Art, Music and So Much More!

Meadowlark March

Meadowlark Trail

September 12

Support veterans, first responder, and front-line medical workers by participating in a 12.9 mile "ruck march" along the beautiful Meadowlark Trail on September 12 beginning at 8:00am. March alongside veterans, first responders, and community members.

The Meadowlark March is an untimed event and will take place on uneven ground, inclines, and narrow sections of trail. It is not recommended for wheelchairs or those with significant mobility limitations. This march is meant for reflection; participants can walk, run, or "ruck," but it is not a race.

Trained service animals, as defined by the ADA, are welcome. No pets or bicycles are allowed.

There is also a shorter family friendly "reflective walk" that is just 2.2 miles, beginning at 10am and ending in Riverside Park. Registration begins at 9am. This is a loop route and does not require any transportation from the park. Walk, jog, or bring a trail friendly stroller. No bikes please. Upon returning to Riverside Park there will be some fun treats for all walk participants courtesy of the Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum. The registration for this event does not include a t-shirt but there is an option to purchase adult sizes.

Read more about the walk on the Visit Lindsborg blog post or on the Meadowlark March event page. Registration ends September 1.

Register here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/meadowlark-march--2026

The Main Event

Community Meal & Music on Main Street

September 26

The Annual Lindsborg Street Dance is getting bigger and better! Lindsborg will be closing out summer and welcoming fall by celebrating America 250 with a community gathering.

This collective community meal will be held at 6:30pm and will last until the food runs out. The main course, pulled pork sandwiches, will be available for purchase from the After Prom Committee as a fundraiser for 2027 SVHS Prom. Bring your friends and a side dish to share! Your purchase from the After Prom fundraiser will be an automatic entry into a drawing (must be present to win). The drawing will be held during the street dance at approximately 9:00pm.

DJ, Cash Hollistah, will provide music during the dinner. Limited seating will be available for the community meal, and street access to the 100 block of North Main will be halted at 3:00pm for meal preparations.

The dance will take place on the 100 block of South Main at 8:00pm with a play area and activities in the USD 400 parking lot for children. Bootleg Mercy, a rock band whose sound encompasses '90s alternative rock, metal, and a dash of roots rock, will be playing until 11:00pm. Dance if you like, or simply kick back and enjoy an evening under the stars.

The Meal on Main is sponsored by the City of Lindsborg, Visit Lindsborg, and Lindsborg Ad Hoc. Appreciation for the street dance goes out to goes out to the businesses of Lindsborg for sponsoring this free event, Öl Stuga, Fuqua Insurance Group, First Bank Kansas, Farmers State Bank, Peoples Bank and Trust, and The Bank of Tescott.

Gather in The Best Square Mile on Earth and celebrate community with Lindsborg!

Book Signing & Artist Reception

Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center

September 6

Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center will be hosting a special “sneak peek” and book signing for Clay Wirestone’s new book, Opinionated. Sunday, Septermber 6, 1:00-5:00pm, is the first event of many that will be held across Kansas for Wirestone's book.

Wirestone is opinion editor at the Kansas Reflector, a native Kansan who graduated from the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas, and a writer whose work has appeared in PolitiFact, the Topeka Capital-Journal, Concord Monitor (NH), and Mental Floss. He has been published by more than 200 outlets in 30 states.

This book signing event coincides with the opening weekend of Mike Hartung’s 2026 exhibition Political Porn. Hartung will be giving a talk about his new work at 2:30pm on Sunday, September 6.

Hartung's work can be seen at Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center September 4-27. His newest exhibition will, as usual, be a bold, satirical commentary on today's political landscape. Hartung's work often includes dark humor, is sometimes unsettling, and impossible to ignore. Whether you agree with his perspective or not, this exhibition promises to start a conversation.

Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center is located at 114 1/2 S Main Street. Hours are Friday-Sunday, 1:00-5:00pm.

Jane Wegscheider - Red Barn Studio Artist-in-Residence

Red Barn Studio Museum

September 3 - 8

Jane Wegscheider will be the Red Barn Studio Artist-in-Residence from September 3–8, 2026.

Returning 27 years later after her residency in July of 1999, Jane plans to re-work a piece she began at that time, in collaboration with her late son, Ezekiel. While at this residency, Jane hopes to transform the 42-inch x 10-yard visual journey she and her son started together into the beginnings of an installation. This installation will explore how motherhood, loss, memory, and Jane’s understanding of “home” are woven together in her life journey. 

Jane is interested in many forms and mediums as an artist: drawing, painting, mixed media, collage, and installation work amongst her repertoire. For Jane, art-making is how she lives. Her life feeds her art, and vice versa. She draws her images from her lived experiences and connections she makes, which form into, in her words, a sort of visual poetry. At home in Massachusetts, Jane is an active community member. She currently co-directs a non-profit, The Art Garden, which is a community supported art-making place that holds classes, camps, and supports various outreach programs and events.

In the three years since her son—who was a prolific artist—passed, she has collaborated with him by including his images in her own work. Jane says: “My work and play are about the stories and relationships that shape my understanding of what it means to be human, what it means to be in this body in this place in this time…what it means to hold grief and joy simultaneously…what it means to respond to ‘sounds from the heart.’ I do this as a maker of objects, environments and experiences.” 

Visitors can expect a welcoming atmosphere with lots of visual stimulation and the possibility that their responses to what they see, and the conversations we might have, may find their way into the work. If you are planning to stop by the Red Barn to see Jane, please contact museum staff at 785-227-2217 ahead of time to see if the artist is in.

The Red Barn Studio Museum is located at 114 1/2 S Main Street. Hours are Tuesday - Friday - 10AM to 5PM, Saturday and Sunday - 1- 5pm.

Sandzén Gallery Chamber Music Concert

Featuring Saxophonist Anna Marie Wytko

and Pianist Amanda Arrington

Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery 

September 20

Join saxophonist Anna Marie Wytko and pianist Amanda Arrington for a Celebration of Saxophone Expressions at the Sandzén Gallery on Sunday, September 20, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. The concert is a part of Anna Marie Wytko’s San Francisco Herbst Theatre Recital Tour.

Dr. Wytko is University Distinguished Professor of Saxophone within the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance at Kansas State University. She has performed as concerto soloist in such venues as Carnegie Hall and the historic National Theatre of Costa Rica with the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica.

Amanda Arrington is Senior Professor of Practice and Faculty Collaborative Pianist at Kansas State University, where she performs in numerous performances each year with faculty, students, and guest artists.

The concert will begin with William Grant Still’s lush Romance, the first known concert piece for saxophone by an African American composer. Next, will be the haunting melodies of Retorno (Return) by Costa Rican composer Federico Molina Campos. Jindrich Feld’s substantial Sonate pushes the boundaries of sonic and technical virtuosity. The Kansas premiere of Karen P. Thomas’ When night camereflects the horrors of the war in the former Yugoslavia and, in particular, the atrocities committed against the women of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Partly a lament, the piece is also a tribute to the strength and resilience of these women. Lastly, the concert will feature the three movement festive Concertino by French composer Jeanine Rueff.

The Sandzén Gallery is located at 401 North First Street in Lindsborg. There is no charge for the concert, however, donations are appreciated. For further information, please call the Gallery at 785-227-2220 or email sandzengallery@gmail.com.

Sandzén Gallery Chamber Music Concert

Featuring Pianist Kevin Ayesh

Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery 

September 27

South Carolina pianist and Wichita native Kevin Ayesh will be performing selections by Beethoven, Chopin, and Aaron Copland at the Sandzén Gallery on Sunday, September 27, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. Ayesh has presented concerts and master classes throughout the United States – performing in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, as well as Canada, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Hong Kong. As a North Carolina visiting artist for four years, he appeared before thousands across that state, performing as many as 50 recitals in a season.

Ayesh is the recipient of many prizes, including the Naftzger Piano Award, Baltimore Music Club Award, and winner of both the JCC Baltimore Piano Competition and the Maryland State Music Teachers' Elizabeth R. Davis Memorial Piano Competition. He has judged Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) auditions for the state conventions of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and has been a featured clinician at both the Georgia and South Carolina Music Educators Association state conventions.

He is retired after 29 years as head of the music department and Artistic Director of the Concert Series at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock, North Carolina and currently teaches applied piano at Spartanburg Methodist College in South Carolina. A native of Wichita, Kansas, he received his Bachelor of Music degree with highest honors from the University of Texas at Austin; his master’s and doctorate degrees are from the University of Maryland.

The Sandzén Gallery is located at 401 North First Street in Lindsborg. There is no charge for the concert, however, donations are appreciated. For further information, please call the Gallery at 785-227-2220 or email sandzengallery@gmail.com.

Steve Bowersox - Red Barn Studio Artist-in-Residence

Red Barn Studio Museum

September 15 - 19th

Steve Bowersox will be the Red Barn Studio Artist-in-Residence from September 15–19th.

Steve is a familiar face around Lindsborg, having previously been the administrative assistant for the Red Barn. Steve is a musician with a wide scope of interests in different instruments and genres, but he is returning as Artist-in-Residence to take a deep dive into his research of Handel’s Messiah, an oratorio written in 1741. Steve has long been interested in this piece that he first encountered after purchasing the piece as an LP at a library book sale and was immediately captivated by the first notes of the overture. “The orchestration throughout,” he says, “is what drew me.” Visitors might find the source material familiar, as the Messiah Festival of the Arts, featuring the longest running performance of The Messiah in North America, has been held in Lindsborg since 1882.

Though he has listened to it many times, this will be Steve’s first time listening to Messiah as a complete story. During his residency, Steve plans to immerse himself in Handel’s Messiah, taking a deeper look at both in the narrative of the piece—approaching it from a Jewish perspective, as “much of the oratorio comes from Hebrew scripture,” Steve says—as well as the creative choices Handel himself made while composing the oratorio.

Visitors can expect to find the studio always filled with music, ideally from multiple different iterations and performances of the piece. Steve invites visitors to spend some time chatting with him about Handel’s Messiah, Lester Raymer’s art, or about anything that comes to mind. In Steve’s words, “Everyone has a story to tell, and Lester Raymer’s studio brings out the best stories.”

The Red Barn Studio Museum is located at 114 1/2 S Main Street. Hours are Tuesday - Friday - 10AM to 5PM, Saturday and Sunday - 1- 5pm.

Rodger Gerberding - Red Barn Studio Artist-in-Residence

Red Barn Studio Museum

September 22 - October 9

For nearly three decades, Rodger Gerberding of Council Bluffs, Iowa, has returned to the Red Barn Studio Museum as an Artist-in-Residence from September 22nd through October 9th. A painter, illustrator, writer, and actor, Gerberding finds endless inspiration in the people, places, and everyday moments.

During his residency, visitors are invited to stop by the studio to see works in progress and visit with the artist as he develops new paintings inspired by his surroundings.

Working primarily in painting, drawing, and mixed media, Gerberding creates expressive, layered compositions where recognizable figures, landscapes, homes, and animals appear and disappear from loose, gestural brushmarks. His work balances observation with imagination, inviting viewers into scenes that feel both familiar and dreamlike.

Gerberding often begins with sketches and observations gathered while wandering Lindsborg before transforming them into finished works. His annual return to the Red Barn has become an important part of his creative practice, providing both inspiration and a chance to reconnect with a community that has influenced his work for many years. 

The Red Barn Studio Museum is located at 114 1/2 S Main Street. Hours are Tuesday - Friday - 10AM to 5PM, Saturday and Sunday - 1- 5pm.

Poetry at the Barn

Red Barn Studio Museum

September 26

On Saturday, September 26th, the Red Barn Studio Museum will host its second Poetry at the Barn, a day-long celebration of poetry featuring workshops, lunch, and a public reading to wrap up the event.

Three poets will spend the day at the Red Barn, each leading a workshop and reading their own work during an early evening program open to the public. The featured poets include Caleb Braun, Assistant Professor of English at Bethany College; Huascar Medina, Kansas Poet Laureate Emeritus (2019-2022) and an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow; and Jasmine Khaliq, a Ph.D. Candidate in English and Creative Writing at the University of Utah.

Each poet will guide a unique workshop designed to inspire writers of all experience levels. Participants will spend the day writing, connecting, and sharing ideas, with a lunch included as part of the registration.

The day will conclude with a free and open to the public poetry reading at 4:00 p.m. on the front lawn of the Red Barn Studio Museum. Workshop participants will have the option to share a poem they created during the day, followed by readings from Braun, Medina, and Khaliq.

Workshop registration is required; the registration deadline is September 21st.

The cost is $15 per workshop or $30 to attend two or more. Students may register for $10, and are asked to bring a student ID to the event. Lunch is included for all registered participants. Register online here.

Sponsoring this event are The Lindsborg Arts Council and Red Barn Studio Museum.

For more details, including the full schedule, poet bios, and workshop descriptions, visit redbarnstudio.org. 

Kansas State Fair

September 11-20

Hutchinson

In January of 1873, when the prairie town of Hutchinson was barely one year old, a group of businessmen met and organized the Reno County Agricultural Society. On September 23 and 24 that year, the society hosted a fair which was held in a small wooden livery stable behind the town's only bank on the northwest corner of Sherman and Main.

Today, the Fair has far outgrown its humble beginnings. Gather in Hutchinson to celebrate all things Kansas for the 2026 Kansas State Fair, held September 11-20.

What is there to do? Browse the schedule of events, page through the visitor guide, and purchase tickets for a variety of activities ranging from concerts to rides on the Midway. General admission includes a multitude of exhibits and activities.

Overnight lodging difficult to find? Try staying in Lindsborg. Lindsborg offers easy access to the fair and a relaxing overnight. Click here to see lodging options for a quiet evening's rest in Lindsborg.

5 Star Stays in Abundance

Lodging in Lindsborg

Just five of the many Five Star Stays you can find while in Lindsborg.

Want a traditional motel stay? Lindsborg has Viking Motel and Coronado Motel & RV Park

Want something romantic? Try Rosberg House or Dröm Sött

Driving an RV? Coronado Motel & RV Park or Dan's RV Park

Want something unique? Check out Lindsborg Vacation Rentals, Rosberg House, or Dröm Sött

Considering more of a home-type stay? The Respite or multiple Airbnb/VRBO options

Keep all of these ideas in mind when heading to the Kansas State Fair! Lindsborg is just a short drive to the fair and provides a quiet stay after a full-day of fair activities.

Go to VisitLindsborg.com/Stay and find all the options for that wonderful, relaxing, just-what-you-needed getaway to Little Sweden, USA!

Register for the Falun Classic & Mac and Back Rides

October 4

The 36-mile Falun Classic began in 1992, when Larue Nelson and Judy Murphy created the ride to encourage Bethany College students to get outdoors, exercise, and explore the Kansas countryside.

Today, the Falun Classic remains a beloved fall tradition for area cyclists. Hosted by Mac Town Cycling, this paved-road ride begins and ends in Lindsborg, with the small community of Falun serving as a SAG stop along the route.

Looking for a shorter option with fewer hills? The 25-mile Mac and Back follows the Meadowlark Trail, offering an intermediate ride on a packed-limestone surface.

Both rides begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 4, 2026, in Lindsborg. Secure your spot and register today.

Follow Mac Town Cycling on Facebook for event updates.

American Legion Post 140

Every Friday

The Annual motorcycle rally held in Marquette

Smoky Valley Arts and Folklife Center

Oct. 2 - Nov. 8

8am, Saturday mornings, at

The Blacksmith Coffeeshop and Roastery

Virtual Swedish genealogy workshop hosted by

Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum

Arts and Crafts galore, plus supplies,

for the makers in your life!