19 October 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT) — Workers began tearing down the Wild Horse Saloon today after a 21-year-run in the Capital City.
Jeff Edwards worked at the Wild Horse Saloon since 2006, when it went by the name of Electric Cowboy. He says it’s sad to see the bar going away because it was truly one of a kind.
“You can go from playing ‘Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)’ to ‘…Baby One More Time’ [by] Britney Spears, to ‘Shake It Off’ [by] Taylor Swift,” Edwards said. “Then you can go right into Bon Jovi or the Bee Gees. The energy in Topeka we had here was insane.”
In March, an employee told 27 News the south Topeka bar will close because the landlord the bar leases from refuses to fix the place up. Repairs to the property could have costed over $300,000.
Two months later, Julie Castaneda gave 27 News a tour after she bought Wild Horse Saloon. She laid out plans to repair the bar’s leaky roof, and the bar briefly reopened afterwards before closing its doors for good in August. Castaneda said she planned to reopen in the future at a new location. Details about a new location are unknown at this time.
Now, the parking lot for the Wild Horse Saloon will soon be home to a second Chick-Fil-A in Topeka, as well as a Whataburger, according to the Greater Topeka partnership.