The Smoky Hill Museum is gearing up to celebrate Kansas’159th birthday.

Hundreds of grade school children are participating in special activities at the Smoky Hill Museum throughout the week next week. The children, all third-graders, will learn what life was like for pioneers back in 1861, when Kansas became the 34th state. Activities include shelling and grinding corn, packing a covered wagon, and playing some of the same games pioneer children played.

Students and teachers from over a dozen area schools are participating.  Along with the Smoky Hill Museum Street Fair, it is one of the largest events of the year at the museum.

Then on Saturday, February 1st, the museum is hosting a similar event for the public, a free Kansas Day open house.

Visitors will be able to try their hand at the same some of the same activities including churning butter and shelling corn, and there will also be a demonstration of fabric being made on a loom. There will be make and take crafts, and free cupcakes to mark the occasion as well.

Everything’s free, at the Kansas Day Open House on February 1st from 1:00-3:00 at the Smoky Hill Museum.

Kansas entered the union as the 34th state on January 29th, 1861. Kansas Day has been celebrated around the state since 1877. Kansas Day is not a public holiday, but it is a state-wide observation.