now, and I?m relishing in the slowed-down pace of summertime. So when the calendar flipped to July, I had a brief moment of panic when I realized school shopping was a mere month away. But with 36 days […]

We spent a week in Champaign, Ill., recently and it was so great to see our daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law from Germany. We also spent time with my two brothers. The last face-to-face meeting we had with the German-side of the family was two years ago when we traveled to Berlin, Germany. So much has changed since then. Our granddaughter, […]

Our family just wrapped up our third birthday celebration in three months. The first of the three was mine. Then an art party for my oldest. Then a ?Frozen? party for my middle. Until I realized how exhausting it could be, I thought it was so clever to have our birthdays in a row: March, April, May, June. I wanted […]

It’s the simple things in life that are sometimes the most gratifying. Lindsey and I had the joy of spending a recent Saturday evening with Lindsey?s sister and my brother-in-law. Often when we get together for a night out, we spend time eating something delicious, chatting, and the evening usually ends with a good old-fashioned board game. We have played […]

Granddaughters Grace and Lucia are only three months shy of their fifth birthday. Each time we visit their family, they seem to have grown by 2 inches or more. In some ways, they exceed their age in wisdom by far. This week, I was on the receiving end of some of their satirical humor. As I sat down for breakfast […]

In 270 A.D., the Roman Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young battle-worthy males because he believed married men made second-rate soldiers. He wanted a land full of fighters, not lovers. A born romantic turned bishop named Valentine believed that marriage was intended by God and refused to obey this law. To aide in continuing this natural process, he continued […]