Candlelight Concerts at the Kansas Aviation Museum

The story

Before it was a repository for local aviation artifacts, the 1935 terminal building on George Washington Boulevard was Wichita's actual municipal airport—a sleek Art Deco gateway through which early commercial flight passed. On most days, you tour it under standard museum lighting, reading display placards beside vintage airframes. But on select nights, the lights drop completely for a performance series that temporarily rewires how the space is used.

Fever's traveling Candlelight series routes string quartets into non-traditional venues across the country, and in Wichita, they set up inside the museum's historic terminal hall. Hundreds of glowing candles are arranged across the floor, encircling a live string ensemble. Instead of classical sonatas, the quartet tears through chamber arrangements of modern pop and rock catalogs—everything from Fleetwood Mac and Adele to Coldplay and Imagine Dragons.

The weird charm here comes entirely from the clash of contexts. You are listening to pop hooks translated into violin and cello parts while sitting inside an echoey, mid-century terminal surrounded by the dark silhouettes of historical aircraft. It turns an industrial history museum into a low-lit, quiet cavern for an hour.