Mildale Farm, located at 35250 W. 199th St. Edgerton, KS, is a Johnson County Parks & Recreation event facility featuring 22 rolling acres adjoining 600 acres of future parkland. A huge equestrian-style barn serves as the main building and is surrounded by several smaller buildings. The barn is available for weddings, reunions, corporate retreats, etc. If you have reservations about holding a primary event of your life in a barn you needn’t worry. The barn has never been used to stable horses and is very nice.
Nine ponds scattered across the area are only open to public fishing on Community Day, which takes place once in the spring and again in the fall. Being as how the place is owned by Johnson County Parks & Rec. it seems odd to me that public fishing is only allowed twice a year. But what do I know? Maybe you can get married in the barn, grab your rod and fish a while, then go back into the barn for your divorce.
My friend Terry Robbins and I joined several other anglers Saturday, April 26th to sample the ponds. Fly fishing into a brisk breeze we caught and released a mixture of bass, bluegill and crappie. Maybe Parks & Rec. has a good reason for the catch-and-release regulations but it seems odd considering the light fishing pressure. Such restrictive regulations can only result in an overpopulation of stunted fish.