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Public Services

Police and Fire

The Salina Police Department helps make our community a great place to live and raise a family. In working to keep Salina safe, the department's 104 full-time employees adhere to nationally recognized police standards and coordinate activities with other law enforcement agencies and with the criminal justice system. The department maintains high visibility and frequent contact with the public.

Salina's Fire Department shares responsibility with the Police for protecting lives and property. The department's 92 full-time employees provide rescue and fire suppression services citywide and in select areas of the surrounding counties. They also run the Emergency Medical Services Division on a countywide basis to provide both non-emergency and emergency paramedic care.

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Educational Opportunities in Salina

The Salina School District is the eighth largest district in Kansas with an enrollment of more than 7,000 students. The district employs 750 certified staff members who hold teaching or administrative certificates. Nearly 44% of our teachers have earned their master's degrees, and 57% have 10 or more years of teaching experience. With few exceptions, all of our teachers are teaching in their major areas of certification.

The district is committed to the vision of "Learning for All, Whatever it Takes." A creative, caring and highly qualified staff, guided by the district's comprehensive kindergarten-through-grade-12 curriculum, ensures that students of all abilities have the opportunity to achieve and succeed. Involvement of parents and community members is encouraged through advisory Site Councils, PTAs, PTOs and volunteer opportunities at every school. Creating The Future, a process of engaging the community in long-range planning, has involved hundreds of citizens in establishing priorities and working toward goals.

  • The district includes: 8 elementary schools: Meadowlark Ridge, Coronado, Cottonwood, Grace E. Stewart, Sunset, Oakdale, Huesner & Schilling
  • 2 middle schools: Lakewood & Salina South
  • 2 high schools: Salina Central & Salina South
  • Salina Area Technical School, providing vocational and technical education for secondary and post-secondary students and work-skills training and continuing education opportunities for adults.
  • Central Kansas Cooperative in Education: CKCIE is a special education cooperative of 12 school districts providing special education support services to public schools.
  • Heartland Head Start: This multi-county program serves preschool students and their parents and partners with other social service agencies to provide support for these young families.
  • Salina Adult Education Center: This program provides adult basic education, English as a second language support and GED preparation for people 16 or older and out of school.

Salina Public Schools offer excellence in academics as well as a broad range of extracurricular opportunities. Between them, Salina's two public high schools own 4 of the 6 state championship football trophies awarded from 2000 through 2005. Salina schools offer a broad range of arts opportunities, including vocal and instrumental music (band and orchestra), drama and visual arts.

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Salina Local Government

Salina has had a Commission-City Manager form of government since 1921. The Commission consists of five Salina residents elected at large. Each year, the Commission chooses one member to act as Mayor. The City Commission appoints the City Manager who acts as its chief executive and primary agent, in accordance with State law. The City Manager appoints all city staff, currently numbering about 450 full-time employees.

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Places to visit in Salina

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 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.
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Shopping, Entertaining and Dining

Shop 'Til You Drop

Salina is a regional hub for shopping. With approximately 175 retail stores, shoppers can locate anything from clothing to cars, hardware to home furnishings, and groceries to gardening supplies. The downtown shopping district offers a range of restaurants, with retail and antique stores. South Salina offers department stores, discount stores, independent retailers and restaurants.

Restaurants

Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar
Carlos O'Kelly's
Chili's Grill and Bar
International House of Pancakes
Martinelli's Little Italy
Papa John's Pizza
Red Lobster
Quizno's
Wood Fashion Cafe
And many more

Entertainment

Dickinson Theaters
Jumpin' Joe's Family Fun Center
Rolling Hills Zoo
Salina Community Theater
Starlite Roller Skating Rink
Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts
And much more

Shopping

Dillard's Department Stores
Hobby Lobby
JC Penney
Kohls
Lowes
Old Navy
Sears
Target
Wal-Mart Supercenter
Walgreens
And 170 others

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The Arts

  • Salina Theatre for Young People (STYP) offers classes for youth from preschool to high school. Special production opportunities are available for youngsters grades 4-13. STYP is a part of the Salina Community Theatre.
  • The Salina Art Center offers classes for young artist throughout the year. In the summer months, the Art Center provides week-long art classes for children from kindergarten through high school. A special art exploration area is open year-round for young people to explore art through hands-on activities.
  • The Salina Youth Symphony offers an exciting opportunity for area youth to participate in a professionally directed youth orchestra composed of students who are dedicated to making fine music. The Salina Youth Symphony offers the following ensembles:
    • Youth Symphony (9-12th grade) – Advanced full orchestra performing the highest quality of literature written for full
    • Junior Youth Symphony (6-8th grade) – An honor string orchestra for middle school students.
    • Wind Symphony (6-9th grade) – An advanced wind orchestra performing challenging and advanced literature written for winds. The winds will combine with Junior Youth Symphony to perform full orchestra literature in concert.
  • A number of private dance studios in Salina offer youth of all ages access to professional dance instruction.
  • Salina Children's Choir performs a number of concerts throughout the community in a variety of venues.

The City is a 14,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art entertainment facility serving students in middle and high school. (Middle school on Friday nights, high school on Saturday nights.) With a capacity of 550 students, The City offers a variety of entertainment options, including music and dancing, live bands, indoor basketball, computer, video and arcade games, food, billiards and special events.

Summer stage is a 4-week production camp for students in grades 4-8. Students study music, drama, stage etiquette and produce a full musical for the public at the Salina Community Theatre. Stage II is a production for high school and college freshmen. These students perform a musical in late summer, also at the Salina Community Theatre.

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Family Entertainment

Salina offers a wide array of activities and cultural options for all ages.

The Salina Art Center
Smoky Hill Museum
Salina Art Center Theatre
Salina Community Theatre
The Stiefel Center for the Performing Arts
10 commercial movie theaters
3 private golf courses
Salina Family YMCA
Salina Senior Center
Rolling Hills Zoo
Smoky Hill River Festival

Salinans can also find things to do at the facilities run by Salina

Parks and Recreation
Multi-use Neighborhood Centers
The Lakewood Discovery Center
Lakewood Nature Area
3 ball field complexes
Dean Evans Stadium
17 baseball diamonds
Soccer fields
Gymnastics Center
Kenwood Municipal Swimming Pool

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Salina's Charitable Organizations

Ashby House
150 S. 8th St. (785) 826-4935

Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Salina, Inc.
227 N. Santa Fe Ave. (785) 825-5509

Catholic Family Life Office
425 W. Iron Ave. (785) 827-5135

Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas
PO Box 1854 (785) 827-5862

Disability Planning Organization of Kansas
1710 W. Schilling Rd. (785) 823-3173

Food Bank
255 S. Chicago St. (785) 827-7111

Habitat for Humanity
1425 Sherwood Ln. (785) 823-9331

Independent Options for You by Bethphage
1318 S. Santa Fe Ave. (785) 493-8114

Kansas Children's Service League
PO Box 2123 (785) 825-2677

Narcotics Anonymous Hotline
139 N. Santa Fe Ave. (785) 823-1988

Occupational Center of Central Kansas, Inc.
1710 W. Schilling Rd. (785) 827-9383

Retired Senior Volunteer Program
239 N. Santa Fe Ave. (785) 823-3128

Saline County Association for Retarded Citizens
2206 Shalimar Dr. (785) 826-9766

Volunteer Connection
239 N. Santa Fe Ave. (785) 823-3128

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Salina's Community Organizations

American Red Cross
(785) 826-3424

Emergency Aid Food Bank
(785) 827-7111

Greater Salina Community Foundation
(785) 823-1800

Habitat for Humanity
(785) 823-9331

Heartland Programs
(785) 823-6331

Salina Area United Way
(785) 827-1312

Salina / Saline County Health Department
(785) 826-6600

Salina Regional Health Foundation
(785) 452-6088

Special Olympics of Salina
(785) 826-9766

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Salina's Churches and Religious Organizations

Adventist
African Methodist Episcopal
Assemblies of God
Baptist
Baptist-American
Baptist-Bible Fellowship
Baptist-Free Will
Baptist-Fundemental
Baptist-Southern
Bible
Brethren in Christ
Catholic
Christian
Christian-Disciples of Christ
Christian-Science
Church of Christ
Church of God
Church of God in Christ
Episcopal
Evangelical Covenant
Foursquare Gospel
Free Methodist
Independent-Fundamental
Jehovah's Witness
Lutheran
Mennonite
Methodist
Mormon
Nazarene
Non-Denominational
Orthodox
Pentecostal-United
Presbyterian
The Salvation Army
Unitarian
Unity
Wesleyan

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