Hutchinson

Open Tuesday to Sunday until 5:00pm, Strataca is a unique salt mine museum in Hutchinson, Kansas where guests can take a double-decker hoist down 650 feet below the surface in under ninety seconds, transporting them to one of the world’s largest salt deposits. In the underground Strataca museum, visitors can explore the environment carved from the salt deposits that formed over 275 million years ago on a tour featuring various degrees of adventure and thrill. While guests can join one of the docent-led tours aboard an underground train, they can also take a self-guided tour of the various exhibits.

3650 E Ave G, Hutchinson, KS 67501, Phone: 866-755-3450

Sand Hills State Park encompasses more than 1,100 acres of wetlands, prairie woodlands, and sand dunes for visitors to explore, including five multi-use and horse trails and three hiking trails, such as the Cottonwood Interpretive Trail, that are open throughout the year. Two different wildlife observation blinds let people observe the various wildlife in action. There is also a campground with a five-acre fishing pond, restroom and shower facilities, and over 100 sites in Sand Hills State Park, with each campsite including 50-amp service, an upright covered grill, a picnic table, lantern stand, and a fire ring.

4207 E 56th Ave, Hutchinson, KS 67502, Phone: 316-542-3664

The Kansas State Fair takes place in Hutchinson at the Kansas State Fairgrounds every year, starting the Friday after Labor Day and lasting for the following ten days. As the largest event in Kansas, taking place since the year 1913, the state fair draws around 350,000 people from all over the state, as well as neighboring states with its attractions, live entertainment, food, and more. With a mission of providing an entertaining and educational experience, the fair includes more than 1,000 vendors, a variety of competitions, both staged and strolling entertainment, national acts, and many other attractions.

2000 N Poplar St, Hutchinson, KS 67502, Phone: 620-669-3600

The Hutchinson Zoo is home to a variety of animal habitats for visitors to see, with no charge for admission. Guests will find beavers and native birds in the aviary and can get up close to prairie dogs through a series of specially designed tunnels. There’s also a miniature farm where kids can meet animals, the Dinosaur Dig area, and a children’s play area as well. For a break from walking around the Hutchinson Zoo, guests both young and old alike can climb aboard the Prairie Thunder train. The zoo is open from 10:00am until 4:45pm, seven days a week.

6 Emerson Loop, Hutchinson, KS 67501, Phone: 620-694-2672

The Reno County Museum is full of many well designed and interesting exhibits that showcase just a fraction of the artifacts collected by the Reno County Historical Society. At the museum, visitors can look through the bars of the piron, unforgiving pioneer jail, imagine what it was like riding a 1929 Indian Ace motorcycle, see the small two-room claim house that eight people actually live in, and much more. Located just a block away from Main Street, the Reno COunty Museum features four rotating galleries of exhibits, as well as the Oodleplex, which is an interactive area designed for children.

100 S Walnut St, Hutchinson, KS 67501, Phone: 620-662-1184

Founded back in the year 1916 in the Hutchinson community as the Hutchinson Theatre Guild, Stage 9 provides high quality theatre productions in its modern facility 9 South Main Street. With a mission of “exciting minds, moving hearts, and changing lives” through live entertainment, arts education, and theatrical performances, the theatre stages a variety of contemporary and classic plays, as well as musicals, geared primarily at audiences over the age of eighteen. The theatre company changed its name to Stage 9 in 2015 in an effort to rebrand the theatre and make things less confusing for the local community.

9 S Main St, Hutchinson, KS 67501, Phone: 620-665-0009

R-B Drive In is a popular family-owned and operated dining establishment that has been a part of Hutchinson, Kansas since 1948, serving homemade pork tenders, fresh burgers, hand-cut fries, breaded okra, and ice cream, and more. Many of the items on the menu are made from scratch, such as the homemade onion rings and hand-breaded mushrooms. Founded by Melvin Robinson and Lawrence Burgess, which is where the “R-B” of R-B Drive In originates, the unique local eatery is open Monday to Wednesday and Saturday from 10:45am to 4:00pm, on Thursday until 8:00pm, and Friday until 5:30pm.

201 E Ave A, Hutchinson, KS 67501, Phone: 620-662-9713