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🌾 Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

🌾 Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

Or Friday the 13th, whichever you celebrate!

Landon Huslig
February 13, 2026

Together With

Good morning, Wichita!

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. In case you forgot, this is your 18 hour warning. Today is also Friday the 13th for those that celebrate.

Fun fact of the day: Today is Friday and 15 years ago this week, one of the top musicians of her era, Rebecca Black released the classic Friday. #neverforget

Let’s get to it!

- Landon

Happy Valentine’s Day

Whether you do or don’t have a special someone, let us be the first to tell you this morning:

Happy Valentine’s Day!

We have a whole bunch of Valentine’s / Galentine’s events below in the event section.

Here is a list of seven unusual Valentine’s options from the Eagle which includes events like the Vietnamese Valentine’s Feast or Romantic Movie Night at Boulevard Theatre and more(click here to learn how to read the Eagle for free).

Last thing - please be kind to servers, hosts, cooks, etc. Can you imagine how busy places are are on Valentine’s Day AND a Saturday (which won’t happen again until 2032)?

Together with the Wichita Wind Surge

Your hometown Wind Surge season is less than 50 days away (April 2nd)!

Check out a quick preview of the Daily Promotions you can expect! I’m not sure if I’m more excited for Thirsty Thursday or Firework Friday, but as Mbappe once said:

LOCAL BUSINESS

Opening

Pinnacle Pizza Company (Arkansas-style pizza) - 832 N Webb Rd (Former Livingston’s Diner) - Opening soon
Desi Dhaba (Chipotle-style Combo Indian Restaurant and Grocery store - 21st and Oliver - Opening mid-February for restaurant and April for grocery portion
Mokas - Central and Oliver (near former Albero Cafe - exact address pending) - Opening Spring 2027

New Owners

Douglas Social - everyone welcome Nick Ford as the new owner

Name & Concept Change

Sunflour Cafe & Colective → Scoop & Brew - 6120 W Central will now focus on Coffee + Ice Cream + Baked Goods

RIVERFEST

Riverfest Update

We are ~105 days out from Wichita Riverfest 2026 and it will be the best one yet.

First - stay tuned on Wichita Riverfest Socials and our social media for a big announcement later today.

Second - Mark and YBG Studios will be hosting their annual fashion show on the big stage at Riverfest on Sunday, May 31st! This is a huge deal

Third - Sign ups for the Pickleball tournament are LIVE. If you think you’re good at pickleball, come prove it. (cash prizes available)😤

Together with Rhea Lana’s

Rhea Lana = A Mom’s Super Bowl

Discover unbeatable deals at Rhea Lana’s Wichita Children’s Consignment Sale, February 22–27 at Century II Exhibition Hall. You could seriously outfit all of your kids from this one sale. Trust me. We have 3 kids and I highly recommend you check it out.

Shop early (as early as Friday 2/20) with Platinum, Gold, Silver, or free Mom-to-Be passes—available now!

Score high-quality kids’ items at a fraction of retail prices. Passes and full schedule here!

CIVIL

1% Sales Tax

We hold a very strong political position here at Wichita Life…

And that is to not really cover politics.

That being said, it is important to have your voice heard and you have your shot in 3 weeks to vote on the proposed 1% sales tax that looks to raise $850 million in improvements for Wichita.

There was a forum this week for people to learn more.

Here is a WBJ article on why Wichita gets passed over for big conventions due to lack of, or aging, resources at Century II (one of the buckets the sales tax would fund). The Wichita Business Journal is diving deep into each of the buckets and I highly recommend you check it out. I am aware there is a paywall, but their research is worth it.

LOCAL

Sedgwick County Zoo

Over 700,000 people visited the Sedgwick County Zoo last year making it the second largest annual attendance ever

This was for a few reasons - it’s awesome, wild lights again, births of four elephants and a chimp.

They are planning to expand more this year including a $10 million elephant bar expansion (turns out more elephants = more space needed, who knew?).

There are some more babies coming like a chimp and gorilla, a new young male tiger and more.

Can’t wait to head back. We are truly blessed with such an awesome zoo.

Mike Kennedy

Mike Kennedy is a Shocker Legend, known to many as the longtime radio Voice of the Shockers.

After 46 years of service in that role, February 21st vs Temple will be Mike Kennedy Night and we are offering an EXCLUSIVE deal for our subscribers - get upper-reserved tickets for just $15.

If you haven’t been to a game yet this year, this is the one to go to!

SB Mowing

Spencer from SB Mowing is the man. We all know this.

His brother-in-laws truck was stolen a few days ago and after posting about it online, SB was able to get help from the Kansas Highway Patrol who found the truck.

Botanica

Botanica is once again in the running for USA Today’s Best Botanical Garden. Vote here to help them continue to put Wichita on the map!

BEWARE

Scammers SUCK.

Death by Chocolate however, rocks.

Please be careful who you buy your tickets from (but you should attend, it is an awesome event).

Craft Cinema

If chocolate isn’t your thing for some reason (sorry dairy-allergy peeps), then maybe a movie night at Exploration Place in the theatre while you craft sounds like a good idea. Mark your calendars for Tuesday 2/24.

Tell Me Something Good

Kansas Humane Society hosts the Puppy Bowl.
9 Year Old Andover resident Mailey just broke the world record for most burpees in 30 seconds at 17 burpees. Thank you Mailey for doing enough for all of us! Congrats!

✈️ Flight Deal(s) of the Week

Wichita (ICT) → Lisbon, Portugal for $496 round-trip (normally $1,000) - saving you 50%! - April 13 - 22
Wichita (ICT) → Hilton Head Island for $330 round-trip (normally $553) - saving you 40% - March 2 -9

Price is subject to change and may no longer be available at the time you check this link.

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ICT EXTRA

Top clicks of the week 🖱️

Poetry Out Loud

A little late on this one, but last Saturday high school students gathered at Ulrich Museum of Art for a Poetry Out Loud competition. Our world could use more beautiful prose.