🌾 Water Cascades Now Open

And check out the Foggy Flint Hills!

Author

Landon Huslig
April 27, 2026

TOGETHER WITH

Good morning, Wichita!

It feels like Wichita really comes alive in April and May after being a little slower in the prior months. There is so much happening, especially on the weekends. What did you do this weekend?

Let’s get to it!

-Landon

Wichita Civic Passport

If you’ve ever thought “I should get more involved in Wichita” but didn’t know where to start, this is a pretty solid entry point.

It’s not your traditional “passport” and it’s not the Wicked Brew Tour Passport, but it is still a passport.

The Wichita Public Library, City of Wichita, Lead Wichita, and Kansas Leadership Center just launched a Civic Action Passport. It breaks civic engagement into simple, doable actions across seven categories, with a goal of completing them by April 2027.

It’s free, available at local libraries, and feels less about the prize and more about getting more people from “I care about Wichita” to actually showing up and doing something about it.

Together with Meritrust Credit Union

Open Streets ICT WSU & Shocker Neighborhood was last week, and it’s easily one of my favorite events in Wichita. There’s something special about the city shutting down a stretch of road so we can all get out, explore, and just enjoy a safe day with family and friends.

It’s also a reminder of how important it is to be part of a community you actually see. When it comes to finances, I value recognizing faces, knowing names, and working with people who show up beyond the building.

That’s one of the reasons I trust the team at Meritrust Credit Union, they’re out in the community, meeting people where they’re at, not just waiting behind a desk. I put my money where my mouth is, I mean I put my money at Meritrust for a wide variety of accounts.

LOCAL BUSINESS

Opening

Tessere

Good luck to Tessere (Wichita’s largest architecture firm) who is competing for a $250 million U.S. Army contract. This is big for Wichita!

NONPROFIT

HumanKind Ministries

HumanKind is looking to improve the state of permanent, supportive housing in Wichita and has raised $5.1 million to do so.

Women Build

Habitat for Humanity Women Build is all about empowering women to be part of the solution for affordable housing.

Downtown Wichita

Last week we touched on an announcement about Movement Musick remodeling the Shirkmere Apartments and building a new music venue. This brought about questions on how it would affect the homeless population in that area.

STARTUP

Wichita Mahjong

Mahjong has taken over the world, or at least Wichita.

Our friends at Miss Mahjong are right here in the 316 and we want to shine a light on them.

Did you know you can get a discount with code WICHITALIFE?

They have a huge restock of many of your favorites like Miss Classic Jade, Miss Cowgirl, and more coming soon!

Also…They have a collaboration coming out with HALLMARK! It is a movie called “All’s Fair in Love & Mahjong” and is coming out on May 9th!

Startups to Watch

There are so many amazing startups in Wichita. Here is a list of 4 startups in Wichita to watch including a couple of our friends Jocelyn Powell and Blake Christopherson!

Making new friends as an adult can be weirdly tough. So… we’re making it easier.

WE ARE TRYING SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT FOR MAY!

We will have two different options for you:

1) On Tuesday, May 12th - everyone (yes, even you) should join us!

2) On Tuesday, May 19th - per multiple requests, this one will lean a little older for those age 55+ (no, we will not ID you)

Here’s how it works:

🍽️ Take a quick quiz about your personality, interests, and food preferences.

✨ Get matched with five other Wichitans who fit your vibe (food preferences, budget, life stage, etc.).

📍 Your table of six meets for dinner on the date you choose — the exact restaurant is revealed that morning.

🥂 After dinner, all groups are invited to a casual after-meetup to keep the conversation going.

If you’ve been wanting to meet new people in town, this might be the easiest (and most fun) way to do it.

CIVIL

Veterans Ride Free Program

Did you know that that Veterans can ride any Wichita Transit fixed-route bus for free?

Since the inception of this program, approximately 282,580 free trips have been provided to veterans.

LOCAL

Exploration Place

Exploration Place is incredible, especially with the new Adventure Playscape.

Well that Adventure Playscape just became even better with the new Water Cascades hands-on water landscape now open!

And that’s not all… The Foggy Flint Hills also open that produce a real fog, not some artificial mist, but ACTUAL fog generated by high-pressure water. Check it out today!

Music Theatre Wichita

Music Theatre Wichita is a hidden gem in Wichita that should be on the forefront of our minds.

They put on world class shows every year and are now working to take the shows to the next level as they raise money to renovate former Noah Webster Elementary School for MTW’s educational and youth programming, rehearsal and admin space.

Get ready for their next season that kicks off June 17-21 with Hello, Dolly!

Ad Astra

The 4th annual Ad Astra Tech summit from FlagshipKansas.Tech is coming up on June 4th at Woolsey Hall.

They’re bringing Salim Ismail as the headline speaker. Salim is a former Yahoo exec and tech entrepreneur.

ICT EXTRA

I Think You Should Leave

Every now and then, Wichita sneaks into pop culture.

Girls Flag Football

Flag football is coming to the 2028 Olympics.

It is also going to be an official high school sport for girls in Kansas after a vote last week.

Wichita Life Podcast

Did you know we have a podcast? Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Click the banner above to view the full event calendar

Tuesday 4/28

Wednesday 4/29

Thursday 4/30

LIVE MUSIC

Don't see your concert or show here?

SPORTS

That's it for today! Send this to someone who love should participate more in the community.

Thanks!

- Landon