About Overland Park Kansas
Overland Park, although thought of as a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, is the second most populous city in Kansas, with a population of over 150,000. Overland Park has consistently been named on the top ten of the top 100 Best Cities to live in the U.S. It’s also been ranked as one of the best places to raise a family. The Showtime series called The United States of Tara just happens to take place in Overland Park.
Overland Park is home to many large employers including Sprint Nextel Corporation, which employs over 18,000. Other employers here include YRC Worldwide, Embarq, Applebee’s, Black & Veatch Corporation, Blue Valley, Shawnee Mission, Spring Hill and the Olathe School District.
Overland Park has more attractions and fantastic places to visit and see than many cities much larger. Whether it’s excellent shopping, fine dining, sightseeing or soaking up cultural arts, you’ll find not just a little, but a lot of everything in Overland Park. It won’t take long to discover why it’s not only a great place to visit but a fabulously attractive place to live!

Oak Park Mall is one of the area’s largest and most upscale shopping districts in Overland Park. It consists of 1.5 million square feet of mall space and holds almost 200 stores. Oak Park Mall is known for having the largest sales per square foot of any shopping center in the country. Some of the popular stores that can be found in this huge mall are 2 Dillards, JC Penney’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Bachrach, Barnes & Noble, Buckle, Ann Taylor, Abercrombie, Abercrombie & Fitch, Aeropostale, American Eagle and many more.

You really can’t do all this shopping in so many stores without working up an appetite, which will not be a problem with the numerous dining choices in their food court. Outback Steakhouse, Chick-fil-A, Mimi’s Café, Panera Bread, Nordstrom Café, On the Border, T.G.I. Fridays and Salsa’s Mexican Grill are just a few of the fine dining choices you’ll have at the Oak Park Mall.

As we all know, you don’t have to be shopping to work up an appetite or just feel like going out to a good restaurant for a bite to eat. Overland Park offers a wide variety of restaurants. Here is a list of just a few of the many dining establishments you can experience while in Overland Park. It’s obvious that eating is something that people in Overland Park can really enjoy with over 100 different restaurants.

• Gaslight Grill offers jazz every night of the week as well as Traditional and American cuisine.
• J. Gilbert’s is the perfect choice if you’re in the mood for a great steak. Expect to get a large meal because everything in this place is big from the tables every item of food!
• Mandarinism is a Chinese restaurant that offers Mandarin cuisine with a traditional Chinese spin.
• Masalas Authentic Indian Diner is an elegant Italian restaurant that offers you a beautiful atmosphere, elaborate buffet and superb service.
• One Bite Japanese Grill is a unique restaurant that’s much more than just a sushi or teppen-yaki steak joint. The atmosphere is similar to a Japanese tavern where patrons come for a drink and a bite to eat so many portion sizes are available.
• Paradise India offers delicious Pakistani and Indian cuisine. Lunchtime will find an generous buffet set out for all to enjoy.
• BD’s Mongolian Barbeque is a very popular restaurant servicing Pan-Asian food in buffets. Customers can watch their food being cooked.
• Tannahs Asian Fusion offers Fusion and Chinese food.
• Bangkok Pavilion features Thai food.
• Birdies Pub and Grill is a brewery that’s perfect for a relaxing night with friends.
• Café Tempo features some very delicious contemporary food.
• Daily Dose is a great diner and coffeehouse.
• Cinzetti’s Italian Market Restaurant offers special Italian cuisine for breakfast, brunch, lunch or all day long.
• Danny’s Bar and Grill features and excellent selection of sandwiches, soups, breweries and more.
The Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens was designed with the purpose of making the city a leader in ecological and environmental issues. It’s a 300- acre cultural, recreational and educational resource for the entire Kansas City area. The grounds consist of botanical gardens with the largest majority dedicated to restoring and preserving the natural ecosystems. They offer photo contests, trails, tours, gardening and herb classes, bird walks, scavenger hunts, sculpture exhibits and more. You’ll also find almost five miles of hiking trails, both paved and wood chip.
The Metro Green Plan is a huge outdoor space consisting of 1,144 miles of private and public greenways, open spaces and trails. They link seven counties in the Kansas City Metro area. It’s an ideal spot to take care of all your biking and hiking needs.
Indian Creek Hike & Bike Trail offers about 10 miles of trails in Overland Park, along with a creek flowing through it.
The Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead is not a place you’ll want to miss if you’re traveling through Overland Park with children. If you live in the area, you’ll want this to be a regular for your family. This free attraction is located on 12 acres and has been listed on the top 10 tourist attractions in the Kansas City area. They have a fishing pond, hay rides, and over 200 animals, with almost every animal you can think of being there. You’ll find an excellent concession stand that offers chips, fruit snacks, sandwiches, hotdogs, juices, candy, ice cream and all the things your kids love to eat. Other things of interest you’ll find at Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead are horse-drawn wagon rides, an old country schoolhouse, nature trail, dairy barn, large garden, petting pen and large playground. They also have a pavilion that can be rented out for private events.

The Overland Convention Center is a large attraction and landmark in Overland Park as it has hosted around 400 events every year since it opened in 2002. It sits on a large 26-acre lot and includes a 60,000 square foot exhibition hall, 25,000 sq. feet ballroom, 15,000 sq. feet of meeting rooms and over 40,000 sq. feet of additional multi-functional space.