Halstead's Suspension Foot Bridge

Location:  North edge of town in small park just west of the highway

Fee:  None

Photos Copyright Harland J. Schuster.  Please do not use without permission.

There's an intriguing suspension foot bridge over the Little Arkansas river located in the wheat country town of Halstead.  What's more, this bridge is a movie star!  Well, sort of.  Parts of the 1956 Columbia motion picture "Picnic", starting Kim Novack and William Holden, were filmed in the Halstead City park, including the graceful bridge.

Though considered pretty steamy for its day, the plot and movie would raise few eyebrows today.  It's your typical "ner' do well drifter comes to small town and steals the heart of the homecoming queen" type story.  Perhaps the story was original enough at the time, and it's only the numerous copies of the idea that make it seem so trite today.   Unfortunately, it's also the same tired Hollywood view of Kansas. With the possible exception of the long-running series, Gunsmoke, they just never seem to get it quite right.

Independent of it's short brush with stardom, the peaceful little roadside park with it's suspension footbridge is well worthy of a visit.

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