Arts & Entertainment
Provocative New Vietnam War Exhibit at WW I Museum Through July
(Editor’s note: The Vietnam War exhibit run at the WWI Museum has been extended to July 26 because of the museum’s temporary closure due to Covid-19 health restrictions) By Kevin Collison An unvarnished account of the Vietnam War, from the Cold War domino theory that hooked the U.S. in the 1950s, to a baby sweater…
Madison Flitch Brings ‘Tree to Table’ Style to Crossroads
By Kevin Collison John Pryor has returned to his native Kansas City from Boston to contribute to downtown’s revival, crafting and selling unique furniture harvested from local trees in a new shop in the East Crossroads. “It’s a tree to table model,” he said, riffing off the ‘farm to table’ restaurant trend. “We work with tree…
Genghis Khan Invades Union Station
By Kevin Collison Genghis Khan, the 13th Century Mongol leader who became one of the greatest and most feared conquerors in world history, has invaded Union Station with an exhibition of his life and legacy that will run through April 26. The exhibition features 300 objects ranging from a wagon-size crossbow and catapult used to…
Big Halloween Weekend at Union Station Includes Spooky Attic
By Kevin Collison Union Station is scaring up so new business this Halloween season by opening its unused attic space as a haunted house attraction. The 14,000 square-foot labyrinth of macabre displays, spooky sounds and a couple dozen actors out to frighten visitors is simply called “The Attic.” Union Station also will be hosting “Spookfest:…
A Year Later, No Sign of Hy-Vee Arena
By Kevin Collison A year after the Hy-Vee Arena amateur sports center opened in the West Bottoms following a $39 million redevelopment, it’s still invisible when it comes to downtown highway signage. Signs continue to refer to Kemper Arena, which essentially went dark with the opening of the Sprint Center in 2007, and that seriously…
New Playground Opens at West Terrace Park
By Kevin Collison Downtown boosters like to say it’s becoming a place where people can live, work and play, and last week a couple hundred kids from Crossroads Academy embraced that concept with joy at the opening of a new playground at West Terrace Park. While the 45-degree temps and wind made for a chilly…
‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ Winding Down Run at The Arts Asylum
By Kevin Collison The Arts Asylum production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” has two weekends left in its current run and backers say the show’s first fully-staged Kansas City production in a generation has been well received. “It’s one of the larger productions in terms of cast and performances and we’ve been working on it for…
First Friday Hopes to Create New Tradition with Alley Art
By Kevin Collison After hitting the reset button last month, this week’s First Friday in the Crossroads is returning art vendors to the mix in what organizers hope will become a new tradition. “We’re going to have all the art vendors in some of our cool alleyways,” said Jeff Owens, president of the Crossroads Community…
Troostapalooza Street Fair Celebrates Unity and Creativity on Troost
By Kevin Collison The second annual Troostapalooza, a street festival celebrating “makers” of all kinds and encouraging community spirit along Kansas City’s historic racial divide, is happening tomorrow (Saturday) at 30th and Troost from noon until 7 p.m. The event is a benefit for the Troost Market Collective, an organization aimed at promoting artists, crafts…
‘Lest We Forget’ Holocaust Exhibit Now at World War I Museum
By Kevin Collison “Lest We Forget,” a traveling Holocaust exhibition that opened in Germany in 2015,has arrived at the National World War I Museum and Memorial at a time anti-Semitism is increasing in the U.S. and white nationalists are fanning intolerance. The outdoor exhibition features 70 large portraits of Holocaust survivors, including seven living in…