Husky
SAT 7/12
Shelling corn beneath a hot sun can be a spiritual experience. A hypnotic state sometimes results from watching the separation of kernel and cob while sweating through your jeans. Loading dried ears into the sheller, you can watch them move down the drive line like fish down a stream. Hear the shelled corn blowing against the wagon walls. See the husks fall aside to be used as hog bedding. Overseeing this process without such mindfulness, though, can result in extreme boredom — and corn shellers are notoriously dangerous pieces of rotating harvest equipment, known to entangle and mangle the daydreaming farmer. Luckily, supervision will be available for the hands-on corn shelling demonstrations at this weekend’s Farm Heritage Days. Be sure to wear short sleeves just the same. Corn shelling starts at 10:15 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the National Agricultural Center & Hall of Fame (630 North 126th Street in Bonner Springs, 913-721-1075). Admission to the event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., costs $3 to $6.— Sarah Smarsh
Wanna Bet?
ONGOING
There’s highbrow, and there’s lowbrow. And then there’s the track. Thoroughbred racing may be the sport of kings, but it’s equally the sport of cigar-chomping men in lucky socks, whose faces and outsized ears define the word craggy. If you thought such men existed only in movies about Havana, you must spend a day getting your authenticity on at the Woodlands. Live horses don’t return until September, but the greyhounds are running and the best thoroughbred races around the country are simulcast for wagering on as many as forty atrium screens. (Call 913-299-9797 or check www.woodlandskc.com for schedules.) The Past Performance Booth has programs for 75 cents and free how-to handouts. The Woodlands also has a restaurant, a deli and a bar — should you require a pathos cocktail. The lady with the face like a saddle will be having two.— Kelly Sue DeConnick
Festival
Ozark Territory
THU-SAT
If you’re up for a road trip to the Ozarks, there’s fun to be had at the Acoustic Music Festival in Carthage, Missouri. Outdoor performances by the Hammer Sisters, Kentucky 31 and others run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Those who prefer to do their own picking can attend Thursday workshops on the mountain and hammered dulcimer, Autoharp, psaltery, saw, spoons, mouth bow, penny whistle and more. Jam sessions and crafts pepper the three-day festival, during which even city folk can get farmers’ tans. Admission is $5 a day or $50 for the entire weekend and all workshops. Children twelve and younger get in free. For directions, call 417-624-3580.— Smarsh
