Fja Photography

Chivalry is not dead! At least it's not at the Great Plains Renaissance Festival. Mark your calendars for the second week in October and be there to see knights and fair maidens take over Sedgwick County Park. You'll feel like you've traveled back in time as you explore a medieval village, with authentic costumes on display, antiquated entertainment, and lots of great food and family fun.

As the first inhabitants of the area, the stories, traditions, and culture of the American Indian is sometimes forgotten, but the Mid-America All-Indian Center works hard to preserve it all and its mission is to continue to pass on knowledge of this culture to future generations. The museum does a more than admirable job of this, as evidenced by the various classes, exhibits and lectures that are on the schedule year round.

Wichita's culture and horticulture coexist brilliantly at Botanica, the Wichita Gardens. Whether it's the seasonal wonders that draw you in, like the Summer Annual Display featuring of 25,000 flowers, the Butterfly House with it's unique collection of fascinating species, or the Tuesdays on the Terrace outdoor event that features attractions, live music and great company, there's always something blooming at Botanica. And like the flowers that populate it, the results of such cultural cultivation are nothing less than beautifully breathtaking.

Roxy's Downtown is the next chapter in the space that is 412 1/2 E Douglas, a space that has a long relationship with the downtown scene of Wichita.   Stories and memories seem to rise up from just about everyone I have met so far in this adventure, from memories of a long past 25cent theatre with a penny arcade and pool hall below where Gallery XII now resides, to The Looking Glass with sound studio above (Big Dog Sound Studios) with Roxy's Downtown cocktail club hosting such rising stars as Harry Connick Jr., to sitting empty for several years with dormant potential until Cabaret Oldtown came into existence in 1992.  Cabaret Oldtown bloomed for 22 wonderful and beloved years before Roxy's took up the torch.   The Cabaret spirit will always remain in the heart and the soul of Roxy's.