Ode To Hays
Hays Has It. It's Happening in Hays. Those were slogans for the city of Hays, Kansas, that I remember from my childhood. We used to make fun of them a lot, but when I was really young, I did think that Hays had "it," whatever it was. I think the first thing I remember about Hays is that once upon a time I actually couldn't distinguish it from Russell, Kansas. Both were cities off of I-70, where my parents used to take us to shop or run errands, and I just knew they both were what I considered "big towns" but I couldn't tell them apart. That must have been when I was 4 or so, because soon I realized many of the differences between the two. Hays was much larger, had a college, a mall, a Wal-Mart - basically all the exciting things I grew to love throughout my childhood. My earliest memories of Hays were of being impressed by the size of it. I spent most of my time on our farm, and when I was lucky enough to "go to town," it was