Central Kansas Corvette Association
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    • Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines >
      • 2025: Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines >
        • Road Trip to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument May 2025
        • Drive and Dine to Dyck Arboretum and Three RIngs Brewery May 10, 2025
      • 2024: Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines >
        • Downtown Hutch Cars and Coffee at DCI Park: April 6th, 2024
        • Drive and Dine to Fly Boy Brewery and Eats in Sylvan Grove, KS: April 20th, 2024
        • Downtown Hutch Cars and Coffee at DCI Park: May 4th, 2024
        • Road Trip May 2024: Valley Falls, Topeka, Atchison, KS
        • Drive and Dine to El Cerrito Mexican Restaurant in Hesston, KS: May 18th, 2024
        • Downtown Hutch Cars and Coffee at DCI Park: June 1st, 2024
        • Corvette Drive-In at Three Rings Brewery: June 1st, 2024
        • Drive and Dine to Made from Scratch Restaurant in Wilson, KS: June 22, 2024
        • Downtown Hutch Cars and Coffee at DCI Park: July 6th, 2024
        • Downtown Hutch Cars and Coffee at DCI Park: August 3rd, 2024
        • Downtown Hutch Cars and Coffee at DCI Park: September 7th, 2024
        • Drive and Dine to Stearman Field Bar and Grill in Benton, KS September 28, 2024
        • Drive and Dine to Historic Wolf Hotel in Ellinwood, KS October 19, 2024
        • Drive and Dine to 72nd Annual Windom Lions Club Pancake Feed in Windom, KS November 9, 2024
      • 2023: Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines >
        • Drive and Dine March 2023: PJ's Bar and Grill
        • Road Trip May 2023: New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Colorado
        • Road Trip October 2023: Branson, Missouri
        • Road Trip October 2023: The Garage Automotive Museum in Salina, Kansas
        • Road Trip November 2023: McPherson College Automotive Restoration Program in McPherson, Kansas
      • 2022: Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines >
        • Road Trip May 2022: Nebraska, Iowa
      • 2021: Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines >
        • Road Trip April 2021: Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky, Illinois
      • 2020: Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines >
        • Mount Rushmore July 2020
      • 2019: Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines
      • 2018: Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines >
        • CKCA 50th Anniversary Celebration June 23, 2018
        • Colorado July 2018
      • 2017: Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines >
        • Bowling Green May 2017
      • 2016: Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines
      • 2015: Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines >
        • July 4th Parade 2015
        • BBQ July 2015
      • 2014: Road Trip, Events, Drive and Dines >
        • Corvettes at the Cosmosphere September 20, 2014
      • 2012 and 2013: Road Trips, Events, Drive and Dines >
        • Hutchinson Airport Picture Day
        • Escort of Veteran's Tribute June 12, 2013
    • CKCA Picnics >
      • CKCA Picnic at Rice Park September 21, 2024
      • CKCA Picnic at Rice Park, September 23, 2023
      • CKCA Picnic at Rice Park, September 2022
      • CKCA Picnic, September 2021
      • CKCA Picnic, September 26, 2020
      • CKCA Picnic, September 2015
      • CKCA Picnic, July 19, 2014
      • 1st Annual CKCA Picnic, July 2013
    • Car Shows >
      • Kansas State Fair: CKCA Invitational Car Show, September 15, 2024
      • Smoky Valley Classic Car Show, Lindsborg, KS, August 3, 2024
      • Veterans Benefit Car and Bike Show at the Red Shed, Hutchinson, KS, July 6, 2024
      • Annual Juneteenth Community Celebration Car Show, Hutchinson, KS, June 15, 2024
      • Rock the Block Car Show, Colwich, KS, June 9, 2024
      • 20th Anniversary Black Kettle Car Show, Moundridge, KS, June 1, 2024
      • Kansas State Fair: CKCA Invitational Car Show, September 17, 2023
      • 'Vettes & Harleys at the Hutchinson Zoo, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
      • Boo At The Zoo, October 2012
      • NCRS All Corvette Car Show, 2012
    • Downtown Hutchinson Rod Run and Classic Car Show
    • Downtown Hutchinson 'Third Thursdays'
    • CKCA Christmas Parties
  • CKCA History
    • Clarence 'Clay' Bontrager and the StingRat
    • The Kevin and Marina Brown Artifact Collection
    • The Fred and Jean Johnson Artifact Collection >
      • The Fred and Jean Johnson Artifact Collection, Meeting Minutes December 1969 to December 1974
      • The Fred and Jean Johnson Artifact Collection, Meeting Minutes January 1975 to June 1978
      • The Fred and Jean Johnson Artifact Collection, Newsletters May 1974 to March 1980
    • CKCA 50th Anniversary Celebration June 23, 2018
    • CKCA Cover Story: Blue Bars Magazine, Summer 2015
    • CKCA Cover Story: Blue Bars Magazine, Summer 2013
    • A Look Back at CKCA History, circa 2011 to 2013, by President Kevin Brown
    • CKCA's Early History: 1968 to 1990's
    • Vintage 'Member News' Page
    • Vintage Photos and Videos
  • Contact Us
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• CENTRAL KANSAS CORVETTE ASSOCIATION​ •

CKCA HISTORY


​Please mouse-over the CKCA HISTORY tab in the navigation bar above and
​click on the drop-down tabs ​to navigate to a specific item of interest.

Please CONTACT US if you have vintage CKCA-related photographs
​
you would like to see added to CKCA HISTORY.

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The first Central Kansas Corvette Association 'Drive & Dine' – Hutchinson, Kansas

​NOTE: Click on the photos below to open a larger version.

Webmaster note: The following essay was published in the Centennial Edition of The Hutchinson News in July 1972 – just four short years after the creation of the Central Kansas Corvette Association – and was penned by Editor Stuart Awbrey.

It is a rich tapestry of locally-relevant literary excellence, poignant and thought-provoking, prefacing Editor Awbrey's take on Hutchinson's first 100 years.

It seems entirely appropriate – indeed, obeisant – to re-publish this essay here, a half-century-plus after it was first published, a half-century-plus after the CKCA was first born, as we celebrate and chronicle our history, and heritage, on the pages of this humble website. To quote Mr. Awbrey:

"This is an attempt to capture a small parcel out of that rich storehouse, the heritage of our history. It is neither perfect nor complete, but it is an attempt.

"I hope you will agree with me, that it was worth trying."


– GH, 02/27/2024

A Preface

History is richly indifferent.


She notes man's passions and nature's vagaries. She sighs, shouts, and eventually shrugs, and then moves on to the next page. She lies pathologically, readjusts facts to fit her fancy, knows no compassion, and dissects humanity with the indifference of a surgical instructor. She has no soul.

So, this offering cannot be fairly described as "history."

Rather, it is an affectionate, anecdotal chronicling of 100 years in Hutchinson and Reno County. It makes no obeisance to Tolstoy, who believed in the grand design, nor to Henry Ford, who said history is bunk. It is not the lofty view, but is the chatter of the leathery-skinned old women over their tea cups; the student poring over faded newspaper clippings at the library; the wind rustling through the cottonwoods to tell us that no matter what we do here at Cow Creek and the Arkansas, we live and die, prosper, perish, or simply exist, by Nature's authority.

A further disclaimer: One hundred years is less than a moment in astronomic time. But it is long enough to make fables out of facts, and facts out of fables. Many stories herein are based on ambivalent evidence and the bias of reporters, editors, and old settlers. Some may even be distorted through pride and prejudice. We make no claim to impartiality in this affair.

I have never believed much in "progress," as usually defined. It does not increase happiness, strengthen moral fiber, deepen faith, generate brotherhood. Indeed, the case is strong that what we call "progress" works against man, makes him a more efficient killer, a less spiritual being, a disturbed animal plunging blindly on toward "more" and yet "more."

Why, then, should we look back on our 100 years, and try to peer ahead to the next 100, or even to next year? Because of a simple thing called "heritage." As Will and Ariel Durant explained, "If progress is real despite our whining, it is not because we are born any healthier, better, or wiser than infants were in the past, but because we are born to a richer heritage, born on a higher level...in the accumulation of knowledge and art...the heritage rises, and man rises in proportion as he receives it."

This is an attempt to capture a small parcel out of that rich storehouse, the heritage of our history. It is neither perfect nor complete, but it is an attempt.

I hope you will agree with me, that it was worth trying.

– Stuart Awbrey, Editor [The Hutchinson News – July, 1972]
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​KANSAS PRESS ASSOCIATION HALL OF FAME

Stuart Awbrey was born February 26, 1918, in El Paso, Texas, and raised in Kansas City, Mo. After graduating from the University of Missouri, he began his journalism career at the Emporia Gazette in 1938.

In September of that year, he moved to the News-Herald in Hutchinson. He was named editor-publisher of the Garden City Telegram in 1953 when the paper was acquired by the Harris Group of Hutchinson.

Awbrey was named editor of the Burlington Hawk Eye Gazette in 1957, but returned to Hutchinson where he was named editor and publisher of the News in 1975.

Awbrey was named editor and publisher of the Burlington paper in 1979, retiring as editor in 1984 and publisher the following year. He died in October, 1985, at age 67.

– Source: ​https://kspress.com/awbrey-stuart
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Stuart Awbrey, Editor – The Hutchinson News

Life advice from Stuart Awbrey:

• Maintain a sense of wonder.
• Dare to disturb the universe when it’s important.
• Keep your enthusiasm charged.
• Never lose the ability to be moved.


– Source: ​https://www.hutchnews.com/story/opinion/2022/03/29/stuart-aubrey-maintained-sense-wonder-and-enthusiasm-life/7201435001/

Page last updated: 06/11/2024
© Central Kansas Corvette Association
Hutchinson, KS
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