Pioneer Bluffs

Prairie Talk: History of the Flint Hills
2022-04-02 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | Pioneer Bluffs Ranch Main Barn, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, 66862, United States
Mike Holder, Kansas State University Extension Agent (retired), begins at the beginning of the Flint Hills, “why it is what it is,” says Holder. He will discuss formation of the Flint Hills, the Native American presence, and the influence of ranching. Holder is known as a good storyteller and draws on 47 years with the Extension Service for his stories.
Donations appreciated but not required.
Come early to preserve YOUR family history with digitization.

Preserving YOUR family history
2022-04-02 12:00 - 14:00 | The Granary at Pioneer Bluffs, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, 66862, United States
Preserve your family history at a digitization day. Bring your photos and letters (up to 15) to be scanned by students with the Chapman Center for Rural Studies at Kansas State University. You will leave with your original documents and a thumb drive with the digital files.

Chef Tracey returns, Italian Style
2021-12-11 17:30 - 20:00 | Pioneer Bluffs Historic Rogler Home, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, 66862, United States

Volunteer Workday
2021-12-04 08:30 - 13:00 | Pioneer Bluffs: Flint Hills Ranching Heritage Center, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, KS, 66862, United States
Volunteers are happy people. Does volunteering make them happy, or are happy people more likely to volunteer? According to studies, the answer is both!
Volunteers gather every month at Pioneer Bluffs and enjoy sharing a few hours of time. They chat, laugh, and get to know one another while making a difference.
The next Volunteer Workday at Pioneer Bluffs is Saturday, December 4. The day begins around 8:30 a.m. with a conversation about the day’s plans. At about 9:00 a.m., volunteers split into teams and go to work. The day ends close to noon with a lunch and more conversation about what was accomplished.
All are invited to the December 4 Workday, whether to join in the fun or simply to meet and ask questions of the volunteers.
Volunteer tasks vary from physical to nonphysical, skilled and unskilled. To be a Pioneer Bluffs volunteer, it takes only a big heart and an interest in preserving and maintaining an important historic site. Those interested can simply show up, no RSVP needed.
The plan for December 4 includes cleaning in the buildings, trimming hedges, doing an inventory, and picking up sticks. In addition, the original grain chute will be installed in the granary, which involves several hands holding it up while it is secured in place.
Details of the day’s plans can be found on the Pioneer Bluffs Facebook event page. For information, contact Lynn Smith, Executive Director, at lynn@pioneerbluffs.org or 620-753-3484 (office) or 785-393-1569 (cell).

Make a difference with Match Day!
2021-11-15 | Pioneer Bluffs: Flint Hills Ranching Heritage Center, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, KS, 66862, United States
Once again Match Day is upon us, that day when a huge percentage of annual support originates for Pioneer Bluffs.
You may wonder how Match Day affects your giving. The Emporia Community Foundation provides a pool of matching funds to selected organizations. The more we raise, the greater the match.
We are all experiencing COVID fatigue but, alas, the virus is still with us. This creates additional costs, such as extra care of the facilities and technology updates to stay relevant. Did you enjoy our virtual Day of the Cowboy? Have you seen our self-guided tour at tour.pioneerbluffs.org?
Your Match Day gift will fund family programs and exhibits that you choose, especially critical in today’s world.
We deeply appreciate your consideration and support. Pioneer Bluffs offers family, friends and community a place of peace and refuge in our busy world. We are grateful you have chosen to be part of our family. You make it all possible.

Peace on the Prairie
2021-10-16 14:00 - 17:00 | Pioneer Bluffs Ranch Main Barn, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, 66862, United States
It is said: Music is the sound of art. Both music and visual art are merged in “Peace on the Prairie,” a collaboration by singer-songwriter, Annie Wilson, and artist, Susan Rose.
At 2:00 p.m. Saturday, October 16, Pioneer Bluffs presents “Peace on the Prairie,” featuring an art exhibit by Susan Rose, a conversation with Rose and Wilson, a concert by Wilson – also known as the Flint Hills Balladeer – and her Tallgrass Express String Band, a music-and-art video by Dave Kendall, and an informal reception.
This event is also Tallgrass Express’s CD Release Concert, with all ten songs from their new album Peace on the Prairie, volume 4 in their Songs of the Flint Hills series.
The art exhibit and video will be in the 1915 barn at Pioneer Bluffs. Weather permitting, all other activities will be outdoors. The program concludes at 5:00 p.m.
“As Susan completed each of her 12 paintings illustrating my song lyrics, I was in awe at how she created these beautiful scenes I was trying to convey in the words of my song,” said Wilson. “It is one of the greatest honors of my life that Susan chose to do this project.”
In describing her work, Rose says, “My paintings are inspired by the beauty of the prairie, the sky and the creatures that call it home. I am particularly drawn to capture the play of light and shadow on the local landscape, and focus on the small, but beautiful, elements in nature that are easily overlooked or taken for granted.”
Beverages and snacks will be served during the reception. To ensure sufficient snacks are available, and plenty of chairs are out, reservations are requested but not required. RSVP on the Facebook event page or to Executive Director, Lynn Smith, at lynn@pioneerbluffs.org or 620-753-3484.
Donations are appreciated and will support future program events.
Masks are required inside the barn, one of the Covid precautionary measures taken for public safety.

Women of the Ranch
2021-09-18 14:00 - 16:00 | Pioneer Bluffs Ranch Main Barn, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, 66862, United States
Farm and ranch women typically play many roles. They are some combination of daughter, wife, mother, business partner, driver, drover, and cowhand all rolled into one. And a woman who began filling these roles in the first part of the 20th century has witnessed extraordinary change. It is likely that she has hauled water to bathe her children, cooked over a wood stove, and spent time behind a team of horses.
At 2:00 p.m. Saturday, September 18, Mark Feiden and Farrell Hoy will share highlights from interviews with farm/ranch women. A panel discussion with some of the interviewees will follow the film screening. This Prairie Talk will be held in the loft of the historic barn at Pioneer Bluffs near Matfield Green.
Covid precautionary measures will be taken, including limiting the size of the audience to 75. Reservations for this Talk are required, and accepted first-come. Masks will be required inside the barn.
Pioneer Bluffs has teamed with photographer/filmmaker Mark Feiden, author/educator Farrell Hoy, and Humanities Kansas, in this story collection project focused on the contributions of women to Flint Hills farming and ranching.
“When I began interviewing older farm and ranch folk in 2017, I quickly discovered something that should not have been a surprise,” said Feiden. “Women often have the richer body of stories—because they’ve worn so dang many hats!”
“When I finished interviewing 99 year old best friends Evelyn Zeckser and Mary Schultz, in 2019, I knew that I wanted to pull together an effort focused on older women—and I wanted to do it sooner rather than later,” continued Feiden. “I also knew that Farrell Hoy had an ongoing interest in documenting the lives of ranch women and so I approached her about teaming up. The experience has exceeded my expectations. Each and every interview has been a delight. I look forward to sharing the films—and seeing how the transcripts inform Farrell’s book project.”
Interviews include: Eula Barrett, Bobby Hammond, and Donita Rogers of Chase County; Irlene Huntington, Jackie Seeley, and Pat Surber of Greenwood County; Irene Thoes of Pottawatomie County; and Carol Feyh and Carol Michaelis of Wabaunsee County.
This is a free community event, funded by Humanities Kansas. Reservations should be made to Executive Director, Lynn Smith, at lynn@pioneerbluffs.org or 620-753-3484.
To make this important project accessible to all, the interviews and a recording of the Prairie Talk will be available later on pioneerbluffs.org. A second screening of the film will be scheduled for spring, 2022, in Wabaunsee County.
Those with reservations are invited to come early and explore the grounds, bring a picnic, or hike the new nature trail.
Mark Feiden, through his ongoing project Emil Redmon’s Cow (www.redmonscow.org) is dedicated to building a significant archive of “stories from the farm and ranch.” Mark is a sixth-generation Kansan with pioneer roots in Reno and Wabaunsee countries. In 1998, he co-founded The Konza Press (www.TheKonzaPress.com) with the express mission of “promoting the people, places and rich history of Kansas.” A photographer, he has published a number of books on Kansas and the Flint Hills. Mark makes his home in Roeland Park, Kansas.
Farrell Hoy is a fifth-generation descendant of the Flying H Ranch, established by her great-great grandparents in Cassoday, Kansas, in 1877. She grew up helping her grandparents on the ranch, and from an early age noticed the many different tasks that fell to her grandmother, from performing nearly all the domestic duties to working alongside the men on much of the ranch work. Hoy is Faculty Development Director at Johnson County Community College. She is currently working on a book about Flint Hills women; she lives and works in Overland Park, Kansas.

Bryan Knowles in concert
2021-09-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Pioneer Bluffs Ranch Main Barn, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, 66862, United States
Enjoy Red Dirt Country music of singer-songwriter, Bryan Knowles.
$10 cover charge includes two free beers (for adults)!

A concise history of the Santa Fe Trail
2021-08-21 13:30 - 14:30 | Pioneer Bluffs Ranch Main Barn, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, 66862, United States
Beginning in 1821, the Santa Fe Trail was actively in use for almost 60 years. How could a relatively short-lived highway of commerce have a legacy lasting two hundred years? A Prairie Talk will explore this subject.
At 1:30 p.m. Saturday, August 21, Steve Schmidt, of Hesston, will present “Santa Fe Trail 101” in the loft of the historic barn at Pioneer Bluffs.
This concise history will explore how the Santa Fe Trail played a key role in international events, influenced the global economy, how it differed greatly from the Oregon and California Trails, and what caused it to die out.
This program has been succinctly described as “a broad-brush overview of the Santa Fe Trail: when, where, what, why, how, now (but no brown cow).”
Schmidt, an amateur historian, knows Santa Fe Trail history. He and his wife, Glenda, are preserving a piece of the Trail on land they own in Marion County, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and has received Historic Site Certification from the National Park Service. As a member of the Santa Fe Trail Association, Cottonwood Crossing Chapter, he has earned numerous awards for promotion and preservation of the Trail over the past 20 years. Schmidt has written a booklet, “Lost Spring, Marion County, Kansas, A Historical Perspective” which is available free at SantaFeTrail.org.
To ensure ample chairs are out for this presentation, reservations are requested but not required. RSVP on the Facebook event page or to Executive Director, Lynn Smith, at lynn@pioneerbluffs.org or 620-753-3484.
Donations are appreciated and will support future program events.
Visitors are invited to come early and explore the grounds, bring a picnic, or hike the new nature trail. Wading shoes may be recommended to access the nature trail, depending on recent rains.

Butler County Brass Band
2021-06-26 18:30 - 19:30 | Pioneer Bluffs Ranch Main Barn, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, 66862, United States
Join us for an outdoor concert with patriotic music!
The Butler County Brass will perform at Pioneer Bluffs on Saturday, June 26 at 6:30 p.m. It will be an outdoor concert on the lawn of this historic site.
Beverages will be available for purchase at the concert. You are welcome to use our chairs, or bring your own if you prefer.
The six musicians of the Butler County Brass are music educators who love what they do and enjoy sharing their talent. They are: Robert Gusé, Eric Pretz, Christine Moose, Rick Moose, John Templin, and Andrew Thiesen.
To help us set out plenty of chairs, reservations are requested but not required. RSVP to lynn@pioneerbluffs.org or on the Facebook event page.
Donations are appreciated and will support future programs.
Come early and explore the grounds, bring a picnic, or hike our new nature trail. We invite you to come experience classic fun!

Patriotic music on the lawn
2020-06-27 13:00 - 14:00 | KS
At 1:00 p.m. Saturday, June 27, the Butler County Brass will perform at Pioneer Bluffs near Matfield Green. The concert will be outdoors on the front lawn of this historic site, with plenty of space for physical distancing while enjoying a very special event.
Visitors are welcome bring their own chair, beverage, and mask; these can also be provided as needed.
The six musicians of the Butler County Brass are Robert Gusé, Christine Moose, Rick Moose, Eric Pretz, John Templin, and Andrew Thiesen.
There is no charge for this event, donations are appreciated and will support future programs at Pioneer Bluffs.
In the event of rain, the concert will be held at 1:00 p.m. Sunday, June 28. Rain plans will be posted at pioneerbluffs.org, on Facebook, or may be confirmed by phone on Saturday morning.
Reservations requested but not required. Those who make reservations will be notified directly of a change due to rain plans.
For reservations or questions, contact Executive Director, Lynn Smith, at lynn@pioneerbluffs.org or 620-753-3484 (office) or 785-393-1569 (cell). Reservations can also be made at the Facebook event page.

Farmer Derek Klingenberg
2020-03-07 13:30 - 15:00 | Pioneer Bluffs Ranch Main Barn, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, 66862, United States
A local farmer/rancher combines his love of music and entertainment with daily ag life, and the result has landed Farmer Derek Klingenberg onto the world stage.
What does the Farmer say?” At 1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 7, Farmer Derek will answer this question in a unique community presentation at Pioneer Bluffs.
Derek Klingenberg of Peabody has more than 50 million views on his YouTube channel, which features music parodies and original music showing a fun, personal perspective of farm life. In nearly 200 videos, he serenades cattle with a trombone, watches a meteor shower from a hammock over a cornfield irrigation pivot, and feeds cattle with robots through the internet. In a slightly serious video, the Bethel College Choir sang in his grain bin.
“This is where I raise grain, beef, kids, and creativity,” says Klingenberg about his YouTube channe
This community program will be held in the restored 1915 barn at Pioneer Bluffs. The venue will be changed if inclement weather. Reservations are encouraged but not required. Those who make reservations will be notified directly of a venue change, and it will be posted on the Pioneer Bluffs Facebook page.
There is no charge for this event, donations are appreciated and will support future programs at Pioneer Bluffs. For reservations or questions, contact Executive Director, Lynn Smith, at lynn@pioneerbluffs.org or 620-753-3484 (office) or 785-393-1569 (cell). Reservations can also be made at the Facebook event page.

Dinner from Argentina
2019-12-07 17:30 - 20:00 | Pioneer Bluffs Historic Rogler Home, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, 66862, United States
You are invited to…
A locally sourced, fine dining experience by
Guest Chef Dr. Tracey Graham
5:30 p.m. Saturday, December 7
in the 1908 home at Pioneer Bluffs
This is a fundraising event to support ranching heritage education programs at this historic site. Only 20 seats available at $150 each (of which $100 is a tax deductible contribution).
These seats will go quickly. To make your reservation, check to make sure seats are available by contacting Lynn Smith at lynn@pioneerbluffs.org or (620) 753-3484.
Menu

Traditional Picada (tapas, aka hors d’ouerves)
Empanadas (yummy little meat pies)
Matambre (stuffed flank steak)
Solomillo de Cerdo (stout-braised pork loin)
Homemade pasta with roasted vegetables
Alfahores (caramel-filled shortbreads)
Pastafrolo de Membrillo (quince and cheese tarts)

Match Day
2019-11-11 09:00 - 19:00 | KS
Dear Friends,
We have an opportunity to do even more! Will you help?
Match Day is an exciting event sponsored by the Emporia Community Foundation. It provides a pool of matching funds to 25 selected organizations within the area —including Pioneer Bluffs.
Your Match Day gift will fund educational family programs and exhibits that you choose (see enclosed reply card), important in our mission to preserve the ranching heritage of the Flint Hills.
To qualify for a match with your contribution:

Make your check payable to Emporia Community Foundation, date it November 11, 2019, and return in the enclosed envelope. We must receive your gift before November 11.
Bring your check to the Flint Hills Mall in Emporia on Monday, November 11, to see us and the other Match Day organizations.

– or –

Go online on Monday, November 11, and make your contribution at emporiamatchday.com.

You know we work hard to preserve ranching heritage. Our volunteers already stretch donated dollars far – this is a chance to do even more with your gift. The more we raise, the greater the match. Please help!
Thank you for your support!

Steve Cormier, Cowboy Poet
2019-09-14 13:00 - 16:00 | Pioneer Bluffs Ranch Main Barn, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, 66862, United States

Tallgrass Tales - Stories from the Flint Hills
2019-08-24 13:30 - 15:30 | Pioneer Bluffs Ranch Main Barn, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, 66862, United States
A collection of recollections from seasoned Flint Hills ranchers and other cow-folk, captured on film by Kansas photographer Mark Feiden. Project funded by Humanities Kansas.

Day of the Cowboy
2019-07-27 14:00 - 19:00 | Pioneer Bluffs: Flint Hills Ranching Heritage Center, 695 Kansas Highway 177, Matfield Green, KS, KS, 66862, United States
Honoring Flint Hills cowhands of yesterday and today.

Cowboy history, in photos, video, and story, by Greg Hoots, author and historian
Branding—Leave your family brand at Pioneer Bluffs! Bring your branding iron, or come watch branding demonstrated (on wood).
Roping demonstration—watch trick roping, then give it a try!
Voices of the Tallgrass Prairie—we’ll record tales of ranching and cowboys, tell your story!
Heritage Roundup—we invite families to bring ranch exhibits and photos that share a story.
Cowboy movies shown in the barn.
Cowboy poetry and music, featuring Jeff Davidson and Ron Wilson!
A wiener roast, complete with cowboy beans and watermelon.
