Each September the Lenexa Historical Society, with the
City of Lenexa and others, sponsors The Spinach Festival
at Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park in Lenexa.
Lenexa's Spinach Heritage
Taken from the Kansas City Star/Times, May 17, 1939.
The shipping season is getting under way for the truck gardeners of this section, and farmers are busy with the spinach harvest. Mary Louise Verstraete, 16-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Julius Verstraete, is busily engaged in cutting the plant on her parents' farm, a mile northeast of Lenexa, Kas. Five freight cars full and three truck loads were shipped yesterday at a loading dock near by.
(This site is today the corner of 87th Street Parkway and Quivira Road.)
 The Spinach Festival, held on a Saturday in early September, celebrates
Lenexa's claim as Spinach Capital of the World. During the 1930's, truck
farms, operated by Belgian immigrants, surrounded Lenexa. Areas that now
encompass the city of Lenexa, and many of the surrounding subdivisions,
once raised spinach along with other vegetables.The Spinach Festival commemorates
this heritage. The day of fun includes games, entertainment, antiques, arts
and craft sales, contests, raffles, and history lessons in Sar-Ko-Par Trails
Park. |
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