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Best Kentucky Derby Party & Other Weekend Possibilities

A shot of Drasko's food truck. Drasko's is one of the food trucks that will be at the Kansas Food Truck Festival. (Jonathan Bender I Flatland)
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2 minute read

All the holidays collide this weekend. It all kicks off with May the 4th — the one day each year dedicated to all things “Star Wars.” HopCat (401 Westport Road) is encouraging folks to come dressed in costume and you can feel free to order a Solo Saison from Zipline Brewing. The Westport beer bar opens at 11 a.m.

Almost a year after a car crashed into Freshwater (3711 Southwest Trafficway), the Midtown restaurant has reopened. The crash in the early hours of a June morning left one passenger dead and the restaurant demolished. Chef and owner Calvin Davis has always maintained that Freshwater, which had only been in operation for three months, would return.

Freshwater is locally focused. The menu has ciabatta and spreads (chicken liver mousse, veal Milanese), as well as shareable plates (frog leg cakes, a pan-seared walleye). There is also a 10-course tasting, with an optional wine pairing, available.

Kansas City was a different place during Prohibition. Go back to that era with the Kansas City Public Library’s presentation of “Prohibition in Kansas City: Highballs, Spooners & Crooked Dice,” at 2 p.m. Sunday. Historian John Simonson wades into the world of gambling and drinking during the latest installment of the Missouri Valley Sunday series at the Central branch (14 W. 10th St.).

Tiny tacos and a tiny desk concert are on the menu at Bier Station (120 E. Gregory Blvd.) from 4 to 10 p.m. this Saturday. The NPR Music series which features stripped down, often acoustic sets, from emerging artists will highlight local acts like Soul Revival and Blue False Indigo. The Tiny Desk Concert: The Best of KC Show benefits KCUR.

The Brookside Art Annual (63rd and Brookside between Main and Wornall) runs Friday through Sunday. While ostensibly an art show, it’s also a chance to sample local fare from the Brookside neighborhood and grab a beer or cocktail.

All of the foods of the world come to you at The Kansas Food Truck Festival from 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday in the Warehouse Arts District of Lawrence, Kansas. Enjoy live music while working your way through a host of food trucks (Barbwire BBQ, Coney Island, JB’s Tacos, and Torched Goodness, among them) from around Lawrence. The event is a benefit for Just Food and the Douglas County Food Bank.

Discover the TowerEast District — a loose collection of makers and artists clustered just down the street from Kansas City PBS on 31st Street. Wanderfest is from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, and you can by soda by the Maker Village for J. Rieger & Co. cocktails, browse at the pop-up booths inside Cherry Pit Collective, take a garden tour or get native plants at the Longfellow Farm or snag lunch or an early dinner in Martini Corner.

Char Bar (4050 Pennsylvania Ave.) hosts its fourth annual Best Kentucky Derby Party from 2:30 to 7 p.m. Saturday. The event is a benefit for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City. There’s a best hat contest, rubber ducky race and a Derby menu with a fried green tomato grilled cheese and The Triple Crown sandwich, which comes with pulled pork, smoked ham and smoked bacon.

Follow @FlatlandKC on Twitter and Facebook for all your food news.

This was updated to reflect grammatical edits.

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