Top Wichita stories Monday: Dinosaur fire, new housing, farmers markets and more

These are some of the top stories from the Wichita area on Monday, covering a special kind of residential community, the destruction of an animatronic dinosaur and a new gin named after a restaurant owner’s pup.

Here are key takeaways:

• New residential community: KETCH, the Kansas Elks Training Center for the Handicapped, broke ground Monday on Julia’s Place, its 25th residential community, at 401 S. Julia St. on Wichita’s west side. It will feature four buildings serving 32 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The apartments are expected to be ready in about a year.
• Dinosaur devastation: Field Station: Dinosaurs in Derby is regrouping after a lightning strike Saturday set a 100-foot Sauroposeidon animatronic on fire, leaving the 60-ton attraction beyond repair. Rather than replace the dinosaur — complicated by tariffs halting shipments from Chinese manufacturers — the park plans to keep the skeleton on display as a learning opportunity. The park reopened Sunday with its 39 other dinosaurs still intact.
• More farmers markets: Beyond Wichita’s two main weekly farmers markets, several surrounding communities host their own markets from spring through fall, including new options this year in Andover and Derby. Markets also run in Goddard, Haysville, Kechi, Maize and Valley Center, offering produce, baked goods, food trucks and more.
• Walmart remodels: A Neighborhood Market near Central and Maize Road and a Supercenter at Kellogg and Greenwich are among more than 650 Walmart stores nationally getting remodels this year, with new layouts, technology and expanded services.
• Party for a pup and the gin named for her: KVH Chophouse owner Greg Hiser is throwing a party Tuesday to celebrate the release of GiGi Girl Gin, a house-brand spirit named after his 6-year-old Yorkie and produced by J. Rieger & Co. in Kansas City, Missouri. Hiser applied for a special license to bring Gigi to the restaurant for the event, which falls on the pup’s birthday, with $5 gin martinis and birthday cake from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
• The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.