A Little Americana in Leavenworth Kansas and the Sampler Festival

I knew you needed a little bit of Americana in your day, so here it is. Can you get much more Americana than Dad with his two sons at an old fashioned soda fountain? No, I don’t think so.

This is at The Corner Pharmacy in Leavenworth, Kansas – in business since 1871. Yes, 1871. In this really cool building on, as you might guess from the name, a corner.

There are, needless to say, some wonderful scenes inside.

And they make their own pies. From scratch. Which is really the only way anyone “makes their own pies,” but people have odd ideas about this concept sometimes – believing that thawing a pie, or heating a ready-made pie, is the same as making a pie – so I feel the need to say they’re from scratch. This coconut cream was a little heavy on the almond extract for my tastes, but I know lots of folks love that taste. (By the way, free cooking tip of the day – many people’s “secret” family recipe is to put almond extract in instead of vanilla extract – I’m not a huge fan of either, but less of almond, myself. But I digress…)

There were special guests wandering around downtown this evening. I caught them at the Queen’s Pantry Shop.

I’m in Leavenworth for the Kansas Sampler Festival this weekend. You should be, too, if at all possible. Come visit me at the Cosmosphere and Salt Museum booth.

Bring Norman Rockwell’s ghost along with you, if you can… he’s got work to do in Leavenworth..