Farmers Market opens with music, food

Will Spotts and Sara Armstrong listened Saturday morning to the acoustic bluegrass music played by The Prairie Acre Band at the opening of this season’s Lawrence Farmers Market.

Spotts, of Lawrence, and Armstrong, a Kansas University graduate student from Stillwater, Okla., had just finished a quick first walk around the market area in the parking lot near 10th and Vermont streets. About 60 vendors were selling flowers, vegetables, bread, honey and other goods.

“The smart people get here by 6:30 a.m.,” said Craig Nowatzke, North Lawrence, who sold out of spinach, lettuce, onions and radishes by 9 a.m..

The Farmers Market will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. every Saturday, as well as 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, until Nov. 13.

Education

School board plans meeting for Monday

Lawrence school board members face a relatively light agenda when they gather at 7 p.m. Monday at 110 McDonald Drive.

Topics for discussion:

• Adoption and purchase of textbooks.
• The charge for the district’s Equity Council.
• The district’s energy savings plan.
• The professional learning community program at Wakarusa Valley School.
• Assignment of school board members to councils.

Safety

Fair provides helmets for young bicyclists

There were probably more bicycles than cars Saturday at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds.

Children showed up at the fairgrounds by the dozens for this year’s Lawrence Helmet Fair to get a free bicycle helmet and participate in bike safety events.

“We’ve had a lot of people out here today,” said Rob Kort, a division chief with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical, one of several public safety agencies and businesses involved in the event.

After getting helmets, some of the youths rode through a bike course designed to test their skills.

Before the helmet fair, the River City Lions Club gave away 50 refurbished bikes to children who didn’t already have one.

KU students receive national science grants

A Kansas University student and two KU graduates have won three of 1,020 fellowships from the National Science Foundation for the 2004-2005 school year.

The awards include annual stipends of $30,000 and an allowance of $10,500 per year for up to three years of graduate study.

The winners:

• David Spry, senior from Olathe, who plans to study theoretical chemistry at Stanford University.
• Sarah K. Dilks, Ames, Iowa, who plans to study psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• Christina Warinner, Overland Park 2003 graduate, who plans to study bioarchaeology at Harvard University.

In addition, two KU students and six graduates were given honorable mention status. Those were Scott Roberts, senior from Arma; Shawna Smith, 2002 graduate from Hays; Sean Gordon, 2001 graduate from Overland Park; Hayley Lanier, senior from Emporia; Chad Hladik, 2003 graduate from Wichita; and Craig Bennett, 2003 graduate from Topeka.