By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Three Great Bend destinations continue to reap the benefit of being listed on the Sunflower Summer program. The online app encourages citizens to explore Kansas and claim free tickets to more than 220 tourism attractions.
The Kansas Wetlands Education Center (KWEC), at Cheyenne Bottoms, is already a free service, but Director Curtis Wolf said the Education Center can still benefit.
"It's been a great program for us," said Wolf. "This is the third or fourth year we've been on the program. We're already free, so a lot of people in the past didn't really push it. We didn't notice an uptick in visitors the last couple summers. This year, we've made it a much bigger priority to talk to people and ask them if they're on Sunflower Summer."
Even the free attractions such as the Education Center and Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo are provided funds each time someone checks in with the online Sunflower Summer app. The Education Center receives $5 for each person that checks in via the Sunflower Summer.
As of last Friday, Wolf said 134 adults and 233 children have visited KWEC using the app.
"These families are traveling," said Wolf. "Just this morning, we had a family from Gove County that brought their five kids. They came out and spent the whole morning at the Center, and we took them on a tour of the Bottoms. A lot of these are coming from out of town."
As of last Friday, 144 adults and 215 children have used the app at the zoo. The Great Bend Wetlands Waterpark is also available on the app.
The program, organized by Kansas Tourism, runs through Aug. 11. Sunflower Summer is open to all Kansas families with students pre-K through 12th grade. To participate, families can download the Sunflower Summer app at the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or at SunflowerSummer.org.