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So THIS Happened...

So THIS Happened...

By: Jen Cole and Rachel Chappelle
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“So THIS Happened…” is the podcast version of catching up with your most unfiltered friend over wine. Each week, Jen and Rachel dive into personal mishaps, past memories, local happenings, weird habits, and whatever else pops up — including the occasional celebrity headline we just have to talk about. It’s casual, it’s chaotic, and it’s all real.

© 2026 So THIS Happened... Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Episode 65 : Kolsch & Quiet

    Episode 65 : Kolsch & Quiet
    22 Oct 2026

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    So THIS Happened, the Wichita podcast hosted by Jen Cole and Rachel Chappelle, packed up the mics and hit the road for Episode 65. Destination: Walnut River Brewing Company in El Dorado, Kansas, for an on-location conversation with part owner BJ Hunt.


    Pull up a stool. This one has a brothel upstairs, Hoveround races in a pink sombrero, 78 tiny beers, a bar fight on opening night, and the reason the water in El Dorado makes such good beer. Oh, and a T-shirt idea we're not letting go of.


    🍻 This or That: Brewery Edition — flights vs. full pints (and the night of 78 tiny taster glasses), seasonal vs. year-round, and why trivia beats live music at Walnut River (a music-licensing PSA every local business needs to hear). Plus a bonus round of everyone's top three concerts.


    🏠 From Living Room to Brewery — Walnut River opened in July 2013 in what was Rick's living room. BJ's first reaction to Rick's beer: "This doesn't suck." Early days meant 700 square feet behind a flea market, a $50 Craigslist bar top, and after-hours Hoveround races in a pink sombrero.


    🚪 If These Walls Could Talk — From 1923 until just after the war, the upstairs was Goldie's place, one of three brothels in El Dorado. Police let it stay open while they shut down illegal beer joints. Full circle. 🍺


    💧 Why El Dorado? The water. Rick studied 35 water quality reports, and the Flint Hills limestone makes it perfect for brewing. The Walnut River fills El Dorado Lake, which is where the name comes from.


    🏆 The Big Wins — Warbeard's first tap night at Lizard's Lounge (bar fight included), September 13 as Warbeard Day in El Dorado, the second-largest brewery in Kansas, and Warbeard ranked in the top 25 in the world.


    🔮 What's Next — a new building with event space, brewing for other breweries, and new beers next year including a cherry sour and Unicorn Poofs, a cotton candy sour 🦄


    📅 Catch Walnut River This Fall

    - Fri., Oct. 23: Brew Ha-Ha at Vaerus Aviation (Forbes Field), Topeka, benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Shawnee County

    - Sat., Nov. 7: Cody's Lagerfest at Central Standard Brewing's Funkatorium, Wichita, supporting mental health


    📍 Walnut River Brewing Company — 111 W. Locust, El Dorado, Kansas. Open Tuesday through Sunday. walnutriverbrewing.com

    Full transparency: Walnut River is the first official client of Backspace Media, Jen's marketing company.


    🥂 Thank you to our Sip Squad Sponsors: Vu Events (It had to be Vu!), Colour Thairapy and Backspace Media.

    🛍️ Merch: https://www.bonfire.com/store/so-this-happened-store/


    So THIS Happened is Wichita's podcast for real talk, local culture, and the occasional Taylor Swift spiral. Hosted by Jen Cole and Rachel Chappelle. New episodes drop weekly — find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.



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    1 hr and 17 min
  • Episode 64 : A Haunting Figure

    Episode 64 : A Haunting Figure
    15 Oct 2026
    Send us Fan MailA Haunting FigureSo THIS Happened, the Wichita podcast hosted by Jen Cole and Rachel Chappelle, is back at studio number one (Jen’s dining room table) for the first just-us episode in a while. With red wine in hand, the two catch up on a haunting night at Ballet Wichita’s Spirit Bride, a grand opening weekend at Urban Nails in Andover, a brand-new chapter of events for Jen, and Rachel’s house getting ready for her niece’s arrival.Plus: a Trend Decoder that finally stumps Rachel, and a Hits Different deep dive into Taylor Swift’s “willow” that turns out to be a little more red flag than witchy.🍷 BACK AT STUDIO NUMBER ONEAfter a month of Sip Squad Sessions and guest episodes around town, Jen and Rachel are back where it all started. Tonight’s red wine comes from a wine pull at the Holiday Galleria preview night with friend Hannah Crickman. And yes, they showed up wearing the same merch shirt. Totally unplanned.🔍 TREND DECODERJen picked two trends with intentionally tricky titles, and it worked.Trend #1: “Out & In My Control”Rachel’s guesses ranged from life-coach wisdom to the driver in front of her who brakes whenever they feel like it. The reveal: a flat lay with a cup of coffee labeled “in my control,” surrounded by everything that isn’t (agendas, dentist appointments, the kids’ schedules). Out of their control right now: schedules, gas prices, and Jen’s car. In their control: morning coffee. Rachel’s bedside coffee station remains the most lit thing Jen has ever seen. Coffee is the alarm clock.Trend #2: “Rock, Paper, Scissors”Rachel went through the Powerpuff Girls, boardroom mind games, and a rock, paper, scissors food relay she’s seen online (not a fan). The real trend: a service-business format where one hand is your service and the other is the DIY shortcut your customer is tempted to try instead, like a full color transformation vs. box dye at 11 p.m. Final score: two out of four. The streak is broken, and the seasons are changing.“As the guy on Project Runway says, ‘Make it work.’” — Rachel🩰 BALLET WICHITA’S SPIRIT BRIDEFriday night, Jen and Rachel had front-row seats for Ballet Wichita’s Spirit Bride at Newman University, a haunting spin on the classic Giselle. Neither knew the storyline going in, and both walked out in awe.Highlights: Día de los Muertos-inspired costumes, glow-in-the-dark floral headbands, an altar at the side of the stage, a cursed bracelet, and spirit brides who held completely blank faces the entire time. The ending mirrored the beginning, with the bride returning as a haunting figure over the man who won her heart. Bravo to the whole cast and crew, and to Hannah Crickman, who captured it all as the official photographer.The night wrapped with an after-the-curtain meetup at Goldfinch, almost exactly one year after Dracula first introduced the two to the Ballet Wichita family. Missed Spirit Bride? Don’t miss The Nutcracker this December.“I loved that she was at the end a haunting figure over him.” — Rachel🎃 GIVE HALLOWEEN A MINUTEA quick plea from Rachel to every store with a Christmas aisle already up: can we give Halloween a little more gumption? The hosts propose a Halloween Galleria. Junior League, call us.💅 URBAN NAILS GRAND OPENING WEEKENDJen was hired by Na of Urban Nails in Andover to handle event logistics, content creation, and social media for her grand opening weekend. After seven years of hard work and two beautiful salons, Na deserved a celebration, and Andover showed up.Friday: a ribbon cutting plus Maci of Bound 2 Brew with her cinnamon roll pumpkin coffee (a holiday in a cup). Saturday: tours, raffles, and a Coffee Daze pop-up with lavender matcha. Sunday: the big bash, with a bouquet bar, a mimosa bar, cookies by 145 Cookies, and an incredible traditional performance from All Saints Dragon and Lion Dancing.Rachel, her sister-in-law Kayla, and friend Shareika came out for the final day. The salon is stunning, spotless, and home to some seriously top-notch pedicure chairs. Rachel’s already booking her next appointment.💼 EVENTS ARE JEN’S LIFE NOWJen’s officially in her events era. She just launched her first event as Head of Fun and Fundraising with ICT SOS, she’s creating content for Vu Events through Backspace Media, and she’s handling social media for Walnut River Brewing Company. Her new coffee rotation: Coffee Daze, Larcher’s Market, and Greater Grounds near the ICT SOS office.And there’s even more wedding energy on the way: Jen’s bonus daughter, Josie, asked her to be mother of the bride. This weekend, Jen and her mother-in-law, Brenda, head to Oklahoma City for wedding dress shopping.“It’s a lot of work, but it’s so much fun. I am having the time of my life.” — Jen👶 NESTING SEASONRachel’s house is getting ready for her niece, who may be arriving sooner than expected. That means Goodwill runs, clearing out the office for family...
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    1 hr and 6 min
  • Episode 63 : Turn Your Burner Down

    Episode 63 : Turn Your Burner Down
    8 Oct 2026
    Send us Fan MailChef Audra Bell of NICHE, the National Institute for Culinary and Hospitality Education at WSU Tech, joins Jen Cole and Rachel Chappelle on So THIS Happened, the Wichita podcast for real talk and local culture. Her hands-on evening cooking classes in downtown Wichita are open to anyone. No application, no culinary background, nothing to prove.Recorded inside the brand-new WSU Tech Multimedia Studio, this episode covers the five French mother sauces, the knife mistakes Chef Audra spots in the first ten minutes of every class, and the one kitchen tip that would save most failed dinners: turn your burner down.🎲 THIS OR THAT: KITCHEN EDITIONFresh blood in the This or That chair! A few highlights:- Follow the recipe or wing it? Chef Audra: "Recipes are suggestions." (Baking is a different story.)- Sweet or savory? Savory all around. Chef Audra measures with her heart, Jen brought up buffalo sauce and Chiefs game-day chili, and Rachel would rather have a glass of wine for dessert.- Cooking for a crowd or for one? The chef feeds everyone, including the random teenagers at the door. Rachel champions girl dinner (pickled okra, goat cheese, Project Runway).- Cooking show binge or in-person class? Chef Audra can't watch without critiquing ("there's no way that cooked in 45 minutes"), but Nailed It gets a pass.🏛️ INSIDE NICHE: CULINARY SCHOOL BOOT CAMPNICHE lives in the historic Henry's building at 124 S. Broadway in downtown Wichita, with a student-run restaurant, a food hall and a coffee spot. The public classes run like a culinary school boot camp: you get an apron, tie your hair back, set up your station and learn the how and why behind every step, just like the full-time students do.Chef Audra also talked about "chaos management": staying calm when your skillet is literally on fire, and why the skills you learn in a kitchen carry over into the rest of your life. Plus, the husband-and-wife class that turned into marriage counseling. 😂🔥 CHEF AUDRA'S HOT TIP"Eight times out of 10, on the stovetop, a dish fails because their burner's too hot. Just turn it down."Your knob has 10 settings. Use them.🥄 THE FIVE MOTHER SAUCES, DEMYSTIFIEDMaster these five bases and you can make almost anything:- Béchamel: your white sauce, the start of mac and cheese and white gravy- Tomato: we all know this one- Espagnole: not tomato! A rich brown sauce, think brown gravy- Hollandaise: egg tempering and all the butter- Velouté: "a white sauce and a brown sauce had a baby" (another chef would kill her for saying that)If you only learn one, make it béchamel. Biscuits and gravy, mac and cheese, lasagna: "there's 100,000 different ways you can spin it." The class dish that surprises people most is the humble vinaigrette. Four pantry ingredients, impossible to mess up, and "champagne vinaigrette" sounds very fancy. 🥂🔪 KNIFE SKILLS: JUST ENOUGH CONFIDENCE TO BE DANGEROUSThe first thing Chef Audra notices in any class is how people hold a knife. Grip it with your knuckles wrapped and your thumb in the groove, no finger on top of the blade, and definitely no choking up on it like a bat. (Yes, there's a red Sharpie involved.)Her advice if you only take one class this fall: start with Knife Skills. "That's half the reason people won't cook." Once you know how to hold a knife and which one to use, cooking stops feeling intimidating. And you still cook and eat a full dish in class.👩‍🍳 OPEN TO ANYONE. SERIOUSLY.Chef Audra has taught 12-year-olds alongside their parents and an 80-something guest who was "chopping circles around everybody." Skill levels get paired up, from home cooks to people who "use their oven to store sweaters."The twist: no recipes during class. Everything is prepped mise en place style, the whole room cooks at the same pace by sight, smell and sound, and you get the recipes at the end to take home.📅 UPCOMING CLASSES AT NICHEThursdays, 6:30–8:30 PM | 124 S. Broadway, downtown Wichita- Knife Skills ($80): Thursday, October 15 and Thursday, November 19- Culinary Foundations: Kitchen Mastery & Modern Sauces ($85): Thursday, November 5Register at gettrained.wsutech.edu. No application, just pick a date.Seasonal classes run through December, with pies, French pastry and a holiday beef Wellington.👯 PLANNING A GROUP NIGHT?NICHE also builds custom classes for girls' nights, date nights, coworker outings or a houseful of visiting family, from chicken fingers and mac and cheese all the way to beef Wellington and duchess potatoes. Reach out to NICHE with your dates, ideas and budget, and they'll build a class around your group.⏱️ CHAPTERS00:00 Welcome to the ShockStarter studio + sponsors02:00 This or That: Kitchen Edition13:50 Walking into NICHE16:30 Chaos management in a teaching kitchen19:20 The marriage counseling cooking class21:00 Why Chef Audra teaches22:00 Hot tip: turn your burner down23:15 What she notices in the first 10 minutes25:15 The five mother sauces27:20 Why ...
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    51 min
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