Sandy Narum wants her Papa’s Nest Egg store to be part of something bigger in Baldwin City.

Narun is now adding her touch to the used furniture that is to be part of the inventory of the store she and her husband, Bill, will open at 606 High St. in mid-September. On Wednesday, Narum was reconditioning a bookcase by applying a coat of paint that gives the piece a matte, aged look.

Her shop will offer furniture reconditioned for a vintage look, Narum said. Some pieces will be painted and others get a fresh stain. Home decor items will join the reconditioned furniture on the floor and shelves of the store, she said. She also plans to offer classes in vintage painting techniques, wreath-making and other home decor topics.

“I started painting my own furniture about six years ago,” she said. “I thought it would be fun to do it for other people.”

The retired medical office administrator said she got serious about that idea this summer.

“The whole thing started formulating in my mind in July,” Narum said. “It was just an idea, but lots of details opened up. We decided to take the opportunity to start something.”

Her store is ideally located to take advantage of Maple Leaf Festival traffic, and Narum said she was looking forward to festival weekend the month after the store opens. Her hope is Papa’s Nest Egg and a number of similar stores in the community will provide festival visitors the incentive to return to Baldwin City.

“I’m hoping we develop a reputation in Baldwin City of being kind of a vintage, antique type of destination,” she said. “Homestead Bakery carries vintage items and the In Full Bloom floral shop does a wonderful job with that. We have Antiques on the Prairie and Quilters’ Paradise.”

Planning for the third annual Great Kaw Adventure Race is going well. Leslie Herring, Eudora assistant to the city manager, said sponsors and volunteers are in place for the Sept. 30 race. What is needed now is enough two-person teams to fill the race’s 50-team slots. That’s almost double the 26 teams that competed last year, which more than doubled the number of teams in the race’s first year, she said.

Pre-registration is required, and organizers encourage competitors to register by Sept. 15. That will assure competitors will receive a T-shirt and other goodies to be handed out the day of the race, Herring said. Registration costs $75 per competitor or $150 per team. Competitors will find an online link to register at the Great Kaw Adventure Race’s Facebook page, she said. The first-place team will win two stand-up paddle boards. The second-place team will receive two hydration backpacks, and the third-place team will win gift certificates.

The basics of the race will be the same this year, Herring said. Competitors will be asked to complete a course that starts with a running leg in Eudora, a canoeing or kayaking leg from Eudora down the Kansas River to De Soto and a final leg of bicycling back to Eudora.

Herring said the running leg would be shorter this year, and the bicycling leg would include off-road biking, which competitors should keep in mind when choosing a bicycle for the race. Canoes would be provided, she said.

The race also requires competitors to complete 14 challenges, Herring said.

“Some of the challenges are physical, some are mental and others test endurance,” she said. “They will be very unconventional. We got creative this year.”

This year’s race will be an “orienteering” contest, in which competitors will have to find their way from checkpoint to checkpoint after they are given maps with minimal information, Herring said.

The race starts at 9 a.m. Sept. 30, and competitors will have six hours to complete the course. The day’s activities start at 7 a.m. on Ninth Street between Main and Maple streets. Early arrivals will find coffee offered by Alchemy Coffee and Bake House of Lawrence and can get a pre-race muscle warmup from Mateo Chiropractic of Eudora or a yoga session with Mary Kirkendoll of Eudora Yoga Center.

The noon to 5 p.m. post-race after party on the same Ninth Street location will feature food vendors and live music from the Hall of Famers, Herring said.

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Organizers of the seventh annual Cainan T. Shutt Memorial Softball Tournament are seeking donations for the event, which will be Friday, Sept. 8 and Saturday, Sept. 9 in Babe Ruth Park, 1630 Elm St., in Eudora. Those who wish to donate cash, gift certificates, merchandise, water, food, soft drinks or other appropriate items are asked to call Elizabeth Rowland at 785-979-9717 or Waylon Ziesenis at 785-615-1226.

Games will start Friday, Sept. 8, but there will be special activities starting at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. Those will include a visit from Kansas City Chiefs mascot KC Wolf, a bounce house, concessions and a silent auction.

Cainan Shutt, the son of Tommy Shutt and Alison Raboin, was killed at age 5 in an accident on Kansas Highway 10 when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by a vehicle that crossed the freeway’s median. Rowland said the annual softball tournament and the publicity it generated played an important role in the installation of median cables on K-10.
The tournament has raised more than $5,000 for scholarships in recent years and provided funding for a new scoreboard on Eudora’s Babe Ruth Park.