former historic hotel that served at one point as an apartment building but now is under a $15 million renovation,” Teufel explains.“It’s going to culminate in 36 new units of moderate-income housing on our downtown corridor, opening in June 2026.” YEAR-ROUND TOURISM AND RECREATION Tourism anchors a significant portion of Reno County’s economy, generating consistent revenue through attractions that operate regardless of seasonal fluctuations.The underground salt museum and space center draw hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, supporting the hospitality, retail, and service sectors throughout the region. “Tourism is a mainstay of our economy, and we really have not seen it slow down,” Teufel reports. “Even during the COVID pandemic, because we have a very unique underground salt museum here that you cannot find elsewhere, it draws a lot of people into our community.”The Cosmosphere amplifies this draw with space science camps attracting students during summer months and year-round educational programming serving the Midwest. “We have some great partnerships with national organizations related to sports tourism, and the largest of those would be the National Junior College Athletic Association,” Teufel explains. “We have been hosting, for over 75 years, the National Junior College Men’s D1 Basketball Championship. We also host women’s volleyball and track and field championships on a rotating basis.”The county’s golf offerings include Prairie Dunes, a nationally ranked course scheduled to host the U.S. Senior Open again in 2029. Bogner highlights outdoor recreation that often receives less attention.“We do have several hunting lodges in Reno County that are well-known in this part of the United States,” he says. “Great turkey hunting, great deer hunting.That’s a sport that often gets overlooked, but it creates quite a few jobs here and brings in a lot of tourists.” Water recreation centers on Cheney Reservoir that serves both locals and visitors from nearby metropolitan areas.“Cheney Reservoir attracts many visitors from nearby Sedgwick County and Wichita – Reno County Commissioners Richard Winger, left, Vice-Chairman Ron Hirst, Chairman Don Bogner, Randy Parks and Ron Vincent in January 2025. Photo Credit: Reno County 58 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 09 RENO COUNTY, KS
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