- Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure, located six miles west of Salina, is home to a 65-acre zoo and 64,000-square-foot wildlife museum. The zoo has more than 85 species of animals, including chimpanzees, leopards, orangutans, tigers and two species of rhinos. Guests can walk along a 1.5-mile paved path to view the animals or take a narrated tram ride. The zoo also features a restaurant and gift shop. Visitors to the museum view seven regions of the world while seeing natural settings, including animals, human-like robots, waterfalls and more. The domed ADM Theater immerses you in a 360-degree virtual 3-D movie experience, and the Children’s Education Center has hands-on interactive ways to explore and learn about our planet.
- The Smoky Hill River Festival is a four-day extravaganza of entertainment, art and food. It annually brings thousands together in Oakdale and Kenwood parks on the first full weekend of June. The festival starts Thursday evening with the Festival Jam, which features a variety of bands. From Friday through Sunday there is more music, entertainment, fine art, games, athletic contests and food to please everyone.
- Tri-Rivers Fair is a celebration of country living every August. The fair includes a downtown parade, rodeo, demolition derby, draft horse show, carnival, antique appraisal, petting zoo and 4-H events and exhibits.
- Santa Fe Day, in September, is a celebration of Salina’s heritage. It features a downtown parade, chili cook-off contest, pancake feed, road race and plenty of entertainment. The Smoky Hill Museum sponsors the event which features historical performances and old-fashioned demonstrations of blacksmithing, butter churning and corn shelling.
- The Prairie Festival is sponsored by the internationally known Land Institute. The Land Institute’s mission includes research and education toward ecologically sustainable natural and human communities. Writers, artists, musicians, farmers, scientists and others come from all over to perform or show at the festival, which also includes prairie and bird walks, music, a barn dance and children’s activities.
- The Salina Community Theatre produces five main stage productions a year, two onstage shows and four “Theatre for Young People” productions. The theater’s production of “Wit” was judged the best show in the nation at the 2001 ACT Festival.
- Art a la Carte is a showcase for local, area and regional talent. Performers present free lunch-hour concerts during the spring and fall in downtown Salina.
- Great Plains Theatre Festival in Abilene is a regional professional theater that produces eight shows a season, including six main stage productions, a preseason show and a children’s show.
- Salina Municipal Band performs free concerts including marches, Broadway show tunes and classical overtures on Tuesday evenings from June through mid-August in Oakdale Park.
- Salina Chorale presents programs of classical and contemporary music in the fall and spring. It is open, by audition, to all singers.
- Salina Symphony is a volunteer orchestra that performs five concerts each season, from October through April. It plays its home dates in the Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts.
- A strong youth symphony program offers young musicians the opportunity to play with other talented youth under the direction of a professional conductor.
- The public library has about 220,000 items for circulation. It recently underwent an expansion and renovation and now features a coffee shop and expanded tech center. A large children’s library includes an area for puppet shows and storytelling.
-
The Salina Art Center features museum-quality exhibits, national art shows and local artist exhibitions. It also sponsors classes, workshops and the Art Center Cinema.
-
The Salina Art Center features museum-quality exhibits, national art shows and local artist exhibitions. It also sponsors classes, workshops and the Art Center Cinema.
- The Smoky Hill Museum has exhibitions of cultural and historical importance. The museum in 2006 finished an extensive renovation project to enhance the exhibit and education areas.
- The Yesteryear Museum showcases the areas agricultural industry with displays of antique machinery and restored historic buildings. The museum hosts the Bygone Days festival every April. Bygone Days includes arts, crafts and skills of the past, including loom weaving, butter churning, rope making, wood carving, spinning, wheat weaving, a candy store, 1800s steam engine, a petting zoo and more. The museum also has an antique engine show and tractor pull each October.