What new at Shawnee Mission Park? Bike repair station, shade pavilion, other amenities
A refurbished entrance now welcomes visitors entering Shawnee Mission Park from Renner Road, along with a memorial plaza honoring the first superintendent of what’s now Johnson County Park and Recreation District.
The John Barkley Plaza was designed not only to provide a meeting spot for park visitors but also to tell the story of Barkley and the evolution of the county park system. Other features include seat walls, a shade pavilion, a drinking fountain, a bike-share rack and a bike repair station, along with an existing flagpole near the park entrance.
“John Barkley’s love for nature, combined with his vision and dedication to provide public park space for the community to enjoy outdoor recreation and nature, made him the perfect fit,” said Jeff Stewart, executive director of the park district.
A dedication ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. April 24 at the plaza, 7900 Renner Road. Barkley was a Medal of Honor recipient from World War I, and speakers will include a representative from the World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City.
In the early 1950s, Barkley and local civic groups persuaded Kansas lawmakers to create the state’s first special park district, and it’s still the only one in Kansas. The county commission created the Shawnee Mission Park District in January 1955, and Barkley was named superintendent in December 1956.
As superintendent, Barkley negotiated the acquisition of 1,250 acres in Shawnee and Lenexa for Shawnee Mission Park, as well as 44 acres for Antioch Park in Merriam. Another early park is now the site of Shawnee Town 1929.
Barkley retired in 1963 and died three years later at age 70.
A lot of nature in this art
The Sunflower Medical Group has moved its Mission office to the new Roeland Park Sunflower Medical Office building at Roe Boulevard and Johnson Drive, and now artwork is being installed there for pedestrians to enjoy.
“Prairie Ramble,” on the south side of the building, consists of three planters of varying height, gravel pathways and seating alcoves, and a rolling terrain of low-water, pollinator-friendly native plants.
Collaborating on the project are Roeland Park resident and sculpture professor Jarrett Mellenbruch and Elvis Achelpohl of BNIM Architects in Kansas City. The installation was commissioned as part of the city’s “1% for Art” initiative.
Libraries move toward full hours
The Johnson County and Olathe library systems are returning to normal hours, starting April 19 for the Edgerton and De Soto branches.
Other Johnson County branches will resume their regular Friday hours on April 23, and then, on May 3, both systems will be open during regular hours at all locations except the Cedar Roe branch in Roeland Park, which is undergoing renovation.
However, not all services will be available at first.
Services that will have to wait in the Johnson County system include children’s toys, in-person programs and events; in-person genealogy help and in-person equipment usage at the Black & Veatch MakerSpace. Services at Johnson County’s Central Resource Library are curtailed because of construction.
In Olathe, The Studio and the café will remain closed.
Go to jocolibrary.org or olathelibrary.org for full details.
Garage sale weekend in Roeland Park
A shopping opportunity is coming up May 20-23 in Roeland Park, when the city has scheduled a permit-free garage sale weekend.
Officials ask that both hosts and shoppers wear masks, maintain social distance and refrain from participating if they are sick or have been exposed to COVID-19.
Shawnee forms 3 new task forces
The city of Shawnee is looking for volunteers to serve on three new advisory boards:
▪ The Community Police Advisory Board, which will advise the police chief on investigating complaints about discriminatory policing and assist in developing policy and reaching out to the public on police matters. Shawnee is seeking diversity on the five-person board, which will meet at least quarterly. Members will be asked to serve four-year terms.
▪ The Public Arts Task Force, which will recommend locations and criteria for new public art, offer advice on funding strategies and think of how to weave the city’s history into public art. The task force will meet monthly for at least a year.
▪ The Community Engagement Task Force, which will focus on things like inclusivity and diversity, marketing and public communications, engagement opportunities with the citizenry and employee recruitment and retention. Members will meet monthly for at least a year.
Questions can be directed to Volunteer Coordinator Elizabeth Griffith at 913-742-6244 or egriffith@cityofshawnee.org.
Anyone interested can apply by clicking on the news announcement at cityofshawnee.org.
Local student is a Goldwater scholar
Emma Cosner, a Notre Dame de Sion High School graduate from Overland Park, is one of three University of Kansas students to be named Barry M. Goldwater Scholars this year.
KU says the scholarship, worth up to $7,500 annually, is regarded as the premier undergraduate award to encourage excellence in science, engineering and mathematics.
Cosner is a junior at KU majoring in chemistry and minoring in physics. She and the other two recipients, Anton Barybin of Lawrence and Jonah Stiel of Topeka, are friends and executive board members of the university’s Chemistry Club.
Cosner aspires to be an astronaut, but is now working on sustainability projects, including one that seeks to create catalysts that produce hydrogen gas, an alternative to fossil fuels.
De Soto school earns state award
Prairie Ridge Elementary School, which is part of the De Soto School District, has been named a “School of Excellence” for 2020 by The Civic Advocacy Network.
The award, created by the Kansas State Department of Education, recognizes schools for instruction in government, history, law and democracy as well as efforts to help students put what they have learned into practice and get involved in community affairs.
Of the nine winning schools, Prairie Ridge is the only one in Johnson County
Farmstead to open May 4
After being closed all of last year because of COVID-19, the Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead will open to the public again on May 4, but with modifications to reduce the chance of spreading disease.
The Farmstead, operated by the city of Overland Park at 13800 Switzer Road, will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays but will close on Mondays for extra cleaning. Guests must buy timed tickets to avoid overcrowding.
Much of the property will be accessible, but some amenities will not be available such as Dairy Barn movie theater, photo parlor, pony rides, pedal tractors and complimentary red wagons. Visitors can pet and bottle-feed some animals through the fences, but they cannot enter the pens.
SevenDays picks student designers
In conjunction with the upcoming SevenDays observance to promote kindness and harmony, eight high school students were chosen to design buttons and stickers to reflect the overall event and the theme of each day.
They are Laylah Stevens, William Mehnert and Julia Todd from Shawnee Mission Northwest High School; Natalie Kelley from Shawnee Mission South High School; Emily Bougher from Blue Valley Southwest High School; Sarah Gordon from Blue Valley High School; Rebekah Hartwig from Lee’s Summit West High School, and Joy Yan from Blue Valley North High School.
The virtual event, created after fatal shootings at Johnson County Jewish facilities in 2014, will take place April 13-25.
Learn more about U.S. 69 project
The Kansas Department of Transportation, the Kansas Turnpike Authority and the City of Overland Park will host virtual meetings for people to learn more about the U.S. 69 Expansion Project (69Express). An April 20 meeting will focus on improvement alternatives for the corridor, including evaluating if an express toll lane option is a solution for U.S. 69.
Participants will have the ability to submit questions and comments to the Project Team.
The live virtual meeting will be held from 5-7 p.m. April 20. A presentation by the project team will be followed by a question and answer session.
In addition to the live event, a virtual public information open house will run from April 16 through April 30. Participants can view the information from a computer, tablet or smartphone and can submit questions and/or comments to the Project Team.
For the live meeting or the information open house, visit www.69express.org and follow the links on the home page. For more information, call 816-527-2468.
This story was originally published April 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "What new at Shawnee Mission Park? Bike repair station, shade pavilion, other amenities."