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Top City
Hit the road to explore Kansas’ capital city, Topeka By LARA HALE
Just a little more than an hour west of downtown Kansas City, the capital
including the Kansas Silent Film Festival, the Mulvane Mountain/
city of Kansas offers a wealth of history, culture and entertainment. Its
Plains Art Fair and the Sunflower Music Festival. Other festivals in
rolling green hills and position on the Kansas River have made Topeka—
Topeka celebrate some of the diverse cultures in the region, including
or “Top City,” as locals sometimes call it—a draw for visitors and settlers
the Fiesta Mexicana, the traditional Inter-Tribal Pow Wow and the
alike since its early days as a commercial hub in the mid 19th century and
Dia de los Muertos, which fuses some of the customs and traditions of
today it offers even more opportunities to explore.
indigenous Aztec people and Catholic Spaniards. Monthly First Friday
One of Topeka’s greatest landmarks is its capitol building. Long known as one of the most beautiful statehouses in the country, the Kansas State
friends, meet artists and browse and buy their work.
Capitol recently benefitted from an extensive 13-year restoration project to
Family fun abounds year-round in Topeka. During the warmer
preserve some of its distinctive features, including a stunning copper dome,
months, people of all ages flock to Lake Shawnee Recreational Area for
limestone façade and many murals depicting historical and allegorical
a range of activities including fishing, boating, sailing and swimming,
scenes. Climb the 296 steps leading to the top of the building’s dome for
and to Kaw River State Park to hike and bike the trails. Cool off at
views of the 20 acres of park-like grounds that surround it and beyond.
one of the city’s aquatic centers—there’s the Shawnee North Aquatic
History buffs will find many other points of interest in the city too.
Center, which features a lazy river, a kiddy pool and slides, and the
The Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site offers insight to
Blaisdell Family Aquatic Center, located on the grounds of Gage Park,
the landmark Supreme Court case that led to the federal desegregation
which also hosts the Topeka Zoo, a vintage carousel, mini train rides
of public schools in 1954. The 6-acre Old Prairie Town at Ward-Meade
and a rose garden. In the fall, cheer on the home team—the Washburn
Historic Site gives visitors the chance to step back in time to explore the
University Ichabods—at a basketball or football game. When the
home of one of the area’s first families of settlers along with an 1880s
holidays roll around, head to the Kansas Expocenter for its annual
church, one-room schoolhouse and a train depot that were all moved to
Merry Market of crafts and gifts and the Festival of Trees, or load
the site for preservation.
up the car with blankets and a carafe of hot cocoa to marvel as Lake
Topeka also has a thriving cultural scene, with Washburn University providing the setting for a number of the city’s most popular annual events, 50
ArtWalks attract visitors to galleries across the city to mingle with
liveworkkc.com
Shawnee is transformed into a Winter Wonderland with a million dazzling holiday lights.