Boulevardia is leaving the Bottoms for Crown Center this June, and organizers believe the shift will make the annual Father’s Day weekend music and beer festival more accessible and convenient.
This will be the seventh year for the festival that began in the West Bottoms, and the move to Crown Center originally had been scheduled for last summer but then the pandemic got in the way.
“When we announced in 2020 we were going to Crown Center, the feedback was fantastic,” said Keli O’Neill of O’Neill Events & Marketing. “People welcomed the ease of parking, the hotels and the streetcar.”
O’Neill is very familiar with the Crown Center site, having organized the annual Irish Fest there for many years. The plan calls for Boulevardia to occupy similar territory including Washington Square Park.
It’s scheduled to be held June 17-18 and will include the iconic Ferris wheel, silent disco, Makers Market shopping experience and multiple stages of music, along with many new elements and experiences, according to a press release.

Boulevardia will be occupying the same Crown Center and Washington Square Park space as the popular Irish Fest. (Photo courtesy Irish Fest)
“We look forward to finally sharing our vision for the festival in its new location on Grand Boulevard and are eager to bring a fresh new flavor of Boulevardia to this venue,” Trever Frickey, Boulevardia president, said in a statement.
O’Neill said the Taps & Taste event, featuring brewers from around the country, will be held in the Sheraton Hotel event hall.
Boulevardia’s organizers are creating a music lineup that will showcase local, regional and national acts. Select restaurants and craft breweries to participate in the Taps & Tastes event, according to the release.

Tastes & Taps will be held this year at the Sheraton hotel event hall. (Image from Boulevardia)
“We’ve been looking forward to welcoming Boulevardia to Crown Center since 2020 and are excited to finally be able to bring the urban street festival downtown,” Stacey Paine, president of Crown Center, said in a statement.
O’Neill said Boulevardia’s reputation is well established and should easily make the uphill journey from its scruffy West Bottoms roots to the more sophisticated environs of Crown Center.
“We know now that Boulevardia has this identity that can take it places where it will work on all levels,” she said,
Discounted weekend passes can be purchased beginning today (Wednesday) as part of a 48-hour flash sale. All other tickets will go on sale in early 2022. Hotel packages for The Sheraton and The Westin hotels will also go on sale today.
Information about purchasing tickets can be found here.
Reading these stories is free, but telling them is not. Start your monthly gift now to support Flatland’s community-focused reporting.
Related Stories
Nick’s Picks | Messi, Jail, Buses, and More …
World Cup Team(s) Arrive It’s starting to feel real. The first World Cup team has landed in Kansas City. Defending champions Argentina touched down at KCI airport on Sunday and will begin practicing today at Sporting KC’s training facility in Wyandotte County. Much of the attention, of course, is focused on Lionel Messi. The soccer…
World Cup ‘Statement Piece’ Evokes Best Version of Kansas City
Before I moved to Kansas City almost 56 years ago, I had been here only once — for a brief visit to the Kansas City Press Club when I was attending the University of Missouri School of Journalism. But because of that visit and the fact that I grew up in the Midwest (Woodstock, Illinois,…
KU Center Helps Women Gain Foothold After Incarceration
A flier from her probation officer was the turning point for Jodi Whitt, who had spent more than two decades in and out of the criminal justice system. The piece of paper introduced Whitt to the Technology Education Program offered by the University of Kansas’ Center for Digital Inclusion. Since 2019, Whitt has risen through…


