Shawnee: Keep it Local

Upbeat holiday music plays in the background as customers search through a rack of new festive t-shirts. The smile of owner Kristina Gann-Albright welcomes each local as they enter the store. Since ShananiGanns opened in October of 2014, located at 11006 Johnson Dr., the citizens of Shawnee have been able to receive a more enjoyable and personalized shopping experience. One quality of the store...

Whether they come to enjoy a homestyle meal or to waitress as their after school job, members of the Shawnee community know Pegah’s Family Restaurant as a family-oriented restaurant  many call home. Pegah’s began over 30 years ago when owner Mo Sharifi and his business partner set out to create a successful homestyle restaurant. Sharifi first became an owner when he bought his location at 11005 Joh...

A walk through the dim, hardwood vestibule leads to the heart of the restaurant. Tables, chairs and booths with dark-clothed seats give the space a classic feel. In the back of the restaurant, just visible from the tables, an employee pulls a massive pizza stone from one of the many ovens. Take a short flight downstairs into the sub-level and find an open bar with a rustic, natural feel. Deer antle...

What first attracted you to public service? The love that I have for this city. I am a lifelong resident of Shawnee and I just absolutely love the city. I hate politics. I don’t think anyone in their right mind would subject themselves to this if they didn’t have a reason, and my reason is the passion that I have for Shawnee and protecting its history and preserving its present and future. How long have...

Couples and families walk down Johnson Drive and Nieman Road on weekend nights until they stop under the flashing lights of the Aztec Theatre. Then, as multi-screen theaters become a popular attraction, the theater is closed in the ‘70s. It is left empty for another 40 years, until just recently when brothers Jeffrey and Chris Calkins purchased it and made plans to restore it to the bustling thea...

5700 King St. is where Wonderscope, a children’s museum, calls itself home. Its location houses many different uniquely themed rooms that are available for children to dive in and make themseleves at home.  “It’s all free play and self-guided,” Foster said. “When you think of the word ‘museum’ you think of things to look at and not really touch, but we’re very much the opposite. We want everyone to come in and play with our toys, build stuff, make st...

When traveling to downtown Shawnee, one might find themselves back in the ‘20s, experiencing what life was like on a historical site called Shawnee Town. Since its creation in 1966, “Old Shawnee Town,” as it is most commonly referred to, has expanded its site with the overall mission of preserving Shawnee life in the ‘20s. “It started as [a] grassroots effort by local people here in S...

The garage doors close and the smell of smoke lingers as sighs of relief after a long call are heard throughout the John B. Glaser Fire Station on Wednesday, Nov. 29. In early 1924, the Shawnee Fire Department was organized when a group of citizens came together to collect enough money to buy a fire truck that would be staffed by volunteers. The group collected a little over $520 for a 1924 Ford Model-T that was delivered to Mayor Van Winkle and Chief Provost a f...

Mill Creek Animal Hospital, located at 13428 W 62nd Terrace, has been serving the Shawnee community by providing veterinary care to their patients for 27 years. While Mill Creek was originally opened by Dr. Mark Mears in 1990, Dr. Martin Gilmore gained ownership of the clinic in 2009. In addition to performing veterinary services, MCAH also offers grooming and boarding. Dr. Gilmore received his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine and a Ph.D. in Immunopathology fro...

During the long, hot days of summer, many people prefer a place on or near the water. It is fitting that the Thomas A. Soetaert Aquatic Center (TASAC), located at 13805 Johnson Dr., has become a haven for Shawnee residents looking to cool off during those bright, warm days. TASAC was originally built in 1987, consisting only of one rectangular pool that still serves as the main pool today. I...

The Shawnee Dispatch, its office located at 6301 Pflumm Rd., serves as a way for the citizens of Shawnee to stay updated on what’s going on in the area, as well as what is going on in the world of high school sports. Shawnee Dispatch reporter Chris Duderstadt covers six different high schools for the newspaper, including Mill Valley, St. James, De Soto, Shawnee Mission Northwest, Shawnee Mission...

The interior of B&B Theatres, located at 16301 Midland Dr., is more modern and classier, but it wasn’t always like that. Since 1994, Westglen has remained the only theatre in Shawnee, but in October 2014, the B&B Theatres company bought out Westglen. This later led to the renovation of the theatre in 2016. Loyalty and marketing specialist Paul Weiss believes the Westglen theatre was due f...

On the southern edge of Shawnee, going into the northern edge of Lenexa, sits Shawnee Mission Park. The park offers boating, swimming, fishing, nature trails and an outdoor theater.  According to junior Madelyn Lehn, co-president of the outdoors club MV Outfitters, the park has something for everyone to enjoy. “It is somewhere everyone can go and enjoy no matter how old you are,” Lehn sai...

  Right off Shawnee Mission Parkway on Midland Drive, a modest, white house peeks from behind the trees. In front reads a sign that says “Midland Holiday Pines.” Midland Holiday Pines, owned by Phil and Judy Wegman, has been selling Christmas trees for the past 15 years. The farm is seven acres of land filled with Scotch Pines, Austrian Pines, White Pines and Frasier Firs. Phil wanted to take something his family loves and share the experience with other families, thus ...

Even in the midst of suburban Shawnee, there are still many community members who own horses and are in need of a place to keep them. Luckily, they won’t have to go far to see their animals, as Twin Mill Farm, owned by senior Britton Nelson’s family, offers horse boarding services close to home. Twin Mill Farm, located at 19109 Midland Dr., has been a part of Shawnee since it opened in the late 1960s. Fo...

As the smell of chicken strips fills the main entrance, kids unlace their skates or take off sweaty hockey gear from a session on the ice. The Canadian national anthem, “O Canada,” booms out of the table hockey game in the corner while employees fill out paperwork and organize name tags. Two rinks, one indoor and one outdoor, keep the ice at a crisp 14 degrees. The building has gone through multi...

The lights turned on and the sound of basketballs bouncing off the courts echoed throughout the gymnasium of Okun Fieldhouse as teams began arriving for after school practices on Thursday, Nov. 16. Built in 1999, Okun Fieldhouse coined its name after 15-year-old former basketball player Bailey Ann Okun, who passed away due to a congenital heart defect in 1997, and is owned by Johnson County Park...

Walking up to the gate of the fenced-in, off-leash dog park at Swanson’s Dog Park and Daycare, two four-legged clients run up to greet the man who, along with help of staff members, has been taking care of them for the past few days. Co-owner Brad Swanson instantly recognizes them by name as Jackson and Madison, and the two bark and wag their tails at him before running off to continue playing. ...

After school most days, several students will find themselves grabbing a drink or snack at the Quiktrip on Shawnee Mission Parkway. To get there, some take Monticello Rd. to Midland Dr., a winding, bumpy road that holds a few businesses. What most don’t realize, though, is that this road is a part of what used to be K-10 Highway. Tire Town, located at 21000 Midland Dr., is one of the businesses housed on the road. Tire Town farm sales manager Tim Manso...

A family of four walks in to the local pizza restaurant down the street, immediately greeted by bustling waiters, laughing patrons and a multi-tiered pizza and pasta buffet across the restaurant. Seven years ago the city of Shawnee gained two new additions to the community; two brothers by the names of Dave and Cory Knubley. To most people in western Shawnee they are known as the owners of the two ...

Scrolling through posts of homemade, life-size foosball tables made of materials such as hay bales on Pinterest, an inspired Brittany McWilliams and husband Lucas McWilliams set out to build an establishment of their own, designated for playing, what is called, “human foosball.” To play, participants strap their hands onto the wooden beams acting as rods and kick the ball into the opposite soccer goal as the plastic players on a table would do. After...

Now that you know the history of K-10 Highway and have new places to take your four-legged friends, where will you go next? Which stories will you learn? Whatever you do, whichever goals you pursue — keep it local, Shawnee. ...