05 Mar WANDERINGS: CULTURAL CONFLUENCE: WICHITA, KANSAS
The spot where the Big and Little Arkansas rivers meet is a special place. Since time immemorial, Indigenous people have gathered at this confluence. In the 1800s, Scotch-Cherokee fur trader Jesse Chisholm set up a post in the area where Native Americans, trappers, and cowboys all stopped to trade. By the 1870s, the area catapulted from a cowtown to the incorporated city of Wichita, thanks to its lucrative position on the Chisholm Trail.
Two footbridges lead to The Keeper of the Plains plaza, where paths wind around the 44-foot statue. Visitors can watch the fire drums light up from a distance or stand between them and the sculpture to feel the show’s heat. Photo courtesy of Kansas Department of Commerce
The space where the rivers join together remains a sacred gathering ground. Today, all paths and footbridges converge at this cultural heart of the city. It’s the site of Wichita’s most famous landmark: The Keeper of the Plains. Nationally acclaimed Kiowa-Comanche artist Blackbear Bosin designed the 44-foot statue and donated it to Wichita in 1974. Taking the riverside walk from Downtown to the sculpture is the perfect sunset activity. After sundown, five fire drums around the statue light up for a 15-minute show.
A restaurant and outdoor music venue open up behind this brick façade in Old Town. In the busy neighborhood, 19th-century warehouses were repurposed into businesses.
Local artists worked with Envision, a group committed to providing inspiration and opportunity for people who are visually impaired, to create intersensory art for Gallery Alley. Photos: Jenna Vandenberg
The triangle of land between the two rivers also hosts a trio of museums. The Mid-America All-Indian Museum showcases additional Bosin works, including early sketches for The Keeper of the Plains and quarterly rotating exhibitions dedicated to preserving American Indian culture and art. The museum doubles as a place for tribes to unite, and vibrant photos of recent celebrations decorate event spaces. From there, follow the Arkansas River Trail for about a half mile to arrive at the Old Cowtown Museum, a living history museum recalling Wichita’s earliest days with 54 historic and recreated buildings. In addition to dirt roads and live demonstrations, the museum has archival documents for historical research. The side-by-side nature of the Mid-America All-Indian Museum and Old Cowtown invokes complex questions about home, forced removal, and Manifest Destiny.
At Botanica, families can follow the yellow brick road through the Downing Children’s Garden, where there is a treehouse to explore, a spider web to climb, and a tumbling brook to splash in.
One can find artwork addressing these complexities at the Wichita Art Museum (WAM), located across the street from Cowtown. Built in an Art Deco style in 1935, WAM is free to the public. Upon arriving at the museum, visitors are greeted by a Dale Chihuly piece overhead, which also serves as a bridge they can walk across sans shoes on the second floor. Living History, a large-scale Beth Lipman sculpture, also hangs in the front hall. Glass juts from the sculpture to evoke the tallgrass prairie that once covered North America, and objects that reference some of the permanent exhibits at WAM appear between the glass spires. In the galleries, patrons can find works by Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Charles Marion Russell, along with a recently acquired piece by Diné (Navajo) artist Tony Abeyta, which is on display as part of the museum’s newest exhibition. “Home and Place is all Native art,” says Marketing Director Naama Marcos of the art exhibit, which also includes works by Fritz Scholder and Norman Akers. “It’s really cool. We also have [Blackbear Bosin’s] work on display … He has a piece overlooking downtown Wichita. It’s a gorgeous piece.”
Thirty-six shipping containers make up Revolutsia, where shoppers can browse Blush Bookstore, eat schnitzel at Prost, and gather by the firepit. Note that most shops are closed on Mondays. Photos courtesy of Kansas Department of Commerce
The Arkansas River Trail will lead you from the museums to Downtown. The wide, paved, multi-use trail parallels the Arkansas River, the lifeblood of the city, for 10 miles. The connection between Wichita and the river is fully displayed every June when Kansas celebrates its biggest outdoor party: Riverfest.
The plaza surrounding The Keeper of the Plains showcases the history and traditions of the Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains. Photo: Jenna Vandenberg
The Old Cowtown Museum recalls Wichita’s earliest days with 54 historic and recreated buildings.
The festival started in 1972 when the first Wichitennial River Festival and Traders Day was held to celebrate the city’s centennial. Organizers created and sold approximately 2,000 buttons at $1 each to help underwrite the festival. “The button is a long-standing tradition of Riverfest,” says BreAnna Monk, CEO and president of Wichita Festivals, Inc. “It was created as a ticket into festivities. We are proud that you are able to go and do so many things just with an artistic button.” Artist Terry Twomey won the contest to design the 2025 Riverfest button, which provides entry into the 9-day festival from May 30 through June 7. “His design is so nostalgic,” says Monk. “There is a piece that represents every area of Kansas in his artwork.”
More than 100 murals, mostly clustered on E. Douglas Ave., cover Wichita buildings. The Beachner Grain Elevator mural at 21st and Broadway celebrates the Latino and African American communities that have historically lived at the vibrant north end of the city. It was painted by Colombian street artist Natalia Gallego Sánchez, also known as Gleo. Photo courtesy of Kansas Department of Commerce
Riverfest activities include Cowboy Bathtub Races, wherein participants race down the Arkansas River in stock tanks typically used to water cows. For those who enjoy boats prone to disintegration, the Cardboard Regatta is another option, where participants have 90 minutes to build a river-worthy vessel with tape, pool noodles, and titular cardboard before launching their vessels in the river. There are also bike races, Hispanic culture celebrations, and photography events. For those more artistically inclined, Riverfest also includes a Plein Air Art Show, where competitors paint iconic Wichita views. Downtown opens up into a giant art gallery, Habitat for Humanity partners with local urban art and apparel brands to paint murals on the houses they build each year, and daily concerts can be heard on the Kennedy Plaza Stage.
The city also hosts a fall arts festival in September, the Autumn & Art fair, where artists from all over the country come and display their work. “There are opportunities to make purchases and make connections. It’s an art lover’s dream,” says Monk.
If the river is the lifeblood of Wichita, then Douglas Avenue is the cultural vein through the city. From Downtown to Old Town and beyond, Douglas Ave. is dotted with galleries, restaurants, and parks. Don’t miss Gallery 12, an artist’s cooperative since 1977; The Workroom, for local crafts and gifts; and the narrow Gallery Alley, for public art and occasional performances. When shopping, check out Ferguson Phillips for the latest interior design trends and The Vault Collection for curated, exclusive pieces.
To get your fix of architectural history, consider visiting Frank Lloyd Wright’s Allen House to tour a Prairie-Style home designed by Wright in 1915 for newspaper publisher and future Kansas Governor Henry Justin Allen and his wife, Elsie. The home features more than 30 pieces of Wright-designed furniture, original art glass, and state-of-the-art architectural innovations of the era, such as wall-hung water closets and an attached garage. Visitors can choose between a few different tours, including one that highlights Elsie Allen’s art collection.
The red brick streets of Old Town are the center of Wichita’s foodie scene. At the edge of Naftzger Park, HomeGrown serves farm-fresh breakfasts and Public at the Brickyard features excellent pickle plates, spicy fried chicken, and craft beer; the restaurant is connected to an outdoor music venue, so check their calendar if you want to pair your pickles with pop songs. Then, find boisterous after-dinner drinks and cigars at Mort’s Martini and Cigar Bar. For a quieter atmosphere, sleuth out Dockum; in true speakeasy style, there is no sign for this dispensary of craft cocktails, so head to the Siena Tuscan Steakhouse, take the elevator down, and knock on the door.
The iconic Wichita rainbow is in the middle of Botanica, a 20-acre garden that showcases some 4,000 plants, 50 sculptures, water features, and verdant spaces for community events. Photo: Jenna Vandenberg
For your Wichita home-away-from-home, consider staying at the Hotel at Old Town. In 1906, the four-story building was the largest warehouse in the world. Now, it’s a hotel that hosts live jazz music every weekend and displays historic museum-quality photographs and items on every floor. The third floor was recently renovated and dedicated as the Historic Aviation Floor with flight-themed rooms.
Although Wichita was known as a cowtown, by 1928 it was re-dubbed the Air Capital of the World. The constant winds coming off the Great Plains brought airplane manufacturing to Kansas at the beginning of the 20th century, and the airlines never left. With Airbus, Boeing, and the former Learjet hubs in Wichita, the city continues to be a major center of the American aircraft industry.
From its beginnings as a trading post on the Chisholm Trail to its current status as a manufacturing hub, Wichita has always been a place to gather and trade. It’s been the perfect spot to swap furs, vintage Riverfest buttons, and secret cocktails. It’s still an ideal city to create art, tape together cardboard boats, and design jet aircrafts. And for art lovers looking for unexpected treasures on the edge of the Southwestern Plains, it’s a charming place to visit.
Jenna Vandenberg is an award-winning education reporter. She teaches, travels, runs, and writes from her home base near Seattle, Washington.
Sidebar:
If you Go:
Museums & Attractions
Autumn & Art
316.267.2817; autumnandart.com
Botanica
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Allen House
316.687.1027; flwrightwichita.org
The Keeper of the Plains and the Mid-America All-Indian Museum
316.350.3340; theindianmuseum.org
Museum of World Treasures
316.263.1311; worldtreasures.org
Old Cowtown Museum
Riverfest
316.267.2817; wichitariverfest.com
The Kansas African American Museum
Ulrich Museum of Art
316.978.3664; ulrich.wichita.edu
Wichita Art Museum
Galleries & Shopping
Gallery 12
316.267.5915; wichitagallery12.com
The Workroom
316.295.4520; theworkroomict.com
Gallery Alley
316.264.6005; downtownwichita.org/discover/placemaking/gallery-alley/overview
Ferguson Phillips
316.612.4663; fergusonphillips.com
Reuben Saunders Gallery
316.682.1481; reubensaundersgallery.com
The Vault Collection
Lodging
Ambassador Hotel Autograph Collection
316.239.7100; ambassadorwichitaks.com
Hotel at Old Town
316.267.4800; hotelatoldtown.com
Hyatt Regency Wichita
Restaurants & Bars
Dockum
HomeGrown at Naftzger Park
316.440.4700; homegrownkitchen.com
Mort’s Martini and Cigar Bar
316.262.1785; mortswichita.com
Prost
316.260.3220; prostwichita.com
Public at the Brickyard
316.263.4044; publicbrickyard.com
Siena Tuscan Steakhouse
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