5 Modern Ways to Celebrate an Old Fashioned Kansas Day

Everyone’s favorite holiday is coming – KANSAS DAY! Oh. Not your favorite? You forgot it even existed? That’s okay. It’s not too late to have an awesome time celebrating the Sunflower State on it’s 155th anniversary of statehood. When you get married and your anniversary rolls around there’s always the option of traditional or modern gifts. This is my take on updates to Kansas stereotypes – the modern from the traditional.

Hwmb_ks_bikeit the Rails/Trails

In the nineteenth century, trails like the Chisholm Trail sustained commerce in the area by connecting cattle herds with the railways. While it is still possible to come in contact with cattle on the prairie, for an updated experience have an adventure on the Red Bud Bike Trail instead. Red Bud features over 20 miles of abandoned railroad corridor that stretches from Augusta to the east and Downtown Wichita (including an intersection with the popular K-96 bike trails). Make your own locomotion and set out to explore the repurposed resource that built our town.

 

Home on the Range

Do you want to know what it was like to be one of the first Wichitans, back when it was just a “one horse town” on the prairie? Spend some time at the Old Cow Town Museum. Maybe you want to go further back and explore the region’s Native American heritage? Try the Mid-America All-Indian Center. Want to go even further? Check out the mammoth tusk and information about when Kansas was under the Ocean at Exploration Place. Many Wichita Museums can give you a hearty dose of history, complete with the added bonus of indoor plumbing and climate control.Celebrate Kansas Day Wichita Moms Blog

Bottoms Up

Behind Carry Nation’s hatchet the temperance movement in Kansas really took hold in the late 1800s. Can I get a hallelujah that those days are behind us (although sometimes it feels like Kansas’ liquor laws are still stuck in time)? You can cheers Kansas today at a number of wineries, distilleries and breweries, including many in the Wichita area where the craft brewery craze has exploded. Try Grace Hill Winery, Wheat State DistillingCentral Standard BrewingHopping Gnome Brewery, River City Brewing Company or Wichita Brewing Company. Get out there and raise a glass. Responsibly, of course, Ms. Nation! [Note: one of those archaic liquor laws prohibits anyone under the age of 21 from entering a drinking establishment that is not also a restaurant. This includes babies sleeping in carriers. Not that I know from experience. If they don’t have a food menu this is a parent’s night out activity.]

wmb_ks_basketball

Hoop It Up

In the 1900s Dr. James Naismith, inventor of basketball, started the University of Kansas’ prolific basketball program. Fast-forward a century and the State of Kansas is still dominating the game. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Jayhawk, Wildcat or Shocker, watching basketball or playing a pick-up game is a classic way to be especially Kansan today. Go Shox!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Grab a Slice

In the 1950s Pizza Hut opened in Wichita and went on to share the magic of pizza as it expanded to the country, world and even outer space. While you can still grab a slice a The Hut, don’t forget about any number of other pizza joints blessing our fair city. Try Picasso’s Pizzeria, Wichita Brewing Company, River City Brewing Company, Ziggy’s or Knolla’s (consult this guide if you’re Gluten Free). Chicago and New York only think they’re battling out the pizza wars – Kansas is where it’s at!

Happy Kansas Day, everyone!

Ginny Ellis
Ginny Ellis is a hometown girl who happily resides in East Wichita with her husband, two young sons, two rowdy dogs, and one spoiled tortoise. Together they enjoy taking part in all our city has to offer, especially if it involves being outdoors, supporting the arts, or is particularly delicious. She is a WAHM who serves as WMB's Events Director as well as holding volunteer positions in Junior League of Wichita, on her neighborhood elementary school's PTO Board, and for United Way of the Plains. Ginny is a podcast enthusiast, laundry folding procrastinator, and insatiable reader who loves the Shockers, theme parties, and her margaritas on the rocks.