The Kansas Bucket List includes (in alphabetical list):
1950s All Electric House, Shawnee; Alcove Springs Park, Blue Rapids; Amelia Earhart Festival, Atchison; Arikaree Breaks, St. Francis; The Bartlett Arboretum, Belle Plain; Basketball Game at Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence; Big Brutus, West Mineral; The Big Well, Greensburg; Boot Hill Museum, Dodge City; Botanica, Wichita; Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, Topeka; Camping at a State Park or Lake, Statewide; Castle Rock and Monument Rocks, Quinter and Oakley; Cathedral of the Plains, Victoria; Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, Great Bend; Chicken Mary’s and Chicken Annie’s, Pittsburg; Cimarron National Grassland, Elkhart; Clark Drug, Soda and Ice Cream Parlor, Cimarron.
Constitution Hall, Lecompton; Cruising the Backroads, Statewide; C. W. Parker Carousel Museum, Leavenworth; Deer Hunting, Statewide; Dirty Kanza 200, Emporia; Downtown Lawrence; The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, Abilene; Emma Chase Friday Night Music, Cottonwood Falls; Fishing, Statewide; Flint Hills, Central Kansas; Flint Hills Discovery Center, Manhattan; Fort Riley, Junction City; Free State Brewery, Lawrence; Garden of Eden and Grassroots Art Center, Lucas; Gella’s Diner & Lb. Brewing Co., Hays; Guy and Mae’s Tavern, Williamsburg; The Gypsum Hills, Barber County.
Haskell Indian Art Market, Lawrence; Home on the Range Cabin, Smith Center; Kansas Museum of History, Topeka; Kansas Sampler Festival, various locations; Kansas State Capitol, Topeka; Kansas State Fair, Hutchinson; Konza Prairie, Manhattan, K-State Football Game, Manhattan; Lewis and Clark, Atchison to Kansas City; Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum, Chanute; Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, Canton; Kansas Motorcycle Museum, Marquette; Mushroom Rock State Park, Marquette; Nicodemus National Historic Site, Nicodemus; NOTO Arts District, Topeka; Oktoberfest, Hays; Ol Stuga, Lindsborg.
Oz Museum, Wamego; Paddle the Kansas River, Junction City to Kansas City; Pawnee Indian Museum, Republic; The Pony Express, Marysville; Porubsky’s, Topeka; Prairie Museum of Art and History, Colby; Rails-to-Trails, Statewide; RowHouse Restaurant, Topeka; Scott State Park, Scott City; Sporting KC Soccer Match, Kansas City; Stargazing at Coronado Heights, Lindsborg; Strataca, Hutchinson; Svensk Hyllningsfest, Lindsborg; Switchgrass Trail, Wilson State Park; Symphony in the Flint Hills, Central Kansas; Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County; Walnut Valley Festival, Winfield; Wichita Art Museum, Wichita.
Kansas Tourism is holding monthly #KSBucketList contests in 2016.
People can post pictures from any of the Top 70 Kansas Bucket List experiences on Twitter and Instagram using #KSBucketList for a chance to win (one entry per person per location).
All who enter will be placed in random drawings. Kansas Tourism will draw one winner per month and one grand prize winner in January 2017.
The prizes are not redeemable for cash or exchangeable for any other prize. If a winner cannot be contacted or is disqualified for any reason, Kansas Tourism reserves the right to determine an alternate winner or not to award that winner’s prize, in its sole discretion.
Participants can be residents of any country. There is no age limit, however, parent/guardian permission is required for winners under the age of 18.
There are many different sights to see in Kansas. And right here in our backyard we have two of these sights that made the Top 70 on the Kansas Bucket List.
The sights are the Cheyenne Bottoms and the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.
“Making the Kansas Bucket List gives us exposure,” said Curtis Wolf, sight manager of the Kansas Wetlands Education Center. “These sights are really hidden gems in Kansas and we need to get the word out.”
The Bucket List
“To celebrate the 70th anniversary of KANSAS! Magazine, we wanted to find out the top 70 experiences on Kansans’ bucket list,” explained Linda Craghead, Assistant Secretary for Kansas Parks and Tourism. The tourism division asked the magazine’s readers and other Kansas enthusiasts to submit their must-do lists, and the top 70 results were recently announced in the winter issue of KANSAS! Magazine, on its 70th birthday.
After the bucket-list submissions poured in, an editorial board pared the list down to the 70 finalists. Some are among the state’s acclaimed attractions, such as Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge near Great Bend, Chicken Mary’s and Chicken Annie’s restaurants in the Pittsburg area, Abilene’s Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum and the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka. Other more-surprising ones range from the 1950s All-Electric House in Shawnee and the Home on the Range Cabin near Smith Center to Guy & Mae’s Tavern in Williamsburg and Clark Drug, Soda and Ice Cream Parlor in Cimarron.
While eateries, museums and artsy attractions are among the favorites, Kansans seek out outdoorsy, sporty and festival fun, too. The toughest tackle the grueling, 200-mile Dirty Kanza, hikers trek the trails at Konza Prairie, paddlers ply the Kansas River and bluegrass fans world-wide flock to Winfield’s annual Walnut Valley Festival.
“We’re hoping to get the word out about all the unique, scenic and fun experiences the state offers,” said Craghead. “And while 70 choices is just a start, it’s a great introduction to what’s special about Kansas!”
Kansas Tourism is continuing the Bucket List promotion in 2016 with a monthly social media contest. People visiting any of the 70 locations can take a photo at the site and post it to Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #KSBucketList (one entry per person per location). One winner will be drawn at random each month and awarded a prize, and a grand prize winner will be announced at the end of 2016.
The Bucket List is available in the current issue of KANSAS! Magazine, at the state’s Travel Information Centers or at www.KSBucketList.com.
About the area attractions
According to the Kansas Tourism Division, the Cheyenne Bottoms is an area with 41,000 acres of wetlands. It is the largest inland marsh in the United States.
The 20,000 acre center belongs to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and is administered as the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area.
The Nature Conservancy owns an adjacent 7,300 acres which is administered as the Cheyenne Bottoms Preserve.
The heart of the Cheyenne Bottoms was acquired by the State in the 1940s and 50s, and dikes were built to create five large pools.
The largest body of water is in the center of the Wildlife area and serves as a reservoir to manage water levels for water birds in the surrounding march.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife services, the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1955 to protect migratory waterfowl.
The 7,000 acres of wetlands attract hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese annually.
Its location in the middle of the Central Flyway places it in the primary pathway for many species of migrating shorebirds.
