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🌾 Crown Uptown Demo Day

🌾 Crown Uptown Demo Day

Quick Update from Crown Uptown

Landon Huslig
March 03, 2025

Together With

Good morning, Wichita! This is the Wichita Life Update. As the great almost-Oscar Winner Timothee Chalamet once said “I know we're in a subjective business, but the truth is, I'm really in pursuit of greatness.” I want this to be the best gosh darn email newsletter in Wichita, so if you have any feedback, please send it on in.

Let's get to it!

- Landon

Crown Uptown Update

As you drive down Douglas into College Hill, you can’t miss Crown Uptown Theatre. The lights, the look, it’s a gem and has been for over 96 years.

The owner, Mike Brown, is not from Wichita. After he bought the theatre in 2023, he then applied to increase the capacity by more than 2x in order to turn a profit (his words).

In February, it was denied and now he has applied for a wrecking permit to tear down the iconic building.

The Wichita preservation board can vote tomorrow to see if they want to take advantage of a code that extends the preservation period to August 4th to determine the historic significance of the building.

It is not currently listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, but could potentially be.

We will keep you up to date.

Together with Tanganyika Wildlife Park

Tanganyika Wildlife Park is a family-friendly destination that is a bit more intimate than a regular zoo where you can get up-close and personal and have hands on interaction with the animals.

You can feed animals like giraffes, rhinos, and lions, swim with penguins, meet and greet the lemurs and so, so much more.

Season passes are now on sale!

A season pass includes:

unlimited visits all season
unlimited animal feedings
unlimited snacks and drinks (for you!)
and more perks!

Learn more at TwPark.com today! Season passes will go fast.

LOCAL BUSINESS

CLOSING

Chick N Max - 3520 N Maize Rd - Now Closed
The Big Nerd - Food Truck - Now Closed
Sesame Mediterranean Kitchen - Braeburn Square at WSU Campus - Now Closed

Wichita Brewing Company

Did you know there is a whole background story to the new Wichita Brewing Company in Delano?

Towne West

It’s no surprise that Kohan Retail Investment Group (the non-local group out of NY that owns Towne West) struggles to pay their power bills.

Now it seems they may be selling it after all.

START UP

Customer Traction Cohort

The 4th year of the NXTSTAGE Customer Traction Cohort has launched!

This program is designed to help early-stage Kansas companies break through barriers, generate revenue, and refine scalable offerings.

There are 19 growth-minded Kansas entrepreneurs involved.

Gamechangers & Champions Event

Quick update to this event - the winner of the Startup Pitch Competition will now receive $20,000 in prize money, sponsored by WSU’s Barton School of Business!

Additionally, all startups that apply for the competition will receive free admission to the Gamechangers Startup Track, courtesy of Cargill.

#WichitaLife

Go follow @ICTFoodRescue !

Use #WichitaLife to get your post in the Wichita Life Update!

CIVIL

Golf Carts

How do you feel about golf carts on the streets?

There is a proposal to allow golf carts on city streets with a posted speed limit of 30 mph or less.

It will go to a vote on 3/18.

WFD

The Wichita Fire Department needs help naming their mascot.

Now through March 11th, you can submit your names for $5 per entry with funds going to support the animals at the Kansas Humane Society.

You just have to submit your name(s) and cast your vote(s) on the Wichita Fire Department’s Facebook Page.

LOCAL

Downtown Wichita Action Plan

Back in 2010, a Project Downtown master plan was created to pave the way for what our downtown could become.

It’s now time to start looking to the future once more and see how we can continue to evolve.

The Downtown Wichita Action Plan Kickoff Open House is tomorrow (3/4) from 5-8pm at WAVE. Register here.

The College Tour

Wichita State was highlighted on an episode of “The College Tour” and the episode (filmed back in September) is now available here and on Amazon Prime on May 27th.

March Madness

Wichita has a busy month with St. Patrick’s Day and March Madness in back to back weekends.

We will have to do a full dive into the events, but here are a few things to note now:

For March Madness, head to Naftzger Park for NCAA Fan Fest!
Here is a quick guide covering a few of the parties near INTRUST Bank Arena

STAR Awards

Although the future of Crown Uptown is up in the air, the upcoming 30th Annual STAR Awards from The Pando Initiative will still take place at Crown Uptown on May 1st!

Kansas African American Museum

The renovation project at the Kansas African American Museum is a go thanks to a $250k gift from Bank of America.

Farmers Markets

it is time to pregame the farmer market season from 8am to noon on Saturdays in March at the Kansas Grown Farmers Market.

ICT EXTRA

Crossword Cred

Rose Conlon from KMUW has successfully submitted multiple crosswords to the New York Times.

40 under 40

Congrats to all of those honored on the WBJ 40 under 40 like some of our friends Chelsea Dyer at the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce, John Ford at Tesserre, Micaela Ramirez from Wichita Foundation, Cassy Cummings Rohr from Weigand, and more!

Hiking Update

We wrote about hiking trails around Wichita, but there are people much more talented than us like Paging Adventure.

HOME OF THE WEEK

Together with Weigand Real Estate