​​Weston • Platte County • Missouri

For more than sixty-five years, one of Weston’s most cherished traditions has been the Annual Dinner of the Weston Historical Museum. Since its founding in 1960, the museum has hosted this gathering as a time-honored occasion for fellowship among friends, both old and new, who share an appreciation for Weston’s history, the museum, and community spirit.
Speaker Dr. Jenna Lyons
This year’s dinner will be Sunday, November 9 in Eventful at Locust Grove, where owners Kate Parsons and Christy Shafer once again open their venue to support the museum. Their generosity, along with the efforts of museum volunteers, makes this evening one of the highlights of Weston’s social calendar.  
The full evening of events includes a general reception, silent auction, a catered dinner, and the evening program.
This year, the museum is honored to host Dr. Jenna Lyons, Visiting Assistant Professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. She will present “Not Just Another Historic Town” based on her 2021 Ph.D. dissertation, “Preserve America’: A Grounded Study of History, Heritage, and Tourism in a Small Town.”
Lyons discovered the rich history of Weston while doing her graduate work at the University of Kansas.
She will share how she chose Weston as a research site and source materials used, as well as a discussion of Weston’s historic preservation and heritage tourism efforts.
Whether you’re a museum member or a non-member who simply enjoys Weston’s history and enlightening programs, you’re invited to attend on November 9.  
The Annual Dinner promises a memorable evening celebrating the people, stories, and spirit that make Weston special. There is a modest charge for the 5:30 reception and dinner.  
For people interested in only attending the program- it begins at 7 pm with open seating and no charge.

Verna is celebrating her 20th year presenting the Ghost Tales of Weston and will approach her 80th narration this year.
In 2005, a local merchant was organizing an event and asked Verna if she would like to help by being one of the entertainment stops at the Weston Café which Verna owned at that time.
While contemplating what she could present, an employee told her of a new ghost encounter she had just experienced in the back kitchen area of the café when she came to work that morning. That was when Ghost Tales of Weston was born in Verna’s mind and created as a Dinner Theater. 
In later years, she moved the event to the UpStairs Tearoom after remodeling the second floor of the Main Street Galleria. Verna had bought the building at 501 Main Street in 1997 after the library moved to their newly constructed building on Library Drive. The librarians regaled her with tales about the ghosts that would appear to them at the 501 Main store.
She listened to residents, merchants, and customers as they told her of their encounters with what they swore were ghosts. Carolyn Larsen, a member of the Bless family, referred to many stories and articles that had been recorded in the Weston Chronicle formerly owned by her family. 
Due to Verna’s interest in the ghosts of Weston, research started pouring in; she even received an article from a New York newspaper about a shooting in the Weston Café owned by the grandson of one of the victims.
After she asked Terry Blanton, the former chief of police, for his comments about a well preserved body that had recently been found during construction of new houses in 2012, she was ready to record her accumulated stories for her book: Ghost Tales of Weston.

This year the Ghost Tales of Weston Dinner Theater and Ghost Walk will be presented at Weston Masonic Lodge #53, 507 Main Street. Proceeds will be donated to The Weston Community Theatre, for their contribution to the ghost walk and the Masonic Lodge for support of their charities. To reserve seating, visit wewstonmainstreetantiques.com. Ghost Tales Tickets.

The Weston Chronicle

-- Ghost Tales of Weston Celebrates 20 Years

-- Vehicle Pursuit Runs Through Weston

On Friday, October 10,  at approximately 8:10 am, the Platte County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a possible intoxicated driver traveling in a stolen vehicle southbound on MO 45 Hwy. 
At approximately 8:20 am, Platte County deputies located the suspect vehicle north of Weston, and attempted to stop it.  The 2006 Silver Dodge Ram truck sped through  Weston with the deputy in pursuit and Weston Officer Todd Bryant joined the chase.
The suspect vehicle continued to flee from the deputy as they traveled southbound on MO 45 Hwy and then continued southeast on MO 273 Hwy.  The suspect vehicle avoided a tire deflation device (Stop Sticks) that had been deployed on MO 273 Hwy and then continued onto I-29 where the suspect vehicle went southbound on I-29 from Platte City.  
The pursuit of the suspect vehicle continued southbound on I-29 until a Trooper with the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) initiated a Tactical Vehicle Intervention (TVI) maneuver to end the pursuit on southbound I-29 near 64th Street.  
The suspect vehicle crashed ending the pursuit and one 18-year-old male subject was taken into custody at the scene. 
No officers were injured in the pursuit, the suspect was transported to an area hospital for medical clearance before being transported to the Platte County Detention Center where he was placed on a 24-hour investigative hold while criminal charges are pursued.  
Agencies involved in the pursuit and subsequent arrest included the Weston Police Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Kansas City, Missouri Police Department, and the Riverside Police Department.
“I appreciate the cooperation of all the agencies involved today in safely ending the pursuit and the arrest of the suspect.” – Erik Holland, Sheriff of Platte County 

-- Museum Annual Dinner Features Speaker on Weston History

For all of our news in full, please see this week's print and/or e-edition of the Weston Chronicle

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