New year, new promise: A list of some of the fun, new things Wichita can expect in 2022
At the end of 2020 — a demonstrably trying year not only in Wichita but across the world — people looked toward 2021 with hope, ready to leave pandemic stress and political upheaval in the rear view.
But 2021 had its own special treats: COVID-19 variants, crazy weather, bursting water mains, supply chain interruptions and service issues spurred by a local and worldwide labor shortage.
Now, the arrival of 2022 offers another opportunity to start over, and drama-weary Wichita is no doubt ready for something good to happen.
Enter The Wichita Eagle’s annual list of things to look forward to in Wichita in the coming year. We publish this story each year not only to remind Wichita what’s coming up in sports, entertainment, business and government but also to give Wichitans a reason to get out of bed and trudge bravely into the January dawn.
Here are some of the things we can expect in the coming year.
Recreation and parks
▪ Two new splash pads: Wichita’s Park and Recreation Department is entering the third phase of its Aquatics Master Plan, and it will include the addition of two new splash pads in 2022: one at Harrison Park, 1300 S. Webb Road, and one at Planeview Park, 2819 Fees St. The Harrison Park splash pad will have a desert oasis theme and will feature a giant scorpion that will shoot or dump water from its stinger and claws. Planeview Park’s splash pad will have a pioneer theme and feature a “prairie schooner” play structure and an ox sculpture kids can climb on. Park director Troy Houtman said the city should start construction in January and hopes to have the two new splash pads open before the start of swimming season.
▪ Reopening of Chester I. Lewis Park: The park at 205 E. Douglas that serves as a tribute to the Wichita civil rights activist and attorney has been getting a $1.7 million redesign that should be completed by summer. The park, which will also serve as an entryway to the new Kansas Health Science Center-Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine, will be about 30% bigger, Houtman said, and it will feature new trees, artistic structures that commemorate Lewis’ life, a small stage, seating areas and artificial turf. The historical sculpture of the Dockum Drug Store lunch counter sit-in that was in the park for years and was removed when construction started won’t be returning but will eventually find a new home, he said.
▪ New event center at O.J. Watson Park: The park at 3022 S. McLean has long been home to birthday parties and family gatherings, and in 2022, people will be able to start using a new event center, which is almost done and should be ready for use in February or March. It should be the perfect spot for weddings, business meetings and other special events, Houtman said. The new building will have room for 60 people and will feature rolling doors that will open up onto a deck. The park department also has moved the gazebo that used to be in Naftzger Park to O.J. Watson Park, and it will be part of the new event center’s “footprint.” The venue is on the far west side of the park.
▪ Repaired historic shelter at North Linwood Park: Two years ago, the historic limestone shelter at Linwood Park, 1734 S. Kansas Ave., caught fire and burned. The city has been working on repairing it, and it should be ready for use by January. When rebuilding the shelter, Houtman said, the city was careful to maintain its historic look.
▪ The start of “Pickleplex”: Though it likely won’t be ready for use until 2023, the Park and Recreation Department will start construction this year on its new South Lakes Pickleplex, a $3 million complex that will feature about 20 pickleball courts and a small clubhouse with restrooms and a pro shop. The venue will likely also have spaces for food trucks to park, Houtman said. Construction is likely to start in the fall on the Pickleplex, which will be built at South Lakes Park, just north of Campus High School near 55th Street South and Meridian. The city hopes the new venue will draw regional pickleball tournaments and new tourism dollars.
Entertainment
▪ Opening of the Safari Express at the Sedgwick County Zoo: The Sedgwick County Zoo, 5555 Zoo Blvd., is still on track for a Memorial Day opening of its Martha C. Buford Safari Express, an electric CP Huntington train that will run on a 1.3-mile track around the outside of the zoo. The train, being built by Chance Rides in Wichita, will feature two locomotives, each with four cars that can carry 80 people, and it will have two loading and unloading stations — one near the front of the zoo by the giraffes and one by the Downing Gorilla Forest. The train, which will require a separate ticket, will shuttle people from one part of the zoo to another or allow them to ride the whole route and get a new view of the exhibits. It’s being paid for by a gift from the family of longtime zoo patron Martha C. Buford, who died in 2020.
▪ Opening of Stingray Cove at the Sedgwick County Zoo: Before the train opens, zoo visitors will have another new experience at the zoo in 2022. The new Stingray Cove, which will be at the zoo for five years, is set to open in April. It will be the zoo’s first “aquatic touch experience” and will be set up under a pavilion in the zoo. The exhibit will include a little riverbed where stingrays and small sharks can swim. Visitors will be able to gently touch the animals under the supervision of staff members. They can also buy cups of food and feed the animals. Stingray Cove will require an extra ticket.
▪ Return of “The Lion King”: When Tony Award-winning musical “The Lion King” visited Wichita in 2012, it drew about 60,000 people to Century II over its four-week, 32-show run — and it brought in $4.3 million, making it the highest-grossing theatrical production in Wichita history. That popular show is returning to Wichita in 2022 for another extended run. This time, Broadway in Wichita will offer 16 performances that run from April 27 to May 8. Tickets, which range in price from $35 to $150, are on sale now at wichitatix.com.
▪ Opening of Goddard Aquatic Complex: Rodney Steven II’s long-awaited aquatic complex, which will cover 90 acres in the 19800 block of West Kellogg in Goddard, has been under construction since 2018 and is set to finally open some time in 2022. It will feature a large indoor water park that will include a swim-up bar and an indoor surf machine, as well as a new Genesis Health Club, a 600-seat indoor competitive natatorium and five new outdoor baseball fields. The complex will also include an upscale sports bar, a 132-room Hampton Inn and a licensed preschool.
▪ Big concerts: Wichita’s Intrust Bank Arena only started putting on big shows again in late 2021 after going dark for much of the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, 2022’s calendar is already filling up with big shows, though many of them are make-up performances. Alabama and The Beach Boys are scheduled on Feb. 12 to finally put on the show that was originally scheduled for late 2019 but was postponed because of lead singer Randy Owen’s health problems. And the Backstreet Boys are on the calendar on Sept. 13, when they’ll make up a concert that was originally scheduled for Aug. 21, 2020. Also in 2022, country star Morgan Wallen will perform at the arena (Aug. 25), as will superstar Keith Urban (Sept. 17).
Sports
▪ NCAA Division 1 Women’s Basketball regional rounds: Intrust Bank Arena will be the site of Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight rounds of the NCAA Division 1 women’s basketball tournament on March 26 and 28. It’s the first time Wichita has been selected as a host site for regional rounds of the women’s tournament. In 2011, Wichita was the host for rounds one and two. Tickets are now on sale at NCAA.com/WBBtickets, by phone at 855-755-SEAT or in person at the Select-A-Seat Box Office at Intrust Bank Arena.
▪ Return of the AfterShocks: Wichita will once again host the regional and quarter-finals of The Basketball Tournament, a $1 million, winner-take-all tournament that’s televised on ESPN and features the AfterShocks, the popular Wichita State alumni team. The regional will happen at Koch Arena July 22-25. This will mark the third time Wichita has served as a host for TBT. All-session tickets are on sale now through the Shocker Ticket Office at 316-978-3267 and at thebasketballtournament.com.
▪ National Theatre on Ice Competition: Ice skating fans will be able to watch competitive figure skating teams at Intrust Bank Arena June 20-25. It’s the first time Wichita will host the national competition, which will feature teams of eight to 24 skaters offering theatrical ice performances that are judged by U.S. Figure Skating judges.
▪ Other spectator opportunities: Wichita will be host to several other sizable sporting events in 2022, including the NAIA Men’s Wrestling National Championship March 4-5 at Hartman Arena; the NAIA Basketball Men’s and Women’s Regionals March 11-12 at Hartman Arena and Friends University; the USA Waterski National Championships Aug. 7-13 at Mystic Lakes in Maize; and the American Cornhole League Pro Shootout Aug. 19-20 at Koch Arena on the Wichita State University campus.
Education
▪ New culinary programs: Wichita is becoming a breeding ground for chefs, and its two culinary schools will get new digs in 2022. WSU Tech, which has already started its new culinary arts program by offering classes out of the Boston Recreation Center, expects to move into its new 45,000-square-foot downtown facility in the historic Henry’s department store building at 124 S. Broadway in August. The space will include commercial and demo kitchens as well as a public food hall, a rooftop event center and student-run cafes. In the fall of 2022, Butler Community College plans to open its Redler Institute of Culinary Arts, named for building benefactors Scott Redler, the co-founder of Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers chain, and his wife, Betsy. The school broke ground on a new 8,400-square-foot building in front of Dillons at Kellogg and Andover Road in Andover
▪ New downtown medical school: The nonprofit Kansas Health Science Center-Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine just a few weeks ago was granted permission to start recruiting students for its first classes, and they’re expected to start in August. The medical school is the centerpiece of a downtown education complex by pharmacist-turned-developer Sudha Tokala, and it’s also set to include a 119-apartment student housing facility and a 119-room A.C. Marriott Hotel. Construction on the 116,000-square-foot medical school, which is taking over the former Macy’s building downtown at Market and William, is almost complete.
▪ Opening of Wichita State University’s Woolsey Hall: WSU is expected to start using Woolsey Hall, which will serve as a new home for the W. Frank Barton School of Business, in mid-2022. In October, the school broke ground on the $60 million building, which will have 125,000 square feet and three levels and will be on the Innovation Campus. The first students should be taking classes in the space in the summer of 2022.
Politics and government
▪ Governor’s race: November will bring midterm elections nationwide, and Kansas will go to the polls to select a governor. As it stands, the race will likely pit incumbent Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly against Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt. Election Day will be Nov. 8.
▪New City Council, new school board: Two of Wichita’s main governing bodies will look different come January, and whether you’re looking forward to the changes likely depends on which side of the political aisle you reside. The Wichita City Council will have a Democratic majority when it swears in its two new members: Maggie Ballad, who defeated incumbent Cindy Claycomb in November, and Mike Hoheisel, who won over appointed incumbent Jared Cerullo. The makeup of the Wichita Board of Education also will change in January, when newly elected candidates Diane Albert, Hazel Stabler and Kathy Bond take their seats. The three Republican challengers won in November, and although Republicans still won’t have a majority on the seven-member body, school board watchers see the potential for battles over masks and vaccinations in schools.
▪ County commission elections: When Sedgwick County voters go to the polls in November to participate in midterm elections, some also will be voting for candidates for the County Commission. Three commission seats are up for election this year: the one in District 1, held by Pete Meitzner; the one in District 4, held by Lacey Cruse; and the one in District 5, held by Jim Howell.
▪ New police chief, new EMS director: Wichita will get a new police chief in 2022 following the recent announcement by current chief Gordon Ramsay that he will resign from his position on March 1. City Manager Robert Layton has said he expects to hire a replacement in the new year and has promised that the search for Ramsay’s replacement will be a public process. Ramsay held the chief’s job for almost six years. Wichita also is expected to name a new EMS director in 2022 after Dr. John Gallagher agreed to resign in July following a Wichita Eagle investigation into the department’s troubles under his leadership. In the meantime, Kevin Lanterman is serving as the interim director.
▪ The end of state sales tax on food? For years, the Kansas Legislature has been talking about cutting Kansas’s sales tax on food, which at 6.5% is one of the highest in the country. But the two leading candidates for governor — Kelly and Schmidt — are pushing for the tax to be eliminated or significantly cut. With both politicians behind it, some say, the idea has momentum and could result in a successful bill during the 2022 legislative session, which starts in January.
Roads
▪ Construction-free Kellogg: As has been noted (and celebrated) of late, for the first time in 30 years, Kellogg highway isn’t under construction. But Wichita had better enjoy the freedom while it can. Gov. Kelly recently announced that her new $750 million highway improvement plan would include $166 million in upgrades to Kellogg in east Wichita. That’s unlikely to start until 2023, though.
▪ Timed lights on Douglas: If you’re one of the drivers who regularly travels on Douglas through downtown, you’ll be a much happier driver come summer. The city is working on what it calls “traffic signal optimization” on Douglas from McLean to Hydraulic, and the result should mean that people driving on the main downtown thoroughfare will catch more green lights more often. City Engineer Gary Janzen said the city completed a similar project on Maple from Maize to McLean a couple of years ago, and now, people traveling on that street, especially in the morning, can “catch green all the way through Maple, practically.” The project will include upgrades to equipment and software and the addition of pedestrian buttons, and the city will continue optimizing traffic lights on streets throughout the core area of downtown over the next five to eight years, Janzen said.
▪ New Delano bike path: A long-awaited Delano bike path should be ready for use by fall of 2022, Janzen said. It will start on McLean and travel west through an abandoned railroad corridor behind the new 225 Sycamore apartments. From there, it will continue west of Seneca to Exposition Street. The city plans to eventually continue the route south of Kellogg, then west on or near McCormick to Kellogg and Hoover, crossing the Kellogg and I-235 interchange through the old railroad corridor. There, it will join the Prairie Travelers path.
▪ Easier river access at McLean and 10th: Traffic on McLean moves rather fast, Janzen said — too fast for pedestrians to safely cross McLean to access the Little Arkansas River. In 2022, the city plans to take McLean from Central to 13th down from four lanes to three and to add a pedestrian crosswalk at 10th and McLean. The project, which Janzen calls “a long time coming,” should be done by summer 2022.
▪ Pawnee project: The city also will make some changes on Pawnee from Webb to Greenwich in 2022, and the work should be done by fall. Pawnee will be reconstructed as a three-lane road that has one through lane each direction and a two-way left turn lane in the center. The intersection of Webb and Pawnee also will get a left turn lane, and a 10-foot-wide multi-use pedestrian path will be added on the north side of Pawnee.
Restaurants and retail
▪ New restaurants: Wichita will get to try out several new restaurants in 2022, from upscale upstarts to new locations of popular chains. Among the new eateries Wichitans are most anticipating: Doma, an upscale new small-plates restaurant set to open in the former Carlos O’Kelly’s building near Towne East mall on Jan. 15; Itzcali Tacos and Tequila, which Navid and Veronica Haeri are building at 2919 E. Central; and a west-side Red Robin, which will start serving its signature burgers and bottomless fries at 7355 W. Taft, just off of Kellogg and Ridge, in early 2022.
▪ Under Armour at Greenwich Place: This athletic apparel retailer was set to open in 2021 at Greenwich Place, the big development at K-96 and Greenwich, but the delivery of its fixtures was behind, a spokesperson told The Eagle. The store is now slated to open in early 2022 in a freestanding building in front of REI.
▪ Sierra at Eastgate Plaza: This outdoor goods store, previously known as Sierra Trading Post, has announced plans to open in the old Toys “R” Us space at Eastgate Plaza, Kellogg and Rock Road. Sierra, an REI competitor, is part of the Massachusetts-based TJX Cos., which also owns T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and HomeSense. It’s expected to open in late summer 2022.
▪ Flea market moves back home: Back in 2019, the massive Wichita Flea Market moved from Century II to the Kansas Star Casino’s arena in nearby Mulvane, and ever since, it’s been putting on once-a-month markets that attract hundreds of vendors. But the market has run out of space at the casino, its organizers say, and in 2022, it will move back closer to home. Starting in January, the market will permanently relocate to The Farha Sports Center at the South Wichita YMCA, 3405 S. Meridian, and that space will allow the market to grow and to eventually double in size. The first show there will be on Jan. 15 and 16.
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