Evel Knievel Museum
Topeka, Kansas
Evel Knievel was, first and foremost, a showman. And the Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka, Kansas, is a showcase of the showman’s over-the-top life.
The museum opened in May 2017, an endeavor by three partners, one of whom had amassed a huge collection of all things Evel Knievel and another who owns Historic Harley-Davidson.
The museum covers 13,000 square feet on two levels. Big Red, the now-restored Mac truck that Knievel used to haul his show, is a centerpiece of the lower level. Exhibits include original and replica jump bikes, his leathers and helmets, and videos, pictures and text to tell the story of Knievel’s life from his childhood through his more famous jumps, said museum director Bruce Zimmerman.
Upstairs, guests will see his Caesars Palace jump helmet, his custom-made Cadillac pickup and an Indy 500 racecar that he sponsored in 1977. A display of Knievel-licensed products features a vast array of toys, a pinball machine and even curtains for a kid’s room. Also upstairs is an original Skycycle X-2 that Knievel used to jump Snake River Canyon in Idaho.
At interactive displays, guests can touch X-rays of Knievel’s broken bones or watch footage of the jump that caused the injury. The interactive jump planner allows visitors to select the bike, the outfit, the ramp angle and the jump obstacle “to see if you would be successful,” Zimmerman said.
But the crown jewel is a 4-D virtual-reality motorcycle jump. A guest straddles a bolted-down jump bike, dons headphones and virtual-reality goggles and “jumps” over a line of police cars.
“They’ll whoop and holler, they’ll lean, they’ll steer, because they feel like they’re actually doing it,” Zimmerman said. “It fools the senses.”
Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food
Bentonville, Arkansas
Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food opened in January 2017 in a former Tyson fried-chicken plant that shut down in 2005 and sat vacant for 12 years.
Developers reimagined the facility as a community-focused food hub, and the adaptive reuse project “transformed 70,000 square feet of food factory into an artisanal food playground,” said executive director Glenn Mack.
Brightwater serves as the anchor tenant of Eighth Street Market. The 27,500-square-foot culinary school includes demonstration, culinary, pastry, production and seasonal kitchens, as well as several classrooms and kitchen laboratories, a beverage classroom, a hydroponic greenhouse and an outdoor garden.
With advanced notice and the right availability, Brightwater can provide guided tours of the facility, including of the greenhouse and garden; arrange cooking demonstrations; and lead cooking classes. Groups of more than 16 people can be split up among separate kitchens. The center can also dish up a meal for groups.
Alternatively, groups can also stop by Eighth Street Market and “just wander around and have a food experience,” Mack said.
Visitors can taste what’s on tap at the Bike Rack Brewing Company. Yeyo’s Mexican Grille is a family-run taqueria and mescal bar that uses produce from the family farm less than five miles from downtown Bentonville. Markham and Fitz is a bean-to-bar chocolatier that was founded in 2014.
In a public common area, visitors can see into the Brightwater kitchens and watch students at work. Groups can also grab a bite from the Brightwater or Yeyo’s food trucks, which usually serve in front of Bike Rack Brewing along with other food trucks.
