Saturday, May 17, 2025 | 2:30–4 p.m.
Event takes place near the gazebo at Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park
Step back in time and savor the sweet tradition of gathering for ice cream and live music! Join us at the replica bandstand (gazebo) — where early Lenexans once came together for cool treats and toe-tapping tunes. We'll have a variety of ice cream flavors to choose from and live music by the Fine & Dandy band.
Hosted by the Legler Barn Museum & Depot, this event is a nod to our city’s past, where friends and neighbors met to enjoy a summer evening with a scoop (or two!). Don't forget your blankets and lawn chairs.
Thank you to our community partners Lenexa Historical Society and Blue Bell Creameries.
History Happy Hour Series: Voices of Japanese “War Brides” in Postwar Kansas
Friday, Oct. 3, 2025 | 5–6 p.m.
Lenexa City Hall, 17101 W. 87th St. Pkwy., Lenexa, KS 66219
Japanese women fled the devastation of a war-torn Japan after World War II to find challenges in a strange, new world. After marrying U.S. military men and moving to the United States, these young women often faced challenges and hardship while others found opportunity and success. How do they adjust to a Western world and a military culture? How did they maintain connection to their homes and families back in Japan? This talk will share the voices of Japanese women who triumphed amidst great struggle to find community, connection, and culture identity in the place they viewed as the last destination of their lives — the Kansas prairie.
Ayako Mizumura is the academic director of the University of Kansas’s Center for East Asian Studies, a role she’s held since 2013.
The series is a partnership with Humanities Kansas, a nonprofit organization encouraging Kansans to draw on diverse histories, literatures and cultures to create connections with one another and strengthen Kansas communities and democracy. Ages 18+.
Learn more and register to attend