The following was written by Shelby Schultz.
The Piotique Festival in Clay Center, Kansas, has celebrated the pioneer and antique heritage of the area for more than 80 years.
The pioneer immigrants settled in a free state founded on the principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, and opportunity. These values are celebrated on the last Saturday in September each year.
The festivities include a pancake feed, a 10K/2M run, a kiddie parade, live entertainment, the Grand Parade, a BBQ contest, and a beer garden. The whole town participates with stores running special sales, church and club booths and just plain fun.
Getting the word out about Convention of States in the target districts around my hometown of Clay Center is so important that my family was willing to pitch in with whatever needed to be done.
It was a full-family effort. We're all for Convention of States, because it's the way we can heal party divisions.
Since this was my first time organizing anything like this, I was very excited to get started.
Unloading and carrying two eight-foot tables, ten folding chairs and our hefty Convention of States sign, borrowed from the back of Regional Captain Art Howell’s truck, required all hands on deck. I was impressed by the kids' strength and willingness to get it done when it was show time.
Our set up began around 6:45am. District Captain Tamera Teeter had already made the drive from Salina and was patiently waiting for us downtown. Decorating would be simple: red, white, and blue pinwheels, balloons, streamers, American flags, and tablecloths were all used generously and appropriately.
Decked out in stars and stripes, we were ready for people to show up.
It was chilly and rainy with a chance of snow cones. Fall had arrived!
My husband Joshua continued to make trips back and forth to the house for materials and props so Tamara and I could remain efficient, organized, and as dry as possible.
By 9:00am we already had three signed petitions. At this time, I posted a live video to two of my Facebook pages and shared one directly to the page of Kansas House candidate Susan Carlson.
Art Howell and volunteer Carol Bachofer also came up to help from the Salina/Lincoln area. Carol provided an umbrella to cover the COS documents whenever the sky would open. Next time we will have a canopy!
By 12:30pm we had 21 petitions signed and Joshua brought the boys back to start decorating the truck. More balloons, streamers, and flags went up. We drove slowly across town to line up for the parade. Our parade position was number 40 out of 74 entries.
My family of volunteers were all in place proudly wearing their COS shirts. Armed with the full power of the Article V, a five-gallon bucket of candy, and stacks of COS materials, we proudly began walking.
As the parade progressed, we would zigzag across the street, making sure to smile and briefly speak with people about the Constitution. Six of us handed out approximately 300 business and palm cards.
We used this event to kick off a regular COS meeting in Clay Center. We also handed out over 300 pieces of candy and lollipops with our stickers with the COS QR code.
By the time our entry arrived in front of the announcer's stand, we had been plugged many times. Since COS was a Founder-level sponsor, the Chamber of Commerce had placed one of our 3'x6' banners on the inside of the beer garden fence and another on the stage front. We also received eight mentions during the parade itself.
Tamera manned the booth during the parade, spoke to a bunch of people, and added more petitions. A church booth next to ours was giving away snow cones! The resulting crowd yielded another batch of signed petitions, giving us total of 30 signed petitions for the day.
God was gracious. Despite a little rain it was an incredibly beautiful day that my family will never forget. Our meetings are starting and we are already planning for Piotique 2019.
Clay Center knows that Convention of States is here, and we are here to stay.
