photo by: Henry Greenstein/Journal-World

The Wagon Wheel, 507 W. 14th St., is pictured on Wednesday, May 27, 2026.

A center of activity for much of the school year, The Wagon Wheel tends to get rather quiet when graduation passes and the students leave town.

The 71-year-old Lawrence institution at 507 W. 14th St. used to be open on Fridays and Saturdays in off months, but it has in recent years closed for the summer, shutting its doors to everything but a handful of private parties, dinners and the like, its proprietor Rob Farha said.

“I usually do three or four events,” said the man known as “Knobbie.” “I’ll be honest, I don’t want to work that much. It’s my 29th year of doing it.”

Farha had contemplated, but was somewhat wary of, opening up in some form at some point for the FIFA World Cup this summer, but had his doubts it would be worthwhile. As it turned out, something else completely different forced his hand: the first regional in the history of the surging and increasingly popular Kansas baseball program.

As a result, after a trip to the Ozarks over Memorial Day, Farha swung into action to get the bar ready for an aberrant post-semester weekend — “the first major event,” he said, in the realm of summer reopenings — during which it will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as KU, Arkansas, Missouri State and Northeastern do battle all the while in NCAA regional competition at Hoglund Ballpark.

“I run out of product and everything,” he said of his establishment’s annual closure. “So once this got announced, I’ve been scrambling.”

Of course, it didn’t come as a total surprise to him by any means. Farha, who as he noted has owned the Wheel since 1997, is also a multi-decade supporter of KU baseball and season-ticket holder who had been close with former manager Ritch Price and outdoor baseball facility namesake Rich Jantz, both Wheel customers.

“It’s the one sport I’ve loved — I took my son, those midweek games on Tuesday or Wednesday, when he was a little kid, chasing foul balls and stuff,” Farha recalled.

That son now operates an Instagram account for the Wheel that heavily promotes both KU baseball games and the associated specials at the bar itself. Farha said the team’s success in recent years — the 2025 season that galvanized fans with a hot start and an NCAA berth, and the 2026 campaign that yielded a pair of Big 12 trophies — has given the Wheel “a little boost.”

“Depending on the series and what’s going on with those frat guys, I do some pregame promotions, some beer specials, so they won’t have to pay as much at the stadium,” Farha said. “It brought some extra business. There were some diehards that would come over before they went over to the games.”

For regional weekend, Farha is expecting to entertain not just KU diehards but traveling fans from Arkansas and Missouri State, because when visitors search for things to do in Lawrence, “I’m proud to say the Wheel usually pops up pretty quickly.”

His post-Ozarks scramble included trying to assemble staff. Between Lawrence locals and recent graduates he had to “beg” to work some more shifts, he managed to swing it, although he did add, “If it’s just me by myself, I’ll do it.”

The bar will open for lunch on Friday — at 10 a.m., an hour earlier than usual, due to the 12 p.m. first pitch for KU’s opener against Northeastern. He’ll have lunch again on Saturday, potentially with a pizza buffet instead of burgers, and then perhaps not at all on Sunday.

“I don’t like to keep any food there over the summer, but I’ve got a truck coming tomorrow,” he said on Wednesday.

The weekend as a whole, he said, is “a big unknown.” Now, how long will the Jayhawks be able to keep the Wheel open?

KU coach Dan Fitzgerald has been known to talk about how much his team enjoys competing and relishes the process of going through the season. From Farha’s perspective as an outside observer, he credited the team’s success to something similar.

“Those guys are loose and happy and having fun,” Farha said. “I know those are cliches and you hear Fitz say it all the time, but they’re just having fun. They legitimately all like each other.”

He said his son has gotten to know KU left fielder Brady Ballinger, a veteran team leader, and “that kid is just happy all the time.”

The big question for Farha and the Wheel is whether that attitude will get KU through to the super regional round. And in the unlikely event that someone knocks off No. 2 overall seed Georgia Tech in its own regional, while KU also emerges unscathed from Lawrence, Farha said he will “most definitely” keep the bar open for another unprecedented summer weekend.