WE Blog » Wichita events

40 years of helping kids

Phillip Brownlee — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:59:56 +0000

Congratulations to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Sedgwick County, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary today. Since it started here in 1969, BBBS has helped more than 25,000 local kids, and it now matches more than 2,000 kids each year with caring mentors. Those pairings make a big difference in the lives of kids, both now and in the future. According to a study by Harris Interactive, BBBS alumni are much more likely than other kids to receive a four-year college degree, to be engaged in their communities, and to be very satisfied with their relationships with friends and with life. Keep up the great work.

Still generous with ‘Jerry’s Kids’

Rhonda Holman — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:00:17 +0000

Wichita firefighters wondered whether they could match last year’s total of more than $46,000 in “fill-the-boot” donations to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, let alone meet this year’s goal of $50,000. But they recently raised more than $55,000. “It’s the people giving. They’re the ones that need the praise, because it is hard times but they continue to give,” firefighter Wade Holle, the Wichita Fire Department’s MDA coordinator, told The Eagle editorial board. The tally for the local telethon hosted by KAKE, Channel 10, was $488,386. Good for the community for not letting the economy deter its generosity.

Festival’s price is right

Rhonda Holman — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:00:09 +0000

The shortened Wichita Flight Festival is under the city’s management this year, presenting 1 p.m. air shows Saturday and Sunday at Jabara Airport and an evening air show and concert Saturday night. In a welcome acknowledgment of the community’s economic state, the festival also is free. That should allow more people in this aviation-crazy town to check out the aerial acts, displayed airplanes and exhibits. The festival’s organizers were right to try to keep the tradition going, and even make career assistance available at the event. Wichita’s role in aviation’s past and present are always worthy of celebration.

Accountability for Wild West World pending

Rhonda Holman — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:40:16 +0000

The courts will be the judge of whether Wild West World founder Thomas Etheredge is guilty of the 10 counts of securities fraud with which he has been charged. It’s possible that the 2007 bankruptcy of Etheredge’s amusement park involved no criminal wrongdoing, that its quick closure really was all Mother Nature’s fault. But too many people lost money and jobs in the Wild West World debacle for accountability to be optional. Etheredge’s arrest Wednesday was a reassuring sign that accountability, as well as more answers, may be forthcoming.

Cleanup day showed a lot of love

Phillip Brownlee — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:00:15 +0000

It can be difficult sometimes to get 100 people to help with a service project. So it was especially impressive that about 3,000 citizens volunteered Saturday to clean up parks, paint homes for the needy and give back to this community in other ways. The Love Wichita event was organized by 27 churches and spearheaded by Eastminster Presbyterian Church, which began the annual event last year. Hats off to everyone who participated, and here’s hoping for an even larger turnout next year.

WSU bowling teams still dominate

Phillip Brownlee — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:00:50 +0000

Congratulations to the men’s and women’s bowling teams at Wichita State University for both winning the United States Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Team Championships — the ninth national title for each program. It was the second consecutive national title for the men, while the women won their third title in five seasons. Is there any college program in the nation that dominates a sport more than WSU’s bowling teams?

People willing to pay to see quality exhibits

Phillip Brownlee — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 12:01:46 +0000

If you bring it, they won’t necessarily come. But as Exploration Place has shown once again, people will pay to see an interesting, quality exhibit – even a somewhat controversial one. Exploration Place drew 55,000 visitors to see the traveling exhibit “Our Body: The Universe Within,” which closes today. There was considerable skepticism about whether Kansans would pay $25 per adult and $20 per kid to see preserved human corpses and body parts. But as museum president Alberto Meloni said, “This taught us that if an exhibit is important enough and good enough, people are willing to support it.”

Where is outpouring for kids in peril?

Rhonda Holman — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 12:03:02 +0000

When more than 60 concerned people contacted The Eagle Thursday in response to an article about the two beavers that had become trapped in a fountain near Century II, it brought back memories of the 200 to 300 calls made to the Kansas Humane Society in 2005 about an abused puppy named Magnum. This week also saw many people donating food to help Kay County, Okla., care for the more than 100 neglected pit bulls rescued from a farm.
To their credit, the compassionate people in this area often rally to help animals in peril or at risk. But it would be appropriate if citizens would act just as emphatically when the creatures in need aren’t furry – say, by expressing outrage over Wichita’s nine child homicides this year or rushing to help Youthville place the 350 children awaiting adoption in Sedgwick County.

Koch buys Hall of Fame some time

Rhonda Holman — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:00:41 +0000

Kudos to former Wichitan Bill Koch for sparing the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame from eviction by the city with a generous $100,000 donation, which will allow the hall to cover the rent on its Old Town building. Let’s hope the funds also buy the attraction the time to develop a firm funding plan for the future, which should involve coaxing the rest of the state into realizing its role and responsibility to the hall.

Broadview’s Halloween is a treat

Randy Scholfield — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:03:08 +0000

Now this is scary: the idea of a Halloween without the elaborate sights and sounds of Broadview Avenue in College Hill.

For more than a quarter century, residents of the 100 block of North Broadview have transformed their street into a Halloween extravaganza for kids, with streets festooned with lights and elaborate yard decorations and spooky sound effects. It’s a must-see experience.

But the event has grown so large in recent years — an estimated 3,500 people visited in 2007 — that it’s become a safety concern, and police say about $1,800 is needed to help pay for barricades and officers to work the event.

This is a wonderful neighborhood tradition that has become a community tradition. It’s well worth saving.
Let’s hope city officials and College Hill leaders work something out that will both keep the event going and enhance the safety of participants.

Tragedy illuminates strike’s stakes, risks

Rhonda Holman — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:01:09 +0000

Thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones and co-workers of Jeff Hart, the Hawker Beechcraft worker who was struck and killed Monday morning on the way to a strike rally. As a letter writer suggests in today’s Reader Views, the driver of the pickup involved in Hart’s death deserves the community’s support as well. The tragedy illuminates the stakes and risks for workers, whose health care benefits ran out Aug. 4. And it provides another reason to hope the parties get back to the table soon, so the Machinists can get back to work.

Museums getting new life

Randy Scholfield — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:00:08 +0000

The Kansas Aviation Museum has found a new director â€” Lon Smith, formerly sales and marketing director of the Museum of World Treasures. Smithâ€™s promotions background is needed at the museum, which enjoys a loyal base of volunteer support but still struggles to attract broader public interest or corporate support.

Among other ideas, Smith hopes to pursue accreditation through the American Association of Museums, which could give the museum more credibility and access to resources.

Itâ€™s good to learn that the Mid-America All-Indian Center museum, which reopens June 27 after months of renovation, also may seek AAM accreditation.

In the cityâ€™s crowded museum field, both museums are wisely taking steps to stand out.

$5 Riverfest button still a bargain

Rhonda Holman — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:00:10 +0000

Some will grumble about the Wichita River Festivalâ€™s increasing reliance on gates at its top events â€” its latest effort to get festivalgoers to buy the $5 buttons that help fund the $2.7 million festival. Then there is the extra $10 admission charge to hear hot pop singer Colbie Caillat give the 2008 festivalâ€™s first concert Friday at the West Bank Stage. Would it be better if the festival could forgo the gates and even forget about buttons? Sure. But throwing this megaparty isnâ€™t getting any less expensive, as corporate sponsorships become harder to find in uncertain economic times. The $5 price has been in place for three festivals (and the button price has risen only three times in 37 years). The two-thirds of festivalgoers who failed to buy buttons last year left planners with little choice. And especially if someone takes in several events, a $5 button remains an excellent value.

Downtown Wichita, TV star

Phillip Brownlee — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Cheers to the Wichita Downtown Development Corp. for its effective 30-second TV commercials portraying the cityâ€™s core as the lively, stylish place it now is. Backed by catchy original music by local performers Ken White, Fran Curtis and Shane Marler, the fast-moving spots snag attention and have viewers trying to name this or that shop or night spot. â€œWe wanted to convey the energy and for people to kind of remember or maybe even discover new things they didnâ€™t even realize were downtown,â€ Ann Keefer, vice president of marketing for the WDDC, told The Eagle editorial board.
Four spots in all will run through the holidays, and perhaps through 2008. People can watch them online, too.
Attempts to market Wichita as a happening place can seem forced. These ads donâ€™t. â€œWe kind of feel like a big city when we see them,â€ Keefer said.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

Orpheum entrance takes you back

Phillip Brownlee — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Vestibules are made for walking through, but the one newly restored at the Orpheum Theatre is stopping people in their tracks. The gleaming, elegant entrance instantly transports you to the 85-year-old showplaceâ€™s glory days, while stirring anticipation of what the theater will look like whenever its loving, deliberative restoration is complete. How fortunate the community was to have had volunteers step in to save the Orpheum two decades ago, so that it could again be entertaining thousands of people each year with movies and performances. Now, the Orpheum deserves all the help it can get as it tackles the rest of the big job, including the full restoration of the Spanish garden-inspired auditorium.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

Century II not going anywhere

Phillip Brownlee — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:04:00 +0000

Outgoing City Manager George Kolb was badly overstating the case in telling The Eagle that â€œif we donâ€™t do something with Century II, it wonâ€™t be here in 10 to 15 years.â€ Obviously, the city-owned performing arts and convention center is not about to skip town or turn to dust. But Kolbâ€™s point about the need to address Century IIâ€™s condition and future use is well-taken. On the first issue, the City Council would take a necessary step today by approving $1.3 million in spending on Century IIâ€™s heating and cooling systems and a new Expo Hall roof (including $249,000 in insurance money). But Wichita also needs a much-bigger debate about what it wants Century II to be. As either a performing arts showplace or a convention magnet, itâ€™s falling short — an issue separate from the downtown arena, which has a different job to do.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

Wait until after Thanksgiving to turn on Christmas lights

Phillip Brownlee — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Many Wichitans smartly put up their outdoor Christmas lights and decorations while the weather was warm. But would they mind waiting until after we celebrate Thanksgiving before turning the lights on? Especially when Thanksgiving is so early this year. Itâ€™s bad enough that some retailers put out Christmas items before Halloween, and that a Wichita radio station has already started playing Christmas carols.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

Rather walk than pay $10 to park

Phillip Brownlee — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 07:02:00 +0000

Hereâ€™s something to talk about for those studying parking around Wichitaâ€™s downtown arena: During Garth Brooksâ€™ nine-show run at the new 18,500-seat Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., the 1,000-spot parking garage across the street averaged only 200 cars a performance. Rather than pay $10 to park in the arenaâ€™s garage, concertgoers opted to park in surface lots. â€œPeople are parking and theyâ€™re walking,â€ Bruce Campbell, Kansas Cityâ€™s manager of parking services, told the Kansas City Star. â€œThe whole thing about people up in arms about having to walk to the Sprint Center just has not happened.â€ You suppose Wichitans likewise would vote with their feet against convenient but pricy parking?
Posted by Rhonda Holman

A parting thought for downtown

Phillip Brownlee — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 07:03:00 +0000

In his last official day in the office Thursday, departing Wichita Downtown Development Corp. president Ed Wolverton — a fount of creative revitalization ideas during his tenure here — revealed one of his biggest dreams for downtown: Build a new performing arts complex on the Orpheum Theatre block.
Wolverton argues the city should finish refurbishing the Orpheum (in photo, 1,300 seats), use the seriously underused and gorgeous Scottish Rite Temple theater next door (500 seats), and build a new 2,000-seat performing arts center to the north of those buildings. A parking deck could be built across the street, on the surface lot east of Topeka.
It would be a great fit for the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Music Theatre of Wichita and other tenants of Century II, and possibly avoid having to expand the Expo Hall to the east, as some have suggested.
â€œThe Orpheum is such a jewel,â€ Wolverton said. Why not use it as the focus of a new performing arts complex?
Itâ€™s an intriguing idea.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

Another big campaign for United Way

Phillip Brownlee — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 07:01:00 +0000

Congratulations and gratitude are due the community for stepping up to surpass the United Way of the Plainsâ€™ fall fundraising goal of $16.2 million. The record $16.35 million in pledges will help sustain the more than 90 nonprofit organizations funded by United Way, and touch thousands of lives in and around Wichita. The 2007 campaign tally also stands as the latest indication that the local economy has weathered the post-Sept. 11 gloom and is growing again.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

Wingnuts? Well, why not?

Phillip Brownlee — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 23:47:10 +0000

OK, we have to admit that we were taken aback by the winning name for Wichitaâ€™s new independent league baseball team — the Wingnuts.
Wingnuts? Isnâ€™t this an image that Wichita is trying to shed?
But then we relaxed and saw the humor in it. How can you not like a team called the Wingnuts? Or forget the name?
â€œIn the end we wanted a unique name and a look that would suggest fun, while still maintaining a tie-in to Wichitaâ€™s great history of aviation,â€ said Chris Presson, president of Wichita Pro Sports.
The offbeat, eye-catching name should help move team merchandise.
Thereâ€™s a precedent for tongue-in-cheek names, too — take the Macon (Ga.) Whoopees, a minor league hockey team.
Need we say more?
Welcome, Wichita Wingnuts, to Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.
Letâ€™s play ball.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

Joyland poised for revival?

Phillip Brownlee — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Interesting to see an industry analyst quoted as saying the Wichita market just isn’t big enough for a theme park like Wild West World. Gary Slade, editor of Amusement Today magazine, recently told The Eagle that Wichita is better geared to a family-oriented, smaller-scaled amusement park. In fact, he said it made much better sense for someone to revive Joyland.
He might be right. Many Wichitans would love to see Joyland, with its local tradition and world-class wooden roller coaster, back in action. Are there any investors out there with deep pockets and — better — some actual experience running a park?
Posted by Randy Scholfield

Park City has had better weekends

Phillip Brownlee — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 07:01:00 +0000

It’s been a rough few days in a rough year for Park City, which saw the best chance for a reopening of Wild West World expire Friday and saw Wichita Greyhound Park close for good Saturday. Now, Thomas Etheredge’s failed theme park will be sold off in pieces, leaving creditors and the community to ponder an expert’s assessment that "there were just many, many poor decisions that went into the planning of that park." The 18-year-old dog track’s closing was only a matter of time once Sedgwick County voters failed to allow it to add slot machines. But don’t count out Park City, which has seen other kinds of new economic activity this year along the I-135 corridor.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

Not just Wichita that has problem with Rumsfeld

Phillip Brownlee — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 07:04:00 +0000

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s gross mismanagement of the Iraq war made him a poor choice to be keynote speaker at the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting, a booking that proved short-lived. Now, Rumsfeld’s appointment as a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University has generated an online protest petition signed by professors, staff members, students and alumni and stating, “We view the appointment as fundamentally incompatible with the ethical values of truthfulness, tolerance, disinterested enquiry, respect for national and international laws and care for the opinions, property and lives of others to which Stanford is inalienably committed.” Ouch — but then you go into retirement with the reputation you have, not the reputation you might want or wish to have at a later time.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

Tony Snow a better pick

Phillip Brownlee — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 07:01:00 +0000

After its strange and short-lived booking of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce has settling on former White House press secretary Tony Snow to be the keynote speaker at its Dec. 4 annual meeting. Those hoping for more bipartisanship among the chamber’s guests will be disappointed. But Snow, a former Fox News anchor, is a skilled communicator who has excelled in his profession, including his year and a half speaking for the president. And it was hard to be unmoved by Snow’s White House departure last week to spend more time with his family and improve his income as he continues to fight cancer. His “cheerful, people-loving spirit,” as columnist Clarence Page put it, has won admirers on the left and right.
Posted by Rhonda Holman