Category: Local Interest

Exploration Place’s Drone Light Festival returns starting tonight

September 21, 2023 | By The Active Age

Exploration Place’s second annual Drone Light Festival runs tonight through Saturday. The main event features 300 synchronized drones, choreographed to music in the sky above the Arkansas River. Other activities include a candlelight concert, fire dancers, floating water lanterns, food trucks, full access to the Exploration Place exhibits and dozens of other family-oriented activities. The […]

Exploration Place sets attendance record

July 31, 2023 | By The Active Age

Exploration Place, the Sedgwick County Science and Discovery Center, has broken its all-time attendance record with 363,047 visitors in the 2022-23 fiscal year. According to a news release, the previous high of 348,532 was in 2000-01, the science center’s first year of operation. Exploration Place has also set a new membership record of 9,203 households, […]

All on board for duck craze

July 28, 2023 | By Ted Blankenship

I had no idea what we were missing when Dorothy and I took a cruise down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. We were content with chef-prepared meals, visits to historical places, jazz in the streets of New Orleans and lounging on the deck of our paddle-wheel boat. We didn’t know that if we had […]

Kansas African American Museum to double in size in new home

June 27, 2023 | By Ted Ayers

The Kansas African American Museum has achieved much in its current location, the historic former Calvary Baptist Church on North Water Street. The building sits in what once was the heart of Wichita’s black community — four blocks between Main and Waco where many early African American residents owned businesses, attended church and made their […]

Spreading the credit for North High and Minisa Bridge

May 30, 2023 | By Lynn Stephan

Since the day Wichita’s North High School opened in 1929, accolades for its distinctive design, particularly the Indian and pioneer sculptures, have gone to architect Glen Thomas and internationally-recognized fine artist Bruce Moore. A third name, that of Lawrence Byers, if mentioned, is typically incidental. Yet, as the draftsman and iconographer in Thomas’ office, Byers […]

‘The money is gone’: Older woman loses $140,000 in scam, man out $35,000

April 12, 2023 | By Joe Stumpe

“The money is gone.” That’s in the statement issued by District Attorney Marc Bennett in announcing that two older Wichita residents have lost a total of nearly $175,000 to scammers. In the first case, a Wichita man in his late 70’s received a pop-up warning on his computer that his bank account had been hacked. […]

Earliest memories not always fond ones

March 31, 2023 | By Diana Breit Wolfe

I have a story from my early childhood that keeps creeping back to me, and I re-live it in my mind from time to time. It’s about my grandma dying while she was babysitting me. But more about that later. Out of curiosity, I started asking others about their earliest childhood memories. Most of what […]

Lack of wheels drives lifestyle changes

February 28, 2023 | By Ted Blankenship

I am one of the few Americans not concerned about the cost of gasoline because the eye doctor told me I should give up driving. What? Just because I can’t see the road? What can an old guy like me do when he needs a bolt or some nails? Send his wife to the store? […]

Am I on too many medications?

January 6, 2023 | By Dr. Kamalakar Surineni

According to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, one-third of people over the age of 65 are taking at least five prescriptions. As we age, we may develop chronic diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Often these chronic diseases are interconnected, meaning one could lead to another. For example, […]

A Kansas program aims to reward good nursing home care, but critics say poor oversight remains

December 28, 2022 | By Rose Conlon/KMUW

By the time Tammy Near made it inside her longtime boyfriend Miguel Ornelas’ room at a Wichita nursing home — after the pandemic forced them to visit through a window for much of his 16-month stay — she’d already harbored questions about the care he got there. It was still a shock to see him […]

Nothing ‘ordinary’ about this teacher

December 1, 2022 | By Nancy Carver Singleton

NEWTON — Students at St. Mary Catholic School in Newton learn reading through the gentle, patient tutelage of a woman now in her 66th year of teaching. Three hours each day, Sister Rosemary Sieg teaches first, third and fourth graders at the same school she attended. “I want to help children improve and do better […]

Goddard’s new mobile library rolling

| By The Active Age

Serving an area of 65 square miles, the folks at Goddard Public Library were looking for a way to better reach patrons. Thanks to a couple of grants and local sponsors, the Goddard Mobile Library (shown at right) is now doing just that. The mobile library is housed in a 30-foot, 2006 model RV that’s […]

Win tickets to Botanica’s Illuminations

November 29, 2022 | By The Active Age

The Active Age is giving away three pairs of tickets to Illuminations, the annual holiday light show at Botanica. To enter our drawing for the tickets, answer this question about Botanica:

What are you happy for?

November 1, 2022 | By The Active Age

By now, you’ve probably seen a plethora of polls and heard plenty about what’s wrong and which candidate is going to fix it. The Active Age conducted a different, very unscientific kind poll at last month’s AARP Kansas food truck/voting rally in Grandparents Park, asking participants what they were happy or grateful for.

Living with diabetes focus of event

October 1, 2022 | By The Active Age

The sixth annual “Live Well With Diabetes” event next month brings together people dealing with the disease along with doctors, nurses, nutritionists and pharmacists who help them care for it. Sponsored by Great Plaines Diabetes, the free Nov. 5 event runs from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Wichita State Metroplex, 5015 E. 29th […]

‘Unprecedented’ Wireless Emergency Alert test to take place Sept. 12 at 3 p.m.

September 8, 2022 | By The Active Age

On Monday, Sept. 12, 2022, at 3 p.m. Sedgwick County and the City of Wichita will take part in an unprecedented test of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system, according to a news release from the county. WEAs are part of the public alert structure that is used for emergency information to residents’ phones. Examples of WEA […]

Pulling through: Tenacity and a new treatment help Wichitian survive cancer

August 1, 2022 | By Joe Stumpe

More mornings than not, Bill and Carrie Van Sickle can be found gliding along the Little Arkansas River in one or two kayaks, enjoying the exercise and scenery. They usually cover between four and seven miles, their oars and sleek craft barely rippling the mirror-like surface. “This river is basically a hidden gem,” Carrie said. […]

Prison painter inspires quest; see gallery of prison art

| By Joe Stumpe

If you own a painting by Ernest Aspinwall, Bob Bayer wants to talk. Aspinwall is hardly a household name, but he was something of a criminal celebrity in Wichita in the 1940s and ’50s. Charged with kidnapping a Wichita taxi driver in October 1940, Aspinwall escaped from the Sedgwick County Jail three months later and […]

Aging budget draws debate

| By The Active Age

Spending by Sedgwick County’s Department on Aging won’t keep up with the current level of inflation under a proposed budget for 2023. The department, which is the primary provider of senior-related services in Wichita and the rest of the county, would see its budget rise 3.2 percent to $13.95 million next year. Commissioners David Dennis […]

North Newton woman pens book about chickens — and friendship

| By The Active Age

NORTH NEWTON — Growing up in western Kansas, Diane Sorensen’s first experience with chickens was at her grandparents’ house. While it was fun to gather the eggs, she said, “What I remember is how scary the rooster was.” Today, she not only raises chickens, she’s made one the title character of a children’s book — […]

A merry Christmas in July at The Active Age

| By The Active Age

You know that heart-tugging scene at the end of “It’s a Wonderful Life” when the whole town shows up to save George Bailey from financial ruin? His wife, Mary, opens the door to one townsperson after another. Uncle Billy dumps a basket of cash on a living room table and says, “Isn’t it wonderful? . […]

Heifers have field day with ‘tame grass’

| By Ted Blankenship

I am sitting in my office staring out the window at the field north of our house for inspiration. But all I see is a bunch of big, round bales of hay and Bel Aire’s water tower. Neither of these things is very funny. The tower is important, though, because it’s full of water and […]

A thank-you…and a friendly challenge

July 1, 2022 | By The Active Age

Editor’s note: This month we’re running Dear Reader columns from two of our board members — one about the heartening response to our current plight, and the other about our continuing need. By Diana Breit Wolfe I am totally impressed. You like us — you really, really like us! I know that because after my […]

Farm to Fork makes for delicious fun in Butler County

| By The Active Age

The 7th annual Farm to Fork event in Butler County celebrates agriculture in Kansas’ largest county with eight days of events. Here are highlights of the schedule with prices of individual events. A full festival pass good for all events and meals is available for $150. July 16 — Family “Agventure” Day, 8 a.m. to […]

A rhyme in time saves little minds

| By Ted Blankenship

These days parents are deciding what books their kids can read in school. And, each parent has a different idea which books are dangerous for juvenile brains. So what about nursery rhymes that have been around for a long time and may have affected a lot of little brains? If we modify these nursery rhymes, […]