A Big Kansas Road Trip Pop-Up event May 3 in Elkhart invites visitors to explore far southwest Kansas, home of the Cimarron National Grasslands and 23 miles of the Santa Fe Trail. 

Exploration options include taking in the expansive views at Point of Rocks in Morton County, a landmark along the Santa Fe Trail, and visiting the Tri-State marker where Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado come together. The event is organized by the Kansas Sampler Foundation. For lodging and more opportunities to explore, visit bigkansasroadtrip.com. 

The Little House on the Prairie Museum is open March 14-21 for spring break and then starts regular hours for the season on April 5. A celebration of Carrie Ingalls’ birthday is planned for Aug. 2. The site southwest of Independence is on ground where the Ingalls family lived from 1869-1871 and where daughter Carrie was born. The site includes a replica of their cabin as well as a one-room school and post office from the era. Check their Facebook page for updates. 

In addition to corn mazes and pumpkin patches, Kansas is brimming with a wide range of festivals for fall 2023. Click on Calendar Highlights for even more ideas.

A September highlight for thousands of attendees is the Walnut Valley Festival at the fairgrounds in Winfield. The 51^st festival, this year on Sept. 13-17, features five stages of live music, international flat-picking contests, crafts and food. 

Every other year, Lindsborg pulls out all the stops to honor its Swedish heritage with two days of traditional foods, dancing, music and crafts. A biennial event since 1941, the 2023 Svensk Hyllningsfest is Oct. 13-14. 

For more than a century, Independence has celebrated Neewollah (Halloween spelled backwards). The festival was started in 1919 to keep kids out of mischief. The Oct. 20-28 event features parades, a carnival, coronation, arts and crafts fair, bandstand entertainment and food vendors.