Every year, the Smoky Hill Museum holds an exhibition on the Saturday before Kansas Day (January 29th). The exhibit features wood carvings, the history of farming, culture and more.

Museum Director Susan Hawksworth and her team want Salina residents to know where they came from, and how, with history. She told KSAL News “it is a great way to get an idea of where the state (Kansas) and the people came from with various things that were done in the past. It shows where we were once from to where we are now.

The Smoky Hill Museum provides a great opportunity for people to learn about how life used to operate, and appreciate history visually through exhibits.

Visitors can get an insight into how our pioneer forefathers persevered through hardships. Visitors can reflect on how these people overcame various obstacles.

“This exhibit shows the hardships that people went through in their daily lives. Even then you may be going through something hard now, just think how people persevered in the past and you can persevere as well,” says Hawksworth.

Visitors had opportunities to interact with displays such as wood carvings, tornado simulators, typewriters, radio boxes, butter churning, corn shelling and many more.

The Sunflower State is turning 163 years old on Monday. 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.

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Photos by: Isaiah Marcotte (click to enlarge)