Wednesday was Kansas Day, the 142nd anniversary of the state’s admission into the Union.

Not that you could tell in Lawrence.

Schoolchildren dressed up and learned lessons about the state’s history, of course, but city and county governments did nothing to commemorate the day. Neither did Watkins Community Museum of History.

“I wish we did,” said Judy Sweets, the museum’s collection manager. “But we don’t have enough staff to do anything this year.”

The best City Manager Mike Wildgen could offer was that the city’s Sesquicentennial Commission met Wednesday to plan the city’s birthday next year.

“Lawrence and Kansas are one and the same,” he said. “You can’t think of Kansas without thinking of Lawrence.”

Lawrence schools were more active. At Schwegler School, teacher Lisa Clark and her students took a step back in time.

In an annual display of Kansas heritage, boys and girls in the first-grade classroom dressed as American Indians and pioneers.

As part of kansas day activities, third-grade teacher Patty Hill shows her class how to add a page containing a Kansas sunflower to their Kansas book projects. The St. John's School students were preparing Wednesday for an upcoming open house.

“They came as kids might have dressed 100 or so years ago,” Clark said.

Her students at Schwegler, 2201 Ousdahl Road, also performed a play for kindergartners at the school that focused on official state animals, including the box turtle, buffalo and meadowlark.

“They’re feeling quite mature,” Clark said of her first-graders.

Across the state, children and music were the order of the day. In Topeka, Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, helped lead legislators in a rendition of the state song, “Home on the Range.”

Also in Topeka, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius invited a class of third-graders from Topeka’s Assumption School into her office, and everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to Kansas.

Quail Run School second-grader Brian Morris works on a cutout for a Kansas Day construction project. Morris, who brandished a cowboy outfit for Kansas' birthday, celebrated Wednesday with his classmates by learning more about state history.

¢Kansas State Historical Society, Kansas Day