Wichita Boathouse is getting new life as well-known party planners take over running it
It’s one of Wichita’s most desirable venues, located on prime riverfront real estate.
But ever since it opened as the Wichita Boathouse in 1994, the balcony-lined building at 515 S. Wichita St. has faced some choppy waters, falling in and out of use and disrepair over the years.
Now, some familiar faces have been tasked with bringing life back to the two-story building on the Arkansas River.
Crystal McDonald and her brother, Cody Lathrop, the owners of Xclusive Event Services, have recently taken over management of the city-owned venue for its current tenant, the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. The building over the years has been the site of countless weddings, corporate events and holiday parties.
Wichita knows Xclusive as the business that puts on the annual Bloktoberfest party, which happens each October in the field just east of the Boathouse. Xclusive also is known for its giant green Booze Truck mobile bar that has been presence at many big events around town (and is just one of four mobile bars in its fleet.)
Since 2010, the Boathouse been the home of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, a collection of portraits and biographies of important teams and athletes in Kansas sports history. It’s free to visit and is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
The museum’s staff had been responsible for booking events for the venue, but it recently turned for help to Xclusive, which has served as a bartender for events at the venue for the past 10 years.
Now, Xclusive is based in the Boathouse, and since it moved in last month, the owners have been busy cleaning, painting and refurbishing both the inside and outside of the venue to prepare it for its next phase of life, however long that may last. (The Riverfront Legacy Master Plan coalition that has proposed tearing down Century II also proposes demolishing the Boathouse.)
“We want to keep it booked,” McDonald said of the venue. “We want to keep it busy here because it’s such a fun venue.”
In its early days, the Wichita Boathouse building was home to an oil company and later served as the headquarters for Senior Services. In 1994, it was renovated to look like the old Riverside Boathouse, and people could rent boats and other watercraft to enjoy the river. Bill Koch donated $4 million to the renovations, and the Jayhawk — one of the yachts he sailed in the 1992 America’s Cup — is on permanent display outside.
But the building eventually fell into disrepair and was closed in 2004 while WaterWalk development was happening. The city looked for businesses to take it over and even heard a proposal to raze the building.
But Koch stepped in again, and in 2009, he proposed making the Boathouse the home of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. He donated $500,000 toward a remodel.
Since taking over, McDonald said, Xclusive has already booked a couple of weddings, a holiday party and a few big meetings.
But their plans go beyond those traditional bookings, and the business is planning all sorts of public events that will let the public engage with the building again.
They’ve recently started Friday-night after-work events, which happen from 5 p.m. to 9-ish every week. Those events invite people to stop by the Boathouse, play outdoor lawn games, grab a bite from a food truck and have a cocktail as they start their weekends.
They’re also inviting artists to display their work inside for Final Fridays, when they’ll have live music, food trucks and drinks. Their first Final Friday was in July, and another will happen on Aug. 28.
When baseball finally gets underway, the Boathouse — which is just down the street from the stadium — will be a perfect gathering spot for pre- and post-parties, the owners said. They’ve already talked with management at Wichita Baseball and hope to work in cooperation with them.
“On baseball nights, we have a front row seat to the fireworks on the balcony,” McDonald said. “People don’t realize that.”
In addition, Xclusive is also organizing Thursday-night yoga classes and trivia nights and have considered putting on cocktail classes and painting nights as well.
And they’re working with the Wichita Food Truck Coalition to become a spot where trucks can frequently set up. The Boathouse’s east parking lot can fit three or four trucks at at time, Lathrop said.
The venue is ideal during COVID-19, he said, because the inside is big and allows people to spread out, and the outside has plenty of event space. The Boathouse property goes all the way down to the river on the west side, Lathrop said, and it’s one of the few places in town where people can socialize on the river.
“We’ve really just brought new life to this place,” McDonald said. “I don’t think people knew it was rentable any more. We’re just trying to make it rentable again and let people know, ‘Hey, we’re here.’”
To keep up with activities going on at The Wichita Boathouse, follow its Facebook page.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 12:01 PM.
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