Posted on Sat, May. 03, 2008

Car-door-slamming winds crashed the kickoff of a three-day celebration here Friday commemorating the one-year anniversary of an EF-5 tornado that tore apart most of the town.

"It's a 'wind-wind' situation," quipped Bob Mosier at what was supposed to be a community picnic at Sunset Acres Park.

Instead of sitting down, socializing and catching up, residents grabbed sack lunches and quickly got back into their cars and trucks, out of the wind.

"It's terrible. We didn't pick the right day. We didn't last year either on the fourth," he said, referring to the May 4 twister.

Mosier owned six houses and interests in two other homes in Greensburg at the time of the tornado. One survived.

It was not his home. But it will be now.

"We're moving there the first of June," he said. "The one I was living in was destroyed."

A resident of Greensburg for 28 years, Mosier plans to stay for the long haul. And that's the message behind "Tragedy to Triumph -- Greensburg Rising," billed as a celebration of community, progress, friendship and life. It continues today and Sunday, culminating with President Bush delivering the graduation speech at Greensburg High School.

On a day reserved to remember the tornado and what's come from it, talk Friday in Greensburg centered on the wind, which residents said was stronger than they'd seen since the tornado.

The National Weather Service predicted wind speeds of 30 to 45 mph, with gusts up to 60.

Friday's events started with a free concert by REO Speedwagon, captured by CBS's "The Early Show," which has been in town all week.

"It was absolutely phenomenal," said Ann Dixson, a Greensburg resident who helped organize some of the day's events. Luckily, she said, the winds weren't as bad in the morning, and residents crowded two blocks of Main Street to take in the show.

Later in the day,workers trying to strike the set found dust coating theirteeth and eyes and hampering visibility. Portable toilets were knocked over, but somehow signs thanking groups such as the American Red Cross, AmeriCorps, the Salvation Army and nearby towns such as Haviland and Mulinville still stood.

A 'model green city'

At the opening of the Greensburg GreenTown visitor and information center Friday afternoon, executive Daniel Wallach touted the character and resilience of Greensburg's residents.

The center offers residents information about rebuilding "green," or environment-friendly. All municipal buildings will be green, city leaders say.

"We are well on our way for this town to be a living laboratory" and model for the country, Wallach said.

Inside the center, a representative from eco-friendly company Evolve showed off shower heads created to save money and water. The company donated 260 of them for residents. Another company, Caroma, donated 400 water-saving toilets.

Such donations, Wallach said, "are really helping us tell the story of a model green city."

'It's just Kansas'

As the wind whistled outside, workers readied the school gym for commencement. A Secret Service officer milled about in a black T-shirt, a gun at his hip. Trailers delivered bunting, chairs and yards of red-velvet rope.

Mosier worried that the wind might drive people away from the weekend's events.

"Nobody will want to be out in this very long," he said.

But Dixson, wife of incoming Mayor Bob Dixson and a member of the Can Do Action Committee who helped organize the picnic, took it in stride.

Dixson lived in a camper for four months after the tornado and then made a home in a FEMA trailer before she moved into her new house in December.

The committee, she said, promotes the "can-do attitude" that is rebuilding Greensburg.

"It's just Kansas," she said of the winds. "This happens. In the midst of this year, everyone's learned how to be very flexible."

Reach Deb Gruver at 316-268-6400 or dgruver@wichitaeagle.com.