Courtesy: Epic Family Fun Center

My scorecard and I have long thought the “mini” in minigolf has been a misnomer. (You’re telling me you’ve never taken a score of 12 strokes and three stitches on the windmill hole?) Regardless, the idea of putt-putt golf in Lawrence is one that has long intrigued but has been elusive. A local business, though, is now testing the market.

Epic Family Fun Center in the Malls Shopping Center at 23rd and Louisiana has added indoor minigolf to its offerings. I should caution you, though; it is a bit rudimentary. The only open clown’s mouth will be that of your playing partner, and I felt mildly ridiculous with my eye patch and parrot because there is no pirates’ cove either. Instead, the course is a portable one like you would find at school carnivals and other such functions.

But the course does have a full 18 holes, and it allows you to test your putting skills.

“It is a lot more difficult than it looks,” said Travis Jacobsen, an owner of the fun center.

Courtesy: Epic Family Fun Center

Perhaps just as importantly, it is allowing the owners of Epic to test the market’s appetite for minigolf.

“We did have minigolf in in our initial plans, but then we decided we didn’t have the funding to do it right away,” Jacobsen said.

He said Epic recently looked at building a full-scale miniature golf course on a vacant lot next to their building in the The Malls Shopping Center. But he said he quickly learned that the city was going to require some zoning changes for the shopping center, and it appeared that was going to make the project more complex than what Epic was looking to undertake.

Instead, the company decided to go with the temporary indoor course. The course is located in a party room area of the business, which means that the course is only open Monday through Thursday. The party rooms are still used for birthday parties and such Friday through Sunday.

Rates are $4.25 for adults, $3.50 for kids 5 through 12, and $2 for kids 4 and under.

Jacobsen said that depending on demand, the company may revive ideas of building a full scale miniature golf course. Jacobsen said the company envisions an expansion of the fun center business in the next few years, and he said that would be a time when the addition of minigolf could be undertaken.

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City officials have approved multiple “works of art” to be permanently installed on the new Qdoba building at 1714 W. 23rd St. One side the building will have three art panels — two 55 square-foot panels and one 110 square-foot panel — while both the east and west walls of the building will have an approximately 80 square-foot panel. In addition, there will be a sixth piece of art that won’t really be an art panel, but rather will be a large graphic applied to the inside of one of the windows. Some of the art will be visible from 23rd Street, but I think most of it is designed to be seen by people using the store’s drive-thru.

What will the art be of? Perhaps that super large burrito you dream about? Or perhaps they could just hang up my white shirt after I tackle a meal that involves both green and red chili sauce. It kind of looks like modern art.

No, the plans don’t call for that. I’ll do my best to describe the art, and then you can look at renderings below to see how well I did. One large window piece involves a portrait of what looks like a mean cat, and a man who is perhaps defending himself by throwing his hip at the cat. Another panel involves three hands with palms facing out, a mermaid and other imagery. The others, well, just look for yourself. There’s a reason why they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

UPDATE: I am hearing some word from people knowledgeable about the project that the Qdoba likely will open by October.

Courtesy: City of Lawrence

Courtesy: City of Lawrence