ABILENE, Kan. - The popular 8 Wonders of Kansas exhibit featured at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum will wrap up as Labor Day weekend comes to a close. This exhibit was designed in partnership with the Kansas Sampler Foundation to help celebrate Kansas' sesquicentennial in 2011. The exhibit is located on two floors in the Eisenhower Library building.

Visitors to the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum will have the opportunity to view the exhibit until 10 p.m beginning on Thursday, Sept. 1 through Monday, Sept. 5. All other buildings will close at 5:45 p.m. Admission to the Eisenhower Library building is free. Visitors are encouraged to park in the south parking lot adjacent the library building.

"The 8 Wonders exhibit is proving to be one of the most popular and unique exhibits we've ever mounted in the library building. Many of our out-of-state guests including foreign visitors remark that the exhibit demonstrates the diversity and beauty of Kansas, which makes our state so fascinating. As a way of thanking our partner, the Kansas Sampler Foundation, and all Kansas institutions who contributed artifacts, we decided to extend visitation hours," states Karl Weissenbach, director of the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. 

Displays feature the top 8 Wonders in the contested rural culture element categories of Architecture, Art, Commerce, Cuisine, Customs, Geography, History, and People, plus the overall 8 Wonders of Kansas.  

Some of the artifacts include a spacesuit from the Kansas Cosmosphere, a full Buffalo Soldier uniform from Fort Leavenworth, an original flying monkey model used in filming the Wizard of Oz, shoes and a helmet worn by Amelia Earhart, and a dice game from the original Long Branch Saloon, Boot Hill Museum, Dodge City.

The 8 Wonders of Kansas Guidebook written by Kansas Sampler Foundation director Marci Penner is available for purchase in the Presidential Gift Shop for $29.95.