There are no words to adequately express the depth of our feelings about the Anniversary Weekend. It was an amazingly rich experience which we will be processing for a long time to come. We are grateful to all of the folks who stopped by our new office to visit and get acquainted. ( We love our location behind the Kwik Shop, being in the midst of so much activity and being so easy to find.)

We are profoundly grateful to the community for embracing GreenTown as they have. We respect and admire the courage and vision it has taken for residents to learn a whole new skill set related to green building while recovering from the horrific trauma of May 4, 2007. It is utterly amazing. People who visit Greensburg are forever transformed by the energy and love of the people here.

GreenTown held its official Grand Opening on Friday, May 2. The ribbon-cutting event was attended by the staff, board, and various visitors and residents. All weekend long we welcomed folks, shared organic cookies and other treats (thanks to Green Acres in Wichita), and visited about the Green Initiative. We distributed cloth shopping totes to residents as part of our commitment to reduce the use of plastic bags in town. We gave away water-saving shower heads, courtesy of the Evolve company out of Phoenix. (See related story on our home page.) We acted as shelter from the wind (63 miles an hour at times!) to the students from Kansas State University who were on site to set up their cube project. And we handed out educational brochures from NREL (National Renewable Energy Lab) on various aspects of energy efficiency.

GreenTown co-sponsored supper Saturday night with the Kiowa County Chamber of Commerce. We have been informally referring to this event as a “Thank You Banquet”, and saw it as the perfect opportunity to acknowledge the people who have been instrumental in bringing Greensburg back. Chamber President Steve Kirk and GreenTown Executive Director Daniel Wallach co-emceed the program after the meal, and a significant amount of time was spent honoring and thanking. Anita Friesen and her crew from Cannonball Catering in Greensburg made a yummy spaghetti supper for the hundreds of folks who turned out to dine under the tent in Davis Park. After the meal we screened a couple of DVDs, including the one-hour special Blown Away: Greensburg, Kansas produced by the Discovery Channel. This feature was being aired on TV at the same time we showed it to residents in the park, and focused on the science of the tornado that leveled the town. (Discovery's 13-part series Greensburg debuts on Sunday, June 15.)

Several  of us from GreenTown were part of the community that gathered in Davis Park Sunday night to commemorate the people whose lives were lost as a result of last year's storm. The candlelight vigil was a beautiful offering by the town's ministers that gave people the space to sit in peace and be with their memories and feelings.

The love and energy of Greensburg affects people deeply, and the weekend was a microcosm of  all that is good and inspiring about this special town.

Last updated on May 7, 2008 by Administrator