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Wichita River Festival

meadowlark
meadowlark
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Wichita River Festival

  • May 5, 2006
  • Rated 4 of 5 by VanessaK from Claremore, Oklahoma
For the price of a $5 button, you can have family fun for a full week. During the second or third week in May each year, Wichita has a festival that has a wide range of activities. You may choose to see a play, listen to a concert, or watch the bathtub races. The week begins with a pancake breakfast and a walk/run on Saturday. You may then want to choose to visit Cowtown or Botanica, for free with the button. Nighttime brings theme nights: Cajun, Country & Western, and Broadway just to name a few. For the sport fans, you can participate in softball or golf tournaments. There are so many activities for the kids, and they will be happy and tired by the end of the day. Last but not least, the food court. How about trying a corn dog, fresh lemonade, or some ethnic foods. There is something for everyone. Take a look at their website at www.wichitafestivals.com.

From journal At Home in Wichita, Kansas

Editor Pick

Wichita River Festival

  • November 28, 2002
  • Rated 4 of 5 by meadowlark from Boston, Massachusetts
The Wichita River Festival is the largest and most popular festival in Wichita each year and draws crowds from the surrounding area. The fun begins a week early with the beginning of the Wichita Eagle Medallion Hunt. A new clue is published in the paper each morning to the secret location of the medallion (in some public area--often a park). The hunt is quite popular since the prize for finding the medallion is several thousand dollars plus your picture in the paper.

The Festival continues with traditional events such as the Sundown Parade which features local area high school marching bands (there are more than a dozen) and a float competition by different community groups--and then of course there are the Shriners in their fez hats and little toy cars. The hot air balloon take off is quite spectacular but requires getting out of bed quite early. For the later risers, there is fair food, barbeque cookoffs, and concerts. Last year Hootie and Blow Fish was the main act. On a bit more formal level there is also an Admiral's Ball with the honorary "Admiral Windwagon Smith" chosen from the local community.

There are lots of activities geared at kids as well with Treasure Island games and activities in Riverside park. People of all ages enjoy the crazier stunts like the bath tub race down the Arkansas (that's pronounced "R-kansas") River. For those athletically inclined there is a River Run 10K race and for those wishing lower impact a "walk" as well.

The River Festival is a great deal as most events can be entered with the purchase of a River Festival button (a few bucks) sold at local area businesses/grocery stores. Since most of the events are downtown, the trolley runs downtown between all the events to cut down on the traffic (and also because many of the roads are blocked off). The next River Festival is May 9-17, 2003.

Check out the website for more info at http://www.wichitariverfestival.org/riverfestival/.

From journal What to Do Around Wichita

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