The American Midwest: a region full of corn and cows and boredom. But, luckily for us, Overland Park and the surrounding area can be seen as a sort of reprieve from the general bleakness of our region. There are seasonal festivals, numerous farmers markets and many cool shops and businesses to spend your time year-round.
In the south of the city, you can find the Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens. You can visit the Arboretum year-round and walk through different gardens and hiking trails, seeing various plant species, animal species and sculptures around the property. They also offer both education and photo opportunities; there’s a visitors center dedicated to teaching people about nature and the arboretum, and there are many light walks and flower displays that people can use for perfect, Instagram-worthy photo shoots.
If the outdoors aren’t your thing, there’s numerous escape rooms and pottery painting shops around town. For artists, you can visit Paint, Glaze, and Fire (PG&F) on Metcalf and 127th Street. They have shelves of pre-sculpted pottery, and all you have to do is pick one and paint it. A week or two later, it’s been fired and you can go pick it up. I’ve done many a birthday party here, and go visit whenever I can. I’m not an easily entertained individual, but I absolutely love PG&F and think it’s the perfect activity for a day off school.
And for those who like to play brain games, there’s several escape room businesses around town, including Mastermind Escape Games and Breakout KC, which both offer different themed rooms for team building events, birthday parties or just a free day with friends. I’ve also had plenty of parties at Mastermind, and spending the time with friends in an immersive environment where you have to collaborate brings the entire group closer, even if some of them didn’t know each other before you violently shoved two of your friend groups together to celebrate.
Additionally, for those with friends and family of all ages, the Kansas City Zoo is open year-round and offers numerous activities for everyone to have a good time. During the summer, they offer camps for ages 5 to 12, which I did every year until I aged out and would 100% suggest it for children who like animals. I was a hardcore Wild Kratts kid, and I think anyone else who was would have adored these camps; they teach you about the animals as you go see them, and you do different animal-themed crafts throughout the week.
During the fall and winter, the zoo hosts GloWild, a nighttime event where you and your designated company can take a mile-long walk around the zoo to see animal-themed light displays from 6-10 p.m. every weekend from September to December. Much like the gardens at the arboretum, this event is perfect for photo shoots, and it’s a nice activity for partners to attend together. It’s a pretty walk, and there’s plenty of opportunities for you to spend quality time with one another.
In the end, if you’re looking to spend a day alone, or all your friends are busy, I personally think you would be better off just staying inside and curling up with a book or a video game and some snacks.
But if you enjoy going out on your own, or you have siblings, friends or a significant other to spend the day with, there’s a good variety of things you can go do in our area.
It isn’t that boring, and it certainly could be worse. You just have to look for what appeals to you best.
