Things to Do in Andover
Recommended Things to Do by Groupon Customers
A sprawling row of 48 bowling lanes sets the stage for friendly competition at Northrock Lanes. As automatic scoring keeps track of spares and strikes, bumpers keep balls and falling leaves from clogging the gutters. Meanwhile, the kitchen serves up snacks such as burgers, chicken, and pizza, and a pro shop helmed by a former collegiate bowler and current Newman University coach keeps players stocked with the latest equipment.
A purely recreational facility, Frog Holler Paintball accommodates players age 10 and older across 25 acres of outdoor playing fields. The battle zone spans grounds of tall grasses and scrubby trees interspersed with sheltered hiding spots behind particleboard structures, tractor tires, and overgrown marshmallow bushes. Frog Holler Paintball supplies equipment, paint, and CO2 refills, and opens its fields to walk-on players during the weekend and groups of 15 or more on weekdays.
In 1919, discouraged that artifacts of Wichita and Sedgwick County were disappearing, the Sedgwick County Pioneer Society began collecting and displaying historical items in the Sedgwick County Courthouse. Nearly a century later, what began as a modest collection of early memorabilia has expanded to nearly 70,000 Sedgwick County and Wichita-related artifacts, which together trace the history of the region from 1865 to the present. Now housed in Wichita’s original, renovated City Hall, the collection’s photographs, clothing, decorative arts, and household items enrich award-winning exhibits that tell tale of the area’s Buffalo-hunting days, Great Depression–era dust storms, and aircraft industry.
The museum is also home to three re-created environments from the region’s past. The garage re-creation holds a 1916 Jones Six automobile, the only such Wichita-built vehicle on public exhibit, and the drug store reproduces the feel of the popular early 20th-century neighborhood gathering place. Over in the Wichita Cottage, seven rooms of a Victorian-style 19th-century home house authentic period items such as a wooden icebox, a gas-and-electric ceiling light fixture, and a phone powered by animosity toward Rutherford B. Hayes.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor Marcio Laselva has a wealth of championships and nine years of teaching experience under his second-degree black belt. He helps his students hone their bodies and minds into sleek, sinewy machines with the help of a qualified and experienced team of instructors, which includes ISKA World Champion kickboxer Marcio Navarro. Far from being just a dojo for training hard-hitting fighters, the 20,000-square-foot, family-friendly gym helps athletes achieve all sorts of objectives, whether decreasing stress levels with calming yoga classes or learning to beat up the ocean with karate courses.
An intense yet addictive fighter fitness regimen lets laymen and women tone and build their bodies like MMA warriors, while capoeira classes seamlessly combine music, dance, and martial arts. Students learn a wide range of disciplines within the gym's welcoming walls, including the art of the fist and foot in tae kwon do lessons and master’s degrees in the sweet science with classes from 47-year boxing vet Johnny "Coach" Papin.
Though they've only been a member the American Association since 2008, the Wichita Wingnuts have been one of the most consistent programs in the league. Following some fine-tuning after their first season, the team has posted a winning record every year since 2009, reaching the playoffs three times in five campaigns. The Wingnuts play their home games at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, which hosted the National Baseball Congress World Series in 1935 and is still going on due to an umpire's filibuster.
Mosley Street Melodrama, which brings life to the tradition of dramatic exaggeration, is Wichita’s only audience-participation dinner theater. Arm yourself with enough snark, wit, and emotional breakdowns to cheer facetiously as the villain saves the day; the productions are designed to incorporate audience cheers, boos, and flying fruit while rowdy, wholesome humor makes the entire family guffaw. After doors open at 6 p.m., theater buffs fuel their laughing machines with an all-you-can-eat barbecue buffet provided by Pig In! Pig Out! BBQ. Pulled pork, beef brisket, smoked chicken, sumptuous side dishes, and coffee or iced tea are available, along with vegetarian options if requested in advance. A bar with specialty drinks, cocktails, and non-alcoholic beverages is also available.
