Arts & Entertainment
‘The Elders’ Return to Help Irish Fest Celebrate 20th Year Downtown
Irish Fest is returning this Labor Day weekend to Crown Center and to help celebrate its 20th year downtown, crowd-favorite The Elders will be coming out of retirement to perform. “The Elders are sure to make 2022 Irish Fest one of their most memorable shows, as they headlined every KC Irish Fest since the fest’s…
Iconic Katz Cat to Grin Again in Downtown KC
By Kevin Collison The Katz Drug Store sign, a one-time iconic streetscape fixture in Kansas City and beyond with its happy cat sporting a bow tie, has a new life thanks to LUMI, a museum dedicated to neon signs. A 10-foot tall replica of the Katz sign has been fashioned by Fossil Forge, a Lee’s…
Union Station Only U.S. Stop for Major Maya Exhibition
By Kevin Collison Union Station’s new “Maya: The Great Jaguar Rises” exhibition vividly tells the little-known story of the ancient civilization that dominated Central America for 1,500 years, but its arrival was far from timely. The exhibition which runs through the end of this year originally was scheduled to begin in May, but bureaucratic delays,…
Kaw Makeover Including New Park, Bike Trails, Opening in October
(Editor’s note: This article was originally published Oct. 29, 2021) By Kevin Collison After decades of being a scraggly backwater, the Kaw River in the West Bottoms will be transformed with a new park and bicycle trail a year from now following action by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County. The UG commissioners approved an…
Barney Allis Plaza Rebuild Proposal Adds 226-Unit Apartment Project
By Kevin Collison The city’s plan for rebuilding a crumbling Barney Allis Plaza has grown into a larger proposal that adds a privately-developed 10-story apartment building that would include affordable housing. The new two-phase approach calls for the estimated $112.5 million reconstruction of the city-owned plaza and underground garage to be paid for publicly, and…
Café Cà Phê Stirs Vietnamese Flavor into KC Coffee Scene
By Kevin Collison A Southern California actor marooned in Kansas City after Covid cancelled her Miss Saigon Broadway tour has taken on a new role, creating a coffee shop in Columbus Park that celebrates Asian-American culture. “I always had an idea of opening a coffee shop but didn’t think for another 10 years,” said Jackie…
NFL Draft May Make Next Year Busiest in KC Sports History
(Editor’s note: This article originally appeared March 7, 2022) By Kevin Collison Next year may be the busiest in Kansas City sports history including up to 350,000 visitors coming downtown next spring for the 2023 NFL Draft, according to a top local sports official. “Four weeks of collegiate basketball, then we roll into our first…
Union Station Named Among ‘Most Beautiful Train Stations’ in the World
By Kevin Collison Union Station, whose $234 million restoration a quarter century ago was a metropolitan labor of love, has been named one of the 37 most beautiful train stations in the world by Architectural Digest, a respected international publication. “I think that’s incredible,” said Steve Rose, who co-chaired the successful bi-state sales tax campaign…
Pennway Point Entertainment Plan Gains Access to Vital Parking
By Kevin Collison The developer of the proposed Pennway Point entertainment district, a project near Union Station that includes a 170-foot Ferris wheel, won critical approval this week that opens access to hundreds of parking spaces vital to the development’s success. The City Plan Commission endorsed a request to transfer half of the Jefferson street…
Regional Skate Park, Artworks, Could ‘Enhance’ New Buck O’Neil Bridge
(Editor’s note: This article originally was published Feb. 3) By Kevin Collison Creating a regional skate park beneath the approach ramps to the new Buck O’Neil Bridge is among the ideas in a report prepared by a group tasked to enliven what’s now a bland infrastructure project. Work is well underway on the $220 million…