Kim Novak was here

To show you how random my travels are, I noticed a few weeks ago "Picnic" was on TCM.I recorded ,one because my mother talked about knowing extra, and William Inge author of the Play is from Independence. He also wrote "Bus Stop" another wonderful play that takes place in Kansas. So last Wednesday I got around to watching "Picnic" and I loved the look at small town Kansas on a hot Labor Day. I wondered where it was filmed, quickly found the answer 5 small towns in Kansas between Hutchinson (Hutch as we call it) and Salina:

Courtesy of Wikipedia:
Halstead's Riverside Park is where all the Labor Day picnic scenes (some of which are semi-documentary) were filmed. The park and many landmarks still existed at the time of the movie's fiftieth anniversary.
Hutchinson, with its huge grain elevators.
Nickerson is the location of the two adjacent houses where Madge (Kim Novak) and her family live (with "old Mrs. Potts" next door), also where Hal (William Holden) "jumps a freight" to go to Tulsa and where Madge boards a bus in the last scene.
Salina, where Hal jumps off a train in the opening scene and meets Allen (Cliff Robertson) at Allen's father's large house, also where Madge kisses Hal by the Salina River and where he escapes from the police by running under a waterfall.
Sterling, where the pre-picnic swim in the lake was filmed.

In my randomness I described to visit one of the film sites and Halstead seemed to be the best choice.

The Museum had a corner reserved for the movie and even has the DVD for sale in the gift shop. Their were two prizes of the collection, one is the swan that Kim Novak was on that sailed down the river when she was awarded Queen of Neewollah and a board that cast and crew members autographed. I'm giving the board it's own entry as the signatures may be hard to see.