Bishops Open High Five Adventure Park

When Whitney Bishop and her husband first moved to Ulysses in 2019, they did not expect to stay. Both were from cities, and Whitney had never lived in a small town before. They initially came to Ulysses for a job, expecting the move to be temporary. Instead, they found a community they wanted to call home.

“When we first moved to Ulysses, we were kind of nervous about living in a small town because we were both from the city, and I had never lived in a small town before,” Bishop said. “But we found immediately that we loved our experiences. Originally, we came for a job, and it was going to be temporary. But we ended up liking it so much more and decided to stay.”

Now, Bishop and her husband are contributing something to their own community: High Five Adventure Park, which opened July 17.

The idea began with their own family. The Bishops have five children, and they enjoyed visiting places like adventure and trampoline parks when they traveled.

“We have five kids of our own,” Bishop said. “When we travel, we love going to places like this, just having a place where kids can burn off energy and meet up with their friends.”

For Bishop, such spaces offer a valuable place for children to be active, socialize, and get away from screens.

“They’re off screens, they’re active,” she said. “It’s something that we wanted for our own kids, so why not create it for everybody?”

Neither Bishop nor her husband came into the project with a background in running an adventure park.

“I think my husband and I were just active kids and wanted that lifestyle where it is now,” Bishop said. “But I don’t think there’s really anything besides that in our background. Nothing on our resumes that qualified us for something like this.”

The Bishops learned as they went, relying on mentors, other businesses, and members of the community for guidance.

“We definitely had to learn as we went, but the community has been really great,” Bishop said. “There have been a lot of helpful people in the field who have helped us get started.”

Although High Five Adventure Park opened in July, the Bishops began working toward opening the business approximately four and a half years ago.

“Because we had no clue what we were doing, I feel like it was a really big process,” Bishop said. “We learned a lot from the process.”

The original concept was a trampoline park. However, as the Bishops continued researching the project, they encountered insurance requirements and other changes that made the original plan more complicated. The business was eventually reworked and rebranded as an adventure park.

The physical location also changed along the way. Originally, the Bishops purchased a building kit with plans to construct a warehouse for the park. As they worked with the city and city inspectors, however, they discovered that using an existing building would be more practical. They worked with the local school district, which owned the current building, and had been using it for storage.

“They were so great and so easy to work with,” she said.

Getting the park ready involved coordination with the school district, city officials, architects, engineers, contractors, electricians and plumbers. The Bishops also worked with a company to design the park's interior. The colorful artwork throughout the facility was created by a Denver artist Bishop had followed on Instagram for years.

At one point during the planning process, the Bishops were encouraged to consider opening the business in Garden City, about an hour away, but they wanted High Five to be in Ulysses.

“It is unique to find something like this in a small town,” Bishop said.

For the Bishops, the decision was not just about where the business could make the most money. “It was about bringing something to our community,” Bishop said. “We didn’t want to drive an hour to go somewhere to enjoy with our family.”

The business has also created jobs locally. Many of High Five's employees are high school students.

“These are our neighbors and our friends, and we wanted them to benefit from it as well,” Bishop said.

Bishop said the park's indoor setting is one of its advantages in Southwest Kansas.

“There’s not a lot to do around here,” she said, pointing to other local options such as the Sports Center, the library and the swimming pool.

High Five offers something special: a place where children can be active regardless of the weather.

“If it’s raining, if there’s lightning, if it’s cold or windy, it doesn’t matter,” Bishop said. “There’s a place for kids to go.”

The park is primarily geared toward children between about 4 and 16 years old. Bishop wanted the environment to give children room to play without constant adult direction.

“We want kids to be safe, but outside of that, we don’t have a lot of people going around saying, ‘Hey, don’t do that, don’t do that,’” she said. “We’re just letting kids play and letting them do their thing.”

Safety was a major consideration from the beginning. Bishop said the family intentionally selected equipment that could allow children to play without requiring constant micromanagement.

Employees also monitor attractions that require additional attention. Bishop said the slide, one of the park's biggest attractions, can also be one of its more dangerous because of how quickly children can travel down it.

“We have somebody stationed there so that we can make sure [kids] don’t go on their stomach, head first, or things like that,” she said.

Having five children of their own was a major influence on the Bishops' vision for the park.

Their children range in age, giving the couple firsthand experience with the different ways children play, and the need for places where they can simply run around.

“When I had the twins, I had just turned 30,” Bishop said. “She wasn’t even in kindergarten yet; she was in preschool. I was like, ‘I need a place where they can go.’”

Now, her own children are among the park's frequent visitors. During the interview, her kids frequently came over from playing on the slide or jungle gym so say hi.

The family kept the finished park largely secret from their children during construction. Although their children knew their parents were building something, Whitney and her husband did not show them the plans or allow them to see the park taking shape.

When construction was finished, they finally showed them the result. “That was something that was just really fun, to see their reactions and to see what we had been working on,” Bishop said.

The first weekend after opening was “a whirlwind.”

Bishop’s parents and her husband's parents came to help with the children, the launch, and other tasks that came with opening a new business.

“It was really crazy. We were really busy,” she said. “We lived on concession foods for that first week,” Bishop said. “I think my kids will remember being like, ‘Remember when all we ate was pretzels and corn dogs for four days?’”

But, the hard work has paid off: even after being open just a month, High Five has hosted birthday parties and private events, and a school has reached out about potential field trips.

Bishop said the park is still in what she considers its launch period, with plans for additional community events in the future. For her, however, some of the most rewarding moments have been simple.

“I think I love just seeing the kids play,” Bishop said. “I love seeing the kids, their reactions and stuff, and seeing them playing so hard. It just feels so good.”

She enjoys seeing children meet up with friends, make new ones and become excited about having something like High Five in their own town.

During the first few weeks, Bishop worked at the front of the park and got to see children's reactions as they walked through the doors.

“It was so fun to see kids’ faces when they walk in and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh!’” she said. “I just think it’s so fun that we have this in our small town, and I love watching people be excited about that.”

For Bishop, High Five is ultimately about more than the attractions inside the building. She sees play as an important part of childhood and hopes the park can give families a place to spend time together while encouraging children to be active.

“We have Wi-Fi, so come get your work done, or come take a break and visit with friends while your kids play,” Bishop said. “Get them off the screen. Help them be active. I think instilling an active lifestyle for children is something that will carry them into adulthood and help them have better lives,” Bishop said.

After four and a half years of planning, learning, and adapting, Bishop and her husband have finally created the place they wanted for their own children, now offering it to the wider community.