Another fast-food chicken restaurant sets its sights on Lawrence; basketball court promise broken at Rock Chalk Park

Keep your eyes open and your wet wipes handy. There’s rumblings of yet another fast-food chicken chain coming to Lawrence. I’m hearing that the chain Slim Chickens is close to signing a deal to locate in west Lawrence.

I hear the restaurant hopes to locate in the former spot of — wait for it — Kentucky Fried Chicken near Sixth and Wakarusa. If you think it is odd that one chicken restaurant is replacing another, don’t worry. Slim’s is not from Kentucky — it is from Arkansas — and it doesn’t have a hat-wearing colonel either. Instead, its logo appears to have a fedora-wearing bear that I think is holding a guitar. I’ll investigate that more, if the company indeed comes to town. It is important to note that I haven’t received any official word from the company yet, so we’ll have to wait and see if the deal gets finalized.

But there seems to be magic in the air in Lawrence when it comes to completing chicken deals. In case you have forgotten, here’s a list of some of the recent developments: a new Buffalo Wild Wings, now open on south Iowa Street; a Chick-fil-A, now open on south Iowa; a Popeyes, now open on south Iowa; a Wing Stop, now open at 23rd and Louisiana; a Raising Cane’s, now open on south Iowa; and a Zaxby’s that has received approval to build at Bauer Farms near Sixth and Wakarusa.

I had reported earlier that the sandwich chain Schlotzsky’s was considering the former KFC location, along with others, to make a return to Lawrence. I’ll have to check with the Schlotzsky’s folks to find out their latest plans for Lawrence, but I don’t think this derails them. The Scholotzsky’s official I talked with told me they were facing competition for the Sixth and Wakarusa space, and thus were looking at other Lawrence locations too.

As for Slim Chickens, its website indicates it specializes in chicken tenders and chicken wings. And, in what has become a trend — one that I am almost certain is being fueled by the Dry Cleaners Association of America — the restaurant features lots of dipping sauces that easily can stain a tie, a shirt, socks and numerous other pieces of a wardrobe. The menu lists standard offerings such as ranch, barbecue, honey mustard, blue cheese and sweet-and-sour sauces. But it also has some slightly more original ones, such as cayenne ranch, mango habanero and something called Slim’s sauce. In addition, it also has what I’ve always considered to be the original and ultimate sauce — gravy.

Other menu items include a couple of salads, chicken and waffles, chicken wraps, about nine different flavors of chicken wings and side dishes that include your traditional potato salad, cole slaw and French fries, but also feature dishes such as fried pickles and fried okra. The dessert menu includes fried pie and something called “jar dessert,” which appears to be cake, fruit and other sweet items served with whipped cream in a jar.

The company got its start in Fayetteville, Ark., in 2003. For the first several years the company was confined primarily to Arkansas, but in 2008 it started opening in other states. By 2014, the company had hired a franchising director and set a goal of having 600 restaurants by 2025, according to the news website Fayetteville Flyer.

The chain now has restaurants in Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. The closest location to Lawrence is a store at 9001 W. 135th St. in Overland Park.

As I noted before, the deal for the Lawrence location still has to be finalized. I’ll keep an ear open and let you know when I hear more.

In other news and notes from around town:

• There were lots of folks in town for basketball this past weekend. As we reported, the Hardwood Classic has moved its tournament from Overland Park to Sports Pavilion Lawrence at Rock Chalk Park. The event attracted about 300 youth basketball teams and an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 people in total for multiple days.

That no doubt made hotels, restaurants, gas stations and other such businesses happy. But the tournament may have created a little heartburn for some. I’ve been copied on some email exchanges between some city officials and a resident who is expressing displeasure that all eight of the basketball courts at Sports Pavilion Lawrence were closed to the public as part of the tournament.

That may not seem like a big deal to everybody, but folks who followed the controversial Rock Chalk Park approval process through City Hall understand. During the course of the project — which involved about $22 million in city funds for the recreation center and related infrastructure — city officials made a big deal about promising that one of the eight basketball courts in the facility always would be open to the public for free-play use. Commissioners and staff members made a point to say that promise included during busy tournament times.

The promise was made because there were members of the public who said they were concerned Sports Pavilion Lawrence eventually would only serve tournament organizers and would not function as a community recreation center. City officials responded that they were crystal clear that Lawrence residents are paying the bulk of the bill for the center, so it always will be open to Lawrence residents.

At the time, I remember thinking it seemed like a promise that could be tough to keep. Sports Pavilion Lawrence always was built with a dual purpose: serving the recreation center needs of Lawrence residents and acting as a magnet for visitor spending by attracting large youth tournaments. It was easy to predict that tournament organizers were going to ask to use all eight courts of the facility.

Indeed, it didn’t take long for that to happen. In June 2015, city commissioners were presented with a request from Parks and Recreation staff to let a tournament organizer use all eight courts at the facility. They were told it would help tremendously with scheduling and would be a good gesture for the city to show how valuable these tournaments are to the city’s economy. Commissioners, though, held their ground and unanimously voted to deny the request. One court was left open for use by the general public.

But that is not what happened with this large tournament this past weekend. What changed? The biggest thing, it seems, is that commissioners weren’t asked this time. According to the email exchange I was copied on, staff members stated the decision to close the one court to public use was an administrative decision and was done, in part, because of the large number of teams and the economic impact the tournament has on the city. This is the first year Lawrence has landed this particular tournament, and it is trying to make a positive first impression in hopes of keeping the tourney in Lawrence.

My sense from the emails is that relatively new City Manager Tom Markus wasn’t aware of the promise that was made to always keep one court open. But other staff members certainly were aware of it. Given that the city commission has denied the one previous request to deviate from the policy, it seems odd this request wasn’t brought before the commission.

I’m guessing that other such requests in the future will be. A larger question, though, is whether the promise made by city commissioners to keep one court open is worth keeping? Staff members noted there were other options in town for people to play basketball on a city-owned court. The city had courts available at various times at the Community Building, the East Lawrence Center and at Holcom Park Recreation Center. The walking track and fitness center at Sports Pavilion Lawrence also were open to the public throughout the tournament.

I suspect staff members are being sincere when they say that it would help Lawrence attract more tournaments if organizers could be guaranteed use of all eight courts. Lawrence needs for Rock Chalk Park to be a magnet for visitor dollars, especially since plans to develop a large retail area around the park have thus far fizzled. The city spent too much money on the project for it to be just a recreation center.

I also suspect, though, that there is still a significant number of people in Lawrence who remember the promise that was made, and still aren’t happy with the manner in which past city officials pushed the Rock Chalk Park project through the approval process. The Rock Chalk Park project, more than anything else, led to a house cleaning on the City Commission, and officials said it helped them understand trust needed to be rebuilt between City Hall and residents.

That leads to a few questions. Do significant numbers of Lawrence residents still care about the basketball court promise? Would breaking it erode some trust? Can Lawrence residents and their high-cholesterol chicken diets survive a game of pickup basketball?

I know I’m personally not sure of the answer to some of those questions. We’ll have to wait and see what happens when the next big tournament comes to town. Perhaps we’ll have to tell them we can’t promise them a court, but we can give them all the chicken they care to eat.

• A couple of housekeeping matters. First, let me apologize to anybody who showed up at the Journal-World’s booth at the Downtown Lawrence sidewalk sale hoping to talk to me. We advertised it as an opportunity to ask me some questions and give me your feedback. I was there for a couple of minutes, but I had a minor medical emergency that required me to go the hospital for a bit. I’m feeling better now, but missed out on the sidewalk sale. I’m confident I’ll be out at some other events in the near future. And the other positive is that even though I racked up a bill of a few thousand dollars at the emergency room, I still saved money because I didn’t have the chance to buy all my normal street food at the sidewalk sale.

Also, Town Talk this week will have a bit of a sporadic schedule. It is Douglas County Fair week, which of course means that I again am “helping” my kids with their 4-H hogs. This is usually the time of year that I begin to believe we should have fewer chicken restaurants in Lawrence and more pork joints. But look for Town Talk to return to its normal daily schedule next week.