Baldwin City ComfortCare Homes plans to build a new memory care home on a site in eastern Baldwin City recently annexed into the city.

Scott Schultz, president of Baldwin City ComfortCare Homes, said the new home would be built on the property east of Washington Street between Palmyra and Eisenhower streets. The property’s trustees, Raymond, Sally and Corey Dunn, have had the land rezoned from agricultural to residential since it was annexed in May. On Monday, the Baldwin City Council approved a plat for the property.

It will be the third assisted living residence for individuals with Alzheimer’s or dementia-related illnesses that Schultz and his wife, Linda, own. In 2011, the couple opened a six-bed ComfortCare home in Baldwin City at 232 Elm St. They added six more beds to that home in 2013 and opened an eight-bed Ottawa facility in 2014. Two more beds were added last year to the Ottawa home.

Schultz said the goal was to pull permits on the new 4,700-square-foot, 12-bed home in October and complete it by March 2017. It will be different from the company’s current homes, which are all remodeled 1950s or 1960s ranch-style homes.

“We’re going to build this from the ground up,” he said. “This one is going to be a little different with its location on the fringe of town. It’s right beside a beautiful red barn. It’s going to have a calming and peaceful effect on residents.”

Like Baldwin City ComfortCare’s current homes, the facility will be gated so that residents can enjoy time outside. With 2.5 acres, it will have significantly larger grounds, allowing for more activities for residents, who will be higher functioning than those in other homes, Schultz said.

“I haven’t seen anything like it in Kansas,” Schultz said. “I think it will draw from Johnson County and Franklin and Miami counties. I think it will be a regional draw.”

Schultz said he expected recently hired Hank Booth, a former interim director of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, to help with marketing in Lawrence.

Baldwin City ComfortCare is looking to add another home in Ottawa once the new Baldwin City home is open, Schultz said. Its business model is to open homes in smaller communities where senior services can be difficult to access, he said.

Baldwin City ComfortCare is expanding vertically as well as horizontally to meet the demands of the “silver tsunami” of aging Baby Boomers, Schultz said. The company is also offering in-home visits and adult day care, he said.

Hector Juarez is urging Mexican food lovers in Eudora to have a bit more patience. Signs have heralded the impending opening of Charritos Plaza on 10th Street for some time.

“We thought we would open a month ago,” he said. “We ran into unexpected problems with the restrooms, an ADA ramp out front and getting all the equipment in we ordered. Our goal is to be open as soon as possible, at least in a couple of weeks.”

Also delaying the opening was an intensive cleanup undertaken at the restaurant, Juarez said.
Remodeling work continues at the restaurant at 202 E. 10th St., which was the longtime home of Annabelle’s Restaurant. It was later the home of Salt ‘N Pepper Mexican Bar & Grill before that establishment closed last year.

Although Charritos Plaza will offer the fare associated with Mexican restaurants this side of the border — as well as such American diner favorites as burgers and chicken tenders — its specialty will be more traditional Mexican food, Juarez said. He hopes the formula works as well as it did at the Charritos he owns on Independence Avenue in Kansas City, Mo.

“It’s a bit of a risk,” he said. “It’s not the sort of thing people can find anywhere else. We have a number of cooks who are very good at preparing authentic Mexican dishes.”

Traditional Mexican fare is very diversified and varies throughout the country, Juarez said. Charritos Plaza will honor that diversity by offering favorites from different Mexican states, he said.

Bottled beer will be available when the restaurant opens, but he hopes to add margaritas and other traditional Mexican mixed drinks when the right bartender is found, Juarez said.

For the fifth straight year, Debbie Carden will honor the memory of her late father by sharing history, philanthropy and country music with the Eudora community. The Eudora Heritage Festival will start at 10 a.m. Saturday and continue into the evening at Laws Field.

Carden said she started the event after her father Dennis Burchett, died six years ago. He was a highway construction worker, who loved history and country music and would often buy bags of groceries for those he knew were experiencing tough times, she said. “He would love to see kids doing these things in his name rather than me going to the cemetery once a year and crying,” Carden said.

Those traits have been incorporated in past Eudora Heritage Festivals and will be celebrated again this year, Carden said. Admission to the grounds is free, but those attending should bring wallets because there will be fundraising activities to benefit the Eudora Community Museum, the Eudora Community Food Pantry and other causes. In addition, raffle tickets can be purchased for a chance to win a barn playhouse with loft and attached silo to benefit CASA of Douglas County.

A Free State Brewery beer wagon will be at the festival, and food trucks will offer Asian food, barbecue, hot dogs, shaved ice and more.

Schedule of events:
• 8-8:30 a.m. – pie contest entries accepted.
• 10 a.m. – pie contest winner announced; antique auto show; woodcarvers demonstrate techniques to children using bar soap; black smith demonstration; Old River Gang and Wild Women of the West, face painting.
• 11:30 a.m. – Listen Mister live music.
• 1-3 p.m. – children’s games with the Eudora Library staff.
• 5-8 p.m. – $10 per person tethered balloon ride (weather permitting).
• 7 p.m. Ottawa country music performer Travis Marvin (tickets are $15 with those 10 and younger admitted free).

The Baldwin Academy of Dance and Voice will present excerpts from the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” at 7 p.m. Friday at Joseph Spurgeon Park in the 700 block of High Street. Tickets are $5 at the gate. Picnic baskets from the Dance Cafe are available and pre-orders are encouraged. For more information, call 785-594-3949.

The monthly gathering of the Baldwin City Senior Mix will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Ives Chapel United Methodist Church, 1018 Miami St. The Senior Mix group’s seventh anniversary will be celebrated at the event and those attending are asked to bring a “goodie” for the birthday table. All seniors in the community are encouraged to attend.