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Off the Hill
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY AUGUST 19,2002
SECTION D
Finances
Banks offer student checking
By Lauren Beatty
Kansan staff writer
Students will find plenty of banks in Lawrence that offer special deals and accounts just for them.
Connie Faulke, customer service supervisor at Emprise Bank, 2435 Iowa St., said the most popular offer for students was the free checking account because most did not require a minimum balance.
"Most students can't keep a $1,000 balance," she said. "So most students want an account where they won't be charged if they go below that."
Free checking accounts at Emprise don't charge any fees and offer unlimited check writing and a free ATM card. Faulk said.
Despite all the perks that come with free checking accounts, there were some drawbacks. Faulke said. Free checking accounts don't earn interest.
"If students want to earn interest they should open a savings account along with their free checking account," she said.
ATM and check cards are extremely popular with students, said Mark Gonzales, community bank president at Commerce Bank, 955 Iowa St.
Students with a student checking account
at Commerce can have a free Visa Check Card, which allows them to automatically deduct purchases from their checking accounts. Gonzales said KUIDs could also be used as ATM cards with a Commerce account.
"You only need one card in your wallet," he said.
Commerce ATM use is free with a student checking account. Gonzales said there were 13 Commerce ATMS in Lawrence, including four on campus. There is also a Commerce branch located in the Kansas Union.
Online access to accounts was becoming a trend for students as well, said Adrienne Boyd-Akers, personal banker at Douglar
County Bank, 300 W. Ninth St. Online access allows students to keep up on their finances 24 hours a day with a personal computer.
Douglas County Bank checking accounts are free and offer online access as well as unlimited check writing and an ATM card.
Faulkle said when choosing a bank, students should find out as much as they can about the benefits and costs that came with different types of accounts.
"It just has to be convenient for you," she said.
Contact Beatty at Ibeatty@kansan.com.
Laurie Sisk/Kansan
The Lawrence Arts Center moved to its new location this summer at 940 New Hampshire St. The center offers a variety of art classes that focus on different media.
Lawrence Arts Center offers activities for students
By Lauren Beatty
Kansan staff writer
At the Lawrence Arts Center college students can create masterpieces without the expense of enrolling in University of Kansas classes.
The center attracts about 100,000 people a year, said Ann Evans, executive director. Many of them are University of Kansas students looking for an inexpensive and fun way to express their inner artist.
The center, 940 New Hampshire St., offers a broad spectrum of arts classes, programs and events. Classes range from painting and jewelry-making to dance and theater. The center is also home to two theater companies, an arts-based preschool and an art gallery.
Evans said she thought more students were coming to the center because the new $7 million building, which
opened in April, can accommodate more people. The new center is three stories tall and has 40,000 square feet.
"The old building was 10,000 square feet," Evans said. "We are significantly larger and we can serve a lot more people and offer more adult activities."
Beau Hancock, Hugoton junior and Lawrence Arts Center employee, said students often came to the center to escape college life.
"It it gets you out of the KU zone," said. "You really get to know Lawrence. I feel like part of the community now."
Ellie Goudie-Averill, Topeka junior and Lawrence Arts Center employee, teaches dance classes at the center. She said she saw KU students in her classes all the time because enrolling in a dance class costs $27 at the center, compared with the higher tuition costs of taking dance classes at KU
Many KU students like Hancock and Goudie-Averill are taking their talents to the front of the classroom, said Evans.
"We offer real jobs with real references," she said. "Not all are arts students. We have internships in marketing and business, but we've definitely had an influence on students wanting to go into arts administration. Some even change their major."
Hancecock teaches a variety of dance classes. He said going from pupil to instructor was a natural progression after 18 years of dance training.
"It's wonderful experience and great preparation for my dance career," he said. "It's challenging to your own technique to teach what you've learned to others."
Fall class schedules are available now at the center. Evans said students could also suggest classes they would like the center to offer.
Contact Beatty at ibetey.kansan.com. This story was edited by Mandy Miller.
Market offers local goods
By Todd Smith
Kansas staff writer
Wendy Dalquest uses goat milk to make an all natural soap.
At the Lawrence Farmers Market customers can buy that goat soap they just can't do without or try something new like honey beef jerky.
The market, established 28 years ago, is the oldest continuous market in Kansas.
Dalquest, owner of Red Ribbon Acres,
1004 E. 1600 Road, southeast of Lawrence,
said she was known as the Goat Lady.
Dalquest displays her wares with Sue Cranston, another goat farmer, who sells ice cream and five kinds of cheese made from goat milk. She said they were a good combination.
"Wendy makes the inedible part, and I make the edible part." Cranston said.
Her son Anthony, owner of the business, is a Lawrence High School sophomore who suffers from epilepsy. The family helps sell his products because of his special needs.
His father, Tony Schwager, said the beehive business would supplement Anthony's income.
"My goal for him is to have a hundred by the time he turns 18," she said. "If you manage your bees you can double each year."
Terri Schwager said the family had 24 beehives.
During the week the crowds and the number of vendors can be small, but Mark Jones, Lawrence Farmers Market manager, said Saturdays got busy.
There are 65 vendors Saturday mornings, and during the week there are about 10 to 12, he said.
He said on Saturdays the market could attract more than 1,000 people.
Jones said everything was locally owned and produced.
"Most everything is sold in season," Jones said. "That is how you keep it local."
He said one could find herbs, pies and cakes at the market and later in the year pumpskins, watermelons and cantaloupes were sold.
Vendors pay different fees for displaying their wares.
Mary Joe Merseis, president of the vendors association, said each vendor paid a $25 advertising fee whether they were there one day or all year. A vendor can pay $100 for the full season or pay per day, which is $2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and $10 on Saturdays.
The market is in the parking lot in the 1000 block of Vermont Street. It begins the second Saturday in May and runs through the second Saturday in November. It is open from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday and from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. every Saturday.
Contact Smith at editor@kansan.com. This story was edited by Mandy Miller.
Two new restaurants triple options for custard in Lawrence
By Todd Smith Kansan staff writer
With temperatures rising as the summer rolls on, students looking to cool off with frozen custard will soon have more options.
Sheridan's Frozen Custard and Culver's Frozen Custard and Butterburgers join the Custard Cup as the custard shops in town.
Frye said he decided to bring a Sheridan's to Lawrence because of the potential market and the location he was able to acquire. The company has seven stores in operation, not including the Lawrence location.
Duke Frye, of Sheridan's Frozen Custard, 2030 W. 23rd St., said the store should open July 15. The store will occupy the building where Hardee's was located.
"The 23rd and Iowa location in my mind is the prime site in town," he said. "It is the highest traffic intersection in the city."
Frye said Sheridan's was a high-volume business that was capable of making a lot of custard in a short amount of time.
Custard had a higher percentage of butter fat and eggs than ice cream, Frye said. It is also served at about 20 degrees, while ice cream is served at below zero.
He said it provided a huge number of items to put on its product, including pecans, cherries, bananas and strawberries.
"That is why it does not freeze your teeth as much when you eat it," he said.
David King, Ablene spring graduate; said
"The 23rd and Iowa location in my mind is the prime site in town. It is the highest traffic intersection in the city."
he had been to the Sheridan in Olathe and liked the taste and wide variety of ingredients.
Duke Frye
John Olson, co-owner of Culver's, 2111 W. 33rd St., said the restaurant provided a different niche than the other custard stores in town.
owner of Sheridan's Frozen Custard
Frye said as far as competition goes with Culver's, the newest frozen custard restaurant in town, he thought Culver's focused more on food service than custard.
"The custard at Sheridan's was really smooth and it tasted really rich," King said.
Olson said that in addition to custard, but the restaurant also sold a lot of food items.
He said the combination of frozen custard and butterburger made the restaurant unique.
A butterburger has ground beef chuck on a lightly buttered and toasted bun. Olson said.
Olson said they chose the location on 35rd Street because of the expanding retail market in the area. The movie theaters are nearby, and JCPenney, SuperTarget, and Wal-Mart stores are close to the store, he said.
"Other than downtown, this is the hottest retail center in the city." Olson said.
"We have been busy, and we have done little advertising, and sales have been 35 percent above projections." Olson said.
He said the business was doing well since it opened on June 17.
He said he thought there was plenty of room in Lawrence for his business, Sheridan's and the Custard Cup.
Previously, the Custard Cup, 529 W. 23rd St., Suite E, was the lone custard shop in Lawrence.
Bonnie Plumberg, owner of The Custard Cup, said her custard was different from the others because of her vanilla.
"Our vanilla comes from Madagascar and costs $90 a gallon and makes a big difference in our flavor." she said.
She said when she opened her frozen custard shop in 1999 she heard some of the bigger chains, like Sheridan's and Culver's, were looking into the Lawrence area.
Plumberg said she thought if she presented the community with a good product and had a couple of seasons under her belt, she could establish a regular clientele.
"We have a lot of people come in here on a regular basis and Lawrence residents are pretty loyal to their local businesses and they have been good to us," Plumberg said.
Culver's Frozen Custard and Butterburgers, 2111 W.33rd St., is one of two custard restaurants that opened this summer in Lawrence. It opened on June 17.
Contact Smith at editor@kanans.com. This story was edited by Mike Gilligan.
Laurie Sisk/Kansas