Gage Park Gained a Playground and Lost Its Carousel Until 2027. Here's How October Works There Now.

"Our target, I don't think it was a secret, we had signs up, we wanted to be open in the spring of this year, and now here we are in the fall," Shawnee County Parks and Recreation Director Tim Laurent said when the new Gage Park Playland opened on Sept. 24, as WIBW reported.

The playground came in about six months late, and the timing matters. It opened in the same season the historic carousel is closed for a full rebuild and the mini-train has gone to weekends only. Gage Park this October is a park in mid-construction. One voter-approved sales tax pays for both the new parts and the closed ones, so the month's best visits fall on a small number of dates.

The Playground Opened Before It Was Finished

Playland sits on the stretch of park between SW Zoo Parkway and Blaisdell Drive. The ribbon-cutting was held at 635 SW Gage Blvd., near the park's train depot. It replaced worn-out play structures. From first designs to the ribbon-cutting, the project took about two years.

The centerpiece is a 15-foot Sky Trail that spans the whole playground. "You've never seen any playground like this in Topeka before," said Ashley Gilfillan, the department's marketing and communications supervisor. The Sky Trail and the swings are both ADA-compliant. The play area also has a zip line, climbing structures and accessible ground-level equipment. Laurent said the company that installed the Sky Trail had never put one in a public park before. "So, normally they're on cruise ships or in amusement parks that you've got to pay to get to and to get on," he said. "It is free."

If you grew up in Topeka, the roller slides will look familiar. The park's old wooden slide was removed over safety and odor concerns. The new version uses two composite-and-metal roller slides.

"We had crews still working out today, so we're opening it as soon as we humanly possibly can for the public," Gilfillan said on opening day. A shelter was still unfinished at that point. The Capital-Journal reported that fencing still had to be finished too. Expect some active work areas on an October visit. Parks and Recreation has not posted a completion date for the shelter or set daily hours for Playland.

There is also no final price yet. The county plans to release it once the shelter is done. Two pieces are already on the record. The Sky Trail base contract was approved at $1.28 million in January 2025, and the tower footings were outside that contract. In April 2026, the county approved $114,573 for benches and picnic tables.

What's Closed This Fall Runs on the Same Money

The new playground and the closed attractions are part of one rebuilding program. Here is what is unavailable at Gage Park right now:

• Carousel in the Park: Closed for renovation and scheduled to reopen in summer 2027.
• Mini-train on weekdays: The train runs weekends only this fall. Its facility page warns that maintenance or construction may cause closures and lists no season end date.
• Blaisdell Family Aquatic Center: Its 2026 public season ran May 23 to Aug. 9.

The carousel closure is the big one. KBS Constructors started work in June 2026. On July 9, county commissioners capped the contract's guaranteed maximum price at $4,441,026, and the full project is estimated at just under $6.9 million. The finished building will include new mini-train tracks and a second mini-train depot. It will also hold space for park artifacts like the old Iron Horse mini-train, year-round restrooms, a room for parties and meetings, a ticket and concessions counter, and a visitor information desk.

Laurent said the second depot should be a highlight, because people parking in the nearby lot will be able to ride the train to the other depot. The carousel will sit in a climate-controlled building, and "all of those animals are gonna be shipped out, repainted, refurbished," he said, according to KSNT.

Both projects are paid for by the Gage Park Improvement Authority. Its countywide sales tax of 0.2% was approved by voters on Nov. 8, 2022. The tax is split four ways:

• 58% to the Topeka Zoo
• 22% to Parks and Recreation for Gage Park
• 15% to the Discovery Center
• 5% to the authority itself

"This is not any of your tax dollars that you would normally pay," Gilfillan said at the playground opening. "This all comes from the sales tax from GPIA."

The authority's 2025 report shows the scale. It took in $9.45 million that year and sent $2.263 million to Parks and Recreation. Measured against that 2025 share, the carousel project's estimated cost of just under $6.9 million equals about three years of Gage Park's portion of the tax. That helps explain why the work is happening in stages over several seasons.

The closure also affects a familiar ticket. Gage Park's punch pass costs $25 for 15 rides and works on either the mini-train or the carousel. Until summer 2027, it is good for the train only.

Two Saturdays Bring the Month Together

With the carousel closed and the train on weekends, much of the park's October lines up on Oct. 24 and Oct. 31. Both are Saturdays. On each, the mini-train, the zoo and Topeka Civic Theatre all have Halloween programs running at overlapping hours.

Boo at the Zoo is a costumed trick-or-treat event. The window from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. is the stretch when all three are running. Playland is a short walk from the mini-train depot, so on either Saturday a family could go from the train to the zoo to the playground without moving the car.

The Rest of October Runs on Shorter Hours

Project Halloween runs on more days than the two Saturdays, which helps if weekends are busy. Topeka Civic Theatre lists these times:

• Oct. 22, 6 to 8 p.m.
• Oct. 23, noon to 4 p.m.
• Oct. 25, noon to 4 p.m.
• Oct. 28 and 29, 6 to 8 p.m.
• Oct. 30, noon to 4 p.m.

The month starts with Gage Park Founders Fest & Topeka Zoo Celebration Day. The zoo's event page lists it as an all-day event on Saturday, Oct. 3, and says more program details are coming. Shawnee County Parks and Recreation's calendar lists an event with the same name on both Oct. 2 and Oct. 3. If you want to go Friday, check both pages first. The day before, Oct. 2, is the zoo's Love Your Zoo Giving Day. Later in the month, Preschool Zoo Time meets Oct. 30 in the Gary Clarke Education Classroom.

The gardens are a gentler stop. The Reinisch Rose Garden has a second bloom in early to mid-September, so the tail end may still be showing in early October. The Doran Rock Garden's main show is its tulips in early to mid-April. The April 1 to Oct. 31 hours on the gardens' page are for rentals, not public visiting hours.

One change near the park opens Thursday morning. Casey's seventh Topeka store, at 4020 SW Sixth Ave., is set to open at 6 a.m. Oct. 1. Regional director Jason Tallant described it as a stop for people visiting the park and the zoo.

After Halloween, the Calendar Moves to November

Once Boo at the Zoo ends on Oct. 31, the zoo's next big event is Topeka Zoo Lights. It runs Nov. 20 through Dec. 27, from 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Three Gage Park updates are still pending this winter: the Playland shelter finish date, Playland's final cost, and Playland's posted hours. A Capital-Journal report from 2024 also listed a Rose Garden renovation among planned uses of the sales tax, but no current scope or schedule has been published. The carousel is scheduled to reopen in summer 2027. Parks and Recreation has not published a separate timeline for the second mini-train depot.

Gage Park is one of the places I watch most closely in Shawnee County, because what changes there changes the weekend routine for so many Topeka families. If you have questions about how projects like the Playland or the carousel building are changing your part of town, or you just want to talk through what's happening around Gage Park, I'm always happy to hear from you. Let's Connect with Sandra Zepeda, in English or Spanish.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.