If you like baseball, this is your week. Opening day for the Wichita Wind Surge was on Thursday. Even if you don’t love baseball, this is still your week. The Wind Surge staff spent the off-season coming up with lots of new food options for the ball park and debuted many of them on opening night. This season, fans will find a new Midwestern-inspired hot dog that’s wrapped in a cinnamon roll and served on a boat of chili. They’ll also find a new Philly Cheesesteak cart, where they can choose their toppings and watch their sandwiches being made in front of them. And on April 17, competitive eater Joey Chestnut will be at the ballpark challenging locals to a cinnamon roll and chili-eating contest.
If you prefer books to baseball, Wichita will soon have something new for you, too. A local couple recently shared plans to open a new business in the Delano neighborhood that will be part book store, part coffee shop, part cocktail bar. They’ll call it Final Draft, and it will operate in a building near the southeast corner of Douglas and Seneca. Final Draft will stock around 4,500 books, and the back of the shop will serve as a coffee shop and bar. Final Draft should be open in June or July.
There was also news in Wichita this week of more restaurant closings. One of them is Solly & Jude’s, the sandwich restaurant and bar that opened in late 2023 right across Waterman from Intrust Bank Arena. Though the restaurant is not closed yet, its owners say the last day is just weeks away. The restaurant was just never busy enough, and with food prices rising, they weren’t staying afloat.
Also, the Wendy’s that has operated at Kellogg and Dugan since the mid 1980s suddenly closed last week. Wendy’s corporate said that the closing was a part of an initiative that will result in the closing of more than 350 underperforming stores across the country. The chain’s CEO said that the closings are in response to dropping revenues. The Wichita Wendy’s last day was March 24.
