OVERLAND PARK, Kan — The city of Overland Park will be adding a new park to commemorate their German sister city relationship with Bietigheim-Bissingen (BB). The park will be located at 159th and Quivira. The city council is expected to vote on a final development plan in the next coming months.
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"You'll see things like potentially a water feature, a walking plaza, some trails," said Meg Ralph, spokesperson for Overland Park. "Those are experiences that you would also get if you were to visit BB, and they will have a little bit of a German-Bavarian style to them."
The relationship between both cities became official in 1999, but their relationship started earlier thanks to an exchange program involving Shawnee Mission South music.
"The SMS band went there, I believe in 1979 and then a relationship started between our band program and the music school," said Steve Adams, SMS band director.
Adams has been teaching at SMS for nearly four decades and has helped maintain the ongoing relationship between both schools. He says for more than 40 years students have gotten the opportunity to travel to each others schools and learn more about each others culture.
"There was a man in BB and a man here in Kansas City and they were deciding okay, how do we get this going? And they thought band because these are kids that will have the similarity of studying music," explained Adams, "There's people Bietigheim-Bissingen that their whole idea of the United States is Overland Park, Kansas, and we should be very proud of that and we absolutely should celebrate that."
As the Kansas City Chiefs get ready for their upcoming Germany game against the Miami Dolphins, Overland Park representatives are in Germany on their own terms to support their ongoing relationship, catch the big game and visit Bietigheim-Bissingen.
"We have regular communication with staff and elected officials in Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany, to learn what challenges they're facing, what opportunities they've got going and how they handle issues that come up because while there are obviously cultural differences to some extent, we're all kind of going through the same thing."
Construction for the park is predicted to take place next year, with the goal to be open by 2025.
"I think it's so appropriate because the town of Betigheim-Bissingen has opened their homes to so many of our students, it's changed a lot of lives and they recognize us for that in their community," said Adams, "sports and music are two things that we absolutely can join hands in."
