CENTRAL KANSAS CORVETTE ASSOCIATION
CKCA Members-Only Drive & Dine to Crown and Rye Restaurant
Lindsborg, KS
via:
• Cool Cars on Main Street: Coffee & Community at The Market at Little River
• Scenic cruise to Kanopolis Lake for group photos
• Happy Birthday Celebration for Wayne Strawder at the Crown and Rye!
Saturday, April 11, 2026
– Hosted by Gerald & Denise Haughton
CKCA Members-Only Drive & Dine to Crown and Rye Restaurant
Lindsborg, KS
via:
• Cool Cars on Main Street: Coffee & Community at The Market at Little River
• Scenic cruise to Kanopolis Lake for group photos
• Happy Birthday Celebration for Wayne Strawder at the Crown and Rye!
Saturday, April 11, 2026
– Hosted by Gerald & Denise Haughton
ATTENDEES:
Darwin & Nadine Henry, Wayne & Marcia Strawder, Rick Shoger & Renee Erickson, Galen & Marilyn Seehafer, Curtis & Michele Nightingale, Keith & Denise Ferguson, Karen Ukens, Phil & Angie Marquez, Terry Dowers & Pam Shirley, John Denney, Gerald & Denise Haughton,
and guests Jerry & Frankie O'Pry.
Thank you all!
and guests Jerry & Frankie O'Pry.
Thank you all!
PRE-EVENT ITINERARY:
All Members -
Our club's third Drive & Dine of the 2026 season - this time to the excellent Crown and Rye Restaurant in Lindsborg - is drawing near and we need to begin finalizing a head count.
Please RSVP by Saturday afternoon April 4th.
We'll meet at Atwoods/Kwik Shop at 30th & Lorraine in Hutch on Saturday, April 11th at 9:15, and depart at 9:30.
This will be a most-of-the-day adventure; please see attached route map.
Our first stop will be The Market at Little River, for their first-ever Cool Cars on Main Street: Coffee & Community event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1581635406458433/
The CKCA will be their special guests for what we're hoping will become an annual tradition, but ALL cool cars are invited - please see attached flyers. There will be fresh coffee, breakfast pizza, donuts and Alani energy drinks, plus The Market will be providing pre-registered CKCA members with a "road trip-ready goodie bag."
From Little River we'll take a leisurely drive up to Kanopolis Lake for group photos and drone video (the latter courtesy of Galen & Marilyn Seehafer - thank you!)
From the lake we'll hop down to Marquette for a quick photo stop on Main Street, before making the final push to Lindsborg.
Late lunch will be at Lindsborg's Crown and Rye Restaurant, where we'll help CKCA past-president Wayne Strawder celebrate his 99th birthday (so many candles!) - funny birthday cards and gag gifts are welcomed. :)
This promises to be a full day of fun and fellowship in our Corvettes!
Remember, please RSVP by Saturday afternoon April 4th.
Please reach out if you have any questions. See you soon. :):)
Our club's third Drive & Dine of the 2026 season - this time to the excellent Crown and Rye Restaurant in Lindsborg - is drawing near and we need to begin finalizing a head count.
Please RSVP by Saturday afternoon April 4th.
We'll meet at Atwoods/Kwik Shop at 30th & Lorraine in Hutch on Saturday, April 11th at 9:15, and depart at 9:30.
This will be a most-of-the-day adventure; please see attached route map.
Our first stop will be The Market at Little River, for their first-ever Cool Cars on Main Street: Coffee & Community event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1581635406458433/
The CKCA will be their special guests for what we're hoping will become an annual tradition, but ALL cool cars are invited - please see attached flyers. There will be fresh coffee, breakfast pizza, donuts and Alani energy drinks, plus The Market will be providing pre-registered CKCA members with a "road trip-ready goodie bag."
From Little River we'll take a leisurely drive up to Kanopolis Lake for group photos and drone video (the latter courtesy of Galen & Marilyn Seehafer - thank you!)
From the lake we'll hop down to Marquette for a quick photo stop on Main Street, before making the final push to Lindsborg.
Late lunch will be at Lindsborg's Crown and Rye Restaurant, where we'll help CKCA past-president Wayne Strawder celebrate his 99th birthday (so many candles!) - funny birthday cards and gag gifts are welcomed. :)
This promises to be a full day of fun and fellowship in our Corvettes!
Remember, please RSVP by Saturday afternoon April 4th.
Please reach out if you have any questions. See you soon. :):)
NOTE: Click on map image above for interactive Google Maps version
The birthday boy!
[How "Cool Cars on Main Street: Coffee & Community" came to be – GH]
_______
Basket & Banter: Memories from the Shop
By Jennifer (JD) Davis – March 29, 2026
There are things you learn about yourself in the quiet company of someone who loves what they’re doing. My brother Jesse learned it early — the patience a car demands, the way a machine will tell you what it needs if you’re willing to listen. He was just entering high school when he bought his first truck, one with rust, some neglect, but filled with potential. He took it home and set to work in his shop while the wood stove knocked and ticked against the cold.
I was not mechanically inclined in those days (I’m still not). I was the one in the cab of the truck with a book, keeping out of the way of serious things. But I was there, spending time with my brother, and that counted for something. The smell of that shop — oil and sawdust and wood smoke — has never entirely left me. Neither has what Jesse gave me in those hours: an eye for a good car. An appreciation for the thing a well-made machine becomes when someone cares enough to bring it back.
He shared that with me. I didn’t know it at the time. I thought I was just reading. But I got the horn to work once, and we laughed, and somewhere in that evening I fell quietly in love with classic cars.
That love has a way of traveling. My nephew recently bought an El Camino of his own to fix up — and I can’t help but think about what those hours in the shop are already giving him, the same way they once gave something to me. The wood stove may be different. The truck may be different. But the thing being passed down is exactly the same.
_______
Corvette Stingrays are my particular weakness. There is something about that long, low silhouette — all intention and restraint — that strikes me the same way a well-turned sentence does. It knows exactly what it is. It doesn’t apologize for it.
So, when a crew of Corvettes rolled into Little River back in February and stopped next door at PJ’s for lunch [see CKCA event coverage HERE – GH], I went outside. I couldn’t help it. I stood in the cold and just looked for a while, the way you do when something beautiful shows up unexpectedly on an ordinary day.
That’s how I met Gerald and Denise, of the Central Kansas Corvette Association — two people who carry that same quiet enthusiasm Jesse once taught me to recognize.
One thing led to another, the way good things do in small towns. And now, on the morning of April 11th, 2026, the CKCA is rolling into Little River.
_______
We’re calling it Cool Cars on Main Street: Coffee & Community, and that is exactly what it will be. The Corvettes arrive at 10 a.m.
But this isn’t just for Corvette people — it’s for anyone who has ever stood in a cold parking lot to admire a good car, anyone who grew up in a shop that smelled like oil and winter, anyone who just wants a reason to drive somewhere on a Saturday morning.
Bring your hot rod. Bring your rat rod. Bring your classic. Bring whatever you love. If it's cool, bring it. Main Street will be worth the trip.
We’ll have breakfast pizza, doughnuts, fresh coffee, tea, and Alani energy drinks waiting.
Pre-registered CKCA members will receive a road trip-ready goodie bag, and we’ll have a Rice County driver’s guide for anyone who wants to keep the morning going.
Come for the cars. Stay for the company.
We’ll see you on Main Street.
Cool Cars on Main Street: Coffee & Community
Saturday, April 11, 2026 – 10:00 a.m. to ?
The Market at Little River
275 Main St, Little River, KS 67457
(620) 897-6224
https://www.themarketatlittleriver.com/basketandbanter/market-almanac-memories-from-the-shop
https://www.facebook.com/events/1581635406458433
https://www.facebook.com/themarketatlittleriver/
https://www.themarketatlittleriver.com/
_______
Basket & Banter: Memories from the Shop
By Jennifer (JD) Davis – March 29, 2026
There are things you learn about yourself in the quiet company of someone who loves what they’re doing. My brother Jesse learned it early — the patience a car demands, the way a machine will tell you what it needs if you’re willing to listen. He was just entering high school when he bought his first truck, one with rust, some neglect, but filled with potential. He took it home and set to work in his shop while the wood stove knocked and ticked against the cold.
I was not mechanically inclined in those days (I’m still not). I was the one in the cab of the truck with a book, keeping out of the way of serious things. But I was there, spending time with my brother, and that counted for something. The smell of that shop — oil and sawdust and wood smoke — has never entirely left me. Neither has what Jesse gave me in those hours: an eye for a good car. An appreciation for the thing a well-made machine becomes when someone cares enough to bring it back.
He shared that with me. I didn’t know it at the time. I thought I was just reading. But I got the horn to work once, and we laughed, and somewhere in that evening I fell quietly in love with classic cars.
That love has a way of traveling. My nephew recently bought an El Camino of his own to fix up — and I can’t help but think about what those hours in the shop are already giving him, the same way they once gave something to me. The wood stove may be different. The truck may be different. But the thing being passed down is exactly the same.
_______
Corvette Stingrays are my particular weakness. There is something about that long, low silhouette — all intention and restraint — that strikes me the same way a well-turned sentence does. It knows exactly what it is. It doesn’t apologize for it.
So, when a crew of Corvettes rolled into Little River back in February and stopped next door at PJ’s for lunch [see CKCA event coverage HERE – GH], I went outside. I couldn’t help it. I stood in the cold and just looked for a while, the way you do when something beautiful shows up unexpectedly on an ordinary day.
That’s how I met Gerald and Denise, of the Central Kansas Corvette Association — two people who carry that same quiet enthusiasm Jesse once taught me to recognize.
One thing led to another, the way good things do in small towns. And now, on the morning of April 11th, 2026, the CKCA is rolling into Little River.
_______
We’re calling it Cool Cars on Main Street: Coffee & Community, and that is exactly what it will be. The Corvettes arrive at 10 a.m.
But this isn’t just for Corvette people — it’s for anyone who has ever stood in a cold parking lot to admire a good car, anyone who grew up in a shop that smelled like oil and winter, anyone who just wants a reason to drive somewhere on a Saturday morning.
Bring your hot rod. Bring your rat rod. Bring your classic. Bring whatever you love. If it's cool, bring it. Main Street will be worth the trip.
We’ll have breakfast pizza, doughnuts, fresh coffee, tea, and Alani energy drinks waiting.
Pre-registered CKCA members will receive a road trip-ready goodie bag, and we’ll have a Rice County driver’s guide for anyone who wants to keep the morning going.
Come for the cars. Stay for the company.
We’ll see you on Main Street.
Cool Cars on Main Street: Coffee & Community
Saturday, April 11, 2026 – 10:00 a.m. to ?
The Market at Little River
275 Main St, Little River, KS 67457
(620) 897-6224
https://www.themarketatlittleriver.com/basketandbanter/market-almanac-memories-from-the-shop
https://www.facebook.com/events/1581635406458433
https://www.facebook.com/themarketatlittleriver/
https://www.themarketatlittleriver.com/
Link to short Facebook video posted up by The Market at Little River on April 12, 2026: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14YMxk4VCWD/
POST-EVENT RECAP:
In spite of some pretty dire weather predictions in the days leading up to our club's Drive & Dine on April 11, 2026, Saturday morning dawned miraculously dry. A little gloomy and a little drippy here and there at first (it had rained a bunch Friday night), but as the morning progressed the sun came out and in the end it turned into a wonderful early-spring day for a cruise through the Kansas countryside in our Corvettes.
That said, the weather-guessers were persistently insistent that conditions late Saturday afternoon would, indeed, devolve quickly and turn ugly, so on Friday morning Denise and I made the command decision to shorten the itinerary by an hour and a half, by canceling the planned Corvette "video parade" across the Kanopolis Lake dam and by eliminating the detour through Marquette on our way to Lindsborg. (This decision also required calling the Crown and Rye at the last minute and asking to move up our arrival time, a request they happily obliged.)
The goal in all this was to get our club members back to their respective homes 90 minutes earlier than would have been the case with our original itinerary, which turned out to be an excellent call: I don't know how it went elsewhere, but heavy weather rolled through Hutch not long after we got home, and there was even a brief tornado warning.
Long story short: We had a FANTASTIC Drive & Dine, with 20 club members in 11 Corvettes participating. Jennifer & Crew at The Market at Little River were waiting for us with smiles on their faces (thanks for the road trip-ready goodie bags!) and no one went away hangry.
Galen and Marilyn Seehafer had arrived in Little River well in advance and already had their drone in the air, videoing the group as we rolled into town. Thanks guys! (I'll get the video processed ASAP.)
Despite the fact we cancelled the video parade across the dam, we still had time for a fun group photo shoot at the South Swimming Beach before leaving the lake and motoring east toward Lindsborg. We had reserved the back room at the Crown and Rye in advance and the food and service was excellent, as usual.
Birthday boy and past-president Wayne Strawder was our special guest of honor. We had a custom-made birthday cake waiting for him, and after lunch Denise and Wayne served up slices of cake to our crew. (Marcia commented that she enjoyed not having to actually make a birthday cake for Wayne for a change! :)
A great time was had by all, and although we had to pare down the day's schedule quite a bit, you'd never know it by all the smiles and laughter throughout the day.
To all y'all who woke up this morning, looked outside and said "screw it, let's roll": Y'all rock!!! Denise and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping make this such a fun and enjoyable event. :):)
– G&DH
PS: Thank you to our guests Jerry & Frankie O'Pry for joining us in your bad-ass '55 Bel Air!
That said, the weather-guessers were persistently insistent that conditions late Saturday afternoon would, indeed, devolve quickly and turn ugly, so on Friday morning Denise and I made the command decision to shorten the itinerary by an hour and a half, by canceling the planned Corvette "video parade" across the Kanopolis Lake dam and by eliminating the detour through Marquette on our way to Lindsborg. (This decision also required calling the Crown and Rye at the last minute and asking to move up our arrival time, a request they happily obliged.)
The goal in all this was to get our club members back to their respective homes 90 minutes earlier than would have been the case with our original itinerary, which turned out to be an excellent call: I don't know how it went elsewhere, but heavy weather rolled through Hutch not long after we got home, and there was even a brief tornado warning.
Long story short: We had a FANTASTIC Drive & Dine, with 20 club members in 11 Corvettes participating. Jennifer & Crew at The Market at Little River were waiting for us with smiles on their faces (thanks for the road trip-ready goodie bags!) and no one went away hangry.
Galen and Marilyn Seehafer had arrived in Little River well in advance and already had their drone in the air, videoing the group as we rolled into town. Thanks guys! (I'll get the video processed ASAP.)
Despite the fact we cancelled the video parade across the dam, we still had time for a fun group photo shoot at the South Swimming Beach before leaving the lake and motoring east toward Lindsborg. We had reserved the back room at the Crown and Rye in advance and the food and service was excellent, as usual.
Birthday boy and past-president Wayne Strawder was our special guest of honor. We had a custom-made birthday cake waiting for him, and after lunch Denise and Wayne served up slices of cake to our crew. (Marcia commented that she enjoyed not having to actually make a birthday cake for Wayne for a change! :)
A great time was had by all, and although we had to pare down the day's schedule quite a bit, you'd never know it by all the smiles and laughter throughout the day.
To all y'all who woke up this morning, looked outside and said "screw it, let's roll": Y'all rock!!! Denise and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping make this such a fun and enjoyable event. :):)
– G&DH
PS: Thank you to our guests Jerry & Frankie O'Pry for joining us in your bad-ass '55 Bel Air!
NOTE: Click on photos for larger versions
– Photos and captions contributed by CKCA members Gerald & Denise Haughton
Music attribution:
"Energy"
Music by: Bensound.com
Artist: Benjamin Tissot
License code: 9GPEXDZC7MIDRM6O
"Beyond The Line"
Music by: Bensound.com
Artist: Benjamin Tissot
License code: ZECPCBFKWSVXGSPU
"Energy"
Music by: Bensound.com
Artist: Benjamin Tissot
License code: 9GPEXDZC7MIDRM6O
"Beyond The Line"
Music by: Bensound.com
Artist: Benjamin Tissot
License code: ZECPCBFKWSVXGSPU
Page last updated: 04/17/2026
© Central Kansas Corvette Association
Hutchinson, KS
© Central Kansas Corvette Association
Hutchinson, KS
