Fun Facts
Did you know . . . From the little known facts to the unique trivia, Overland Park is a city that will interest everybody.
Come and See the Beauty
Nearly 300 varieties of irises have been planted in the Iris Garden at the Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, located on 300 acres with four miles of trails and featuring nine gardens and water elements.
Soccer's the Game
At the new Overland Park Soccer Complex, the floating granite soccer ball and base weigh 12,230 pounds. The ball measures over 46 inches in diameter, but it takes less than 15 psi of water pressure to levitate it and it can be rotated with a simple push of the human hand.
Almost 1.2 million square feet of synthetic turf was installed at the Soccer Complex, which is enough to cover the average front yard of about 460 homes.
Oh My "Beeting" Heart
In addition to the typical rock salt, sand and calcium chloride the city uses the power of vegetables to clear streets. Overland Park's Public Works Department has treated several test roadways with rock salt and GeoMelt "M," a water-soluble liquid made from sugar beet molasses and magnesium chloride. You won't see the streets running red (the liquid is actually light brown), because GeoMelt "M" doesn't leave stains, washes off easily and is safer for the environment than calcium chloride. Cathy Wilson, a maintenance supervisor for Overland Park, stated "the benefits we hope to see as a result of using GeoMelt 'M' are that it is less corrosive and will help reduce our use of salt which benefits the environment and lowers costs."
Keeping it Green
An average of 25,000 recycled tires per field were used as the infill underneath the turf at the new Overland Park Soccer Complex.
Enough newspaper is collected at the drop-off recycling center to save nearly 200 trees per month.
What do you get for $1 million? Almost the entire annual electricity bill for the 13,832 city-owned and 2,349 leased KCPL streetlights in Overland Park.
