KC River Fest was a great event this year to celebrate the 4th in a family friendly environment…read morewhile at the same time educating about the park and conservation. The good: Food trucks and beer tents Interactive conservation tents for children to learn about the park Plenty of blow-up bounce houses for children 2 concert stages Wonderful firework display Great location right off the water and good advertisment of Berkley Park Only $5 to attend Plenty of parking, had shuttle buses, and walking distance for some. The bad: Need more options for food because lines were an hour wait Some beer tents ran out of cups to serve the beer They need more that 1 ATM if everything is cash only (it broke down half way into the night) Overall I think the good out weights the bad. I had a blast listening to the music while standing in line and watching fireworks. Make sure to bring a blanket or a chair because the firework display was great!

A wonderful experience! The environment is a family, friendly environment with lots of activities…read morefor both parents and children. You have a wide range of vendors who are selling their merchandise that are all from Kansas City. Every item that you're able to purchase at the art Garden Kansas City is locally made or locally grown. Some of the products are, honey, jewelry, oil, paintings, photography, soap, T-shirts, hats, and many many more. I highly recommend this for the entire family. Get outside and enjoy the weather and eat some good food and do some amazing shopping.

It's past time to update my 14 month old review; especially since they moved their main location…read morefrom Pendleton heights to the City Market Park. I'll be honest; this move that occurred 3 months ago really irritated me. How dare you move this neighborhood based organic arts commune that was attracting people like me into a cool little area for a leisurely Sunday afternoon. The City Market is already jammed with people on the weekend and doesn't need more parking problems. After pouting for two weeks, I visited the new location and was prepared to hate everything about it and consider it just another artistic sell-out... I soon realized that my thinking was very short sided. This move has allowed the 60+ vendors to have an entirely new and much much larger customer base. To my relief this has not turned into another Plaza Art Fair and has retained it cutting edge / experimental / alternative... dare I say "hippy" vibe. Art ranges from small $2 trinkets to large oil paintings for $100's, clothing, jewelry 3d printed objects, massage therapy... lot's of cool stuff being sold by cool people that love having conversations about their craft. The season is almost over, but they are now prepared to pop-up at other events also such as Troostapolooza last week. Parking is a breeze, use the streetcar and park in the free lots next to North Loop stop. Two years running as being my favorite free Sunday activity in Kansas City.

This is a beautiful place with a lot of things to do and see! I love it during the summer, but…read morethere's always something to do in kc.

First Fridays is this organic event that is ever evolving into something better. Art installations,…read moremusic, hands on community involvement, food and drinks. Fire dancers, graffiti artists, pop up bands, drinks on the patio, it can be whatever experience appeals to you the most. The art galleries are always there even in the winter with their doors open. Block after block with something new. Vendors, sometimes free samples or live bands or watching an artist create something. Of course their is always the people watching which is a sport unto it self. It definitely started with the focus being on the art but it's grown into so much more. Feels more all inclusive but I do believe this is in large part to a creativity that really resonates and keeps people coming back but also participating. Perfectly acceptable to go solo, date, group, family friends, kids, all are accounted for. You don't have to start the night out with a meal, but that's usually the route I go and than walk it off. Coffee, beer, wine, popsicles, ice cream, chocolate shops it's all available. Parking! Yikes! That can be rough but persistence will pay off and if you don't mind walking a spot will eventually materialize. Their are some parking garages available and with the street car available that might help, just allow for the extra time.

Was a fun and great experience!! Learned a lot about the history of how coffee is maderead more

I had heard about The Caffeine Crawl for several years, but couldn't justify giving someone else my…read more$ for something that I could do on my own. Then I was given comp. tix last fall for a Saturday afternoon crawl in Johnson County. We went to four shops that I was unfamiliar with and was treated to 4 different presentations focusing on different aspects of the coffee industry; from store histories, pour-over presentations, new product roll-outs, and great question and answer periods with owners, managers and baristas. Tons of samples of beverages and sweets and even a goodie bag of related swag to take home. I was hooked! Yesterday I was able to buy a ticket for the Friday morning spring 2022 crawl kick-off and once again had a great time. Starting at Blip roasters for samples of 3 of the spring menu items and a tour of the entire facility - gift shop, roasting area, and the attached custom bike shop - Anchor Moto. Then on to Messenger Coffee's flagship location for a presentation in their lab to sample and compare Rwandan and Ethiopian pour overs, then a decadent sample of a black sesame and date concoction that blew me away. Final stop at the former Transit Coffee location for a presentation by PH Coffee and a progression of 5 samples ranging from a basic blended roast to their more sophisticated "Unicorn" offerings. Our guide was Jason that founded the Caffeine Crawl a decade ago and was the perfect person to have along as our escort. I can't say enough positive things about the crawl, and the shops that hosted the presentations. I can't wait to buy tickets for the fall event.

This review is late but better late than never, right? I am a nerd at heart so I've been waiting…read morefor this event for awhile and was very pleased. First off, I am a people person but even I was overwhelmed at the end of the day because there was so much to see and do! Coming to Bartle Hall wasn't so bad because we took the KC Streetcar which was a cinch to use. Finding the place was another story because once we got off, we were a bit turned around. No worries, we got to our destination in time. We had to go to Will Call to get our tickets and that was easy to find as well. Once in, oh my! There were so many displays and vendors. If you ever wanted to buy comics, this was the place to be. Also, so many people cosplayed! If I had time, I would have definitely gone as Jean Grey so maybe next year. There were swords to buy and so many original arts to purchase. Really, it's like a fancy fair for nerds. We did not stay for the panels where you can meet some famous people because we were so tired at the end. I believe the tickets for Saturday was around $50 which is a bit pricey but it was a lot of fun. It's too bad that Stan Lee passed because he was known to come to events like these. Overall, if you love comics and superheroes, I would highly recommend going to one of these someday.

This is a terrible venue to view tennis. The season ticket holding fans act extremely…read moreinappropriately, ruining the experience for anyone else attending. When we spoke to an event staff member, they tried to move our seats we had paid the highest ticket price for, instead of handling the obnoxious fans. As anyone who would attend a movie theater and have obnoxious movie goers behind them, one would expect the staff to alleviate the problem and calm them down. Jeff Launius and his terrible staff clearly do not care. Even worse than this low end tennis team, is the low class management and owner. When confronted with the fact that the experience was awful, and his staff made us feel unwelcome for complaining, Jeff Launius chose to keep $100 instead of doing the right thing and refunding the money. His staff member Cathy even stated to me on our initial phone call SHE WOULD refund the money, and would simply have to ask Jeff how to go about it. Not only did he act dishonestly by not honoring his staff's word, he even went as far as to blame US for not enjoying the experience, and said his regulars provided him all the money he needed. An owner and a manager should never treat the customer with such disrespect. This manner of handling the situation shows this organization has no consideration for anyone other than their friends who attend the matches. I would choose to never support their organization, and strongly encourage others to attend matches else where. Let's give our money to people who deserve it.

This is a shopping and entertainment section in downtown KC. Theres's a lot of bars, restaurants…read moreand clubs here including some well known ones like Chipotle, Yard House, Guy Fieri's Dive, and Blue Sushi. Some of these places host special events, like we saw big party for New Year's celebration. They also closed many of the roads for the crowd. Most of the shops are individual stores and mostly local brands. There are lots of street and garage parkings available. Parking rates vary depending on events. The street car also runs through the area. The area seemed clean and safe in general but we saw some shady individuals standing in street corners around night time.

Power & Light is truly one of the "must-see" experiences in Kansas City that I did not know about…read moremy first times coming. I went with a bunch of friends to watch the US Men's Soccer Team during a World Cup Watch Party and I was not disappointed. The vibe and energy there are spectacular and the selection of bars surrounding the area are great. It's set up that no matter where you are, you have a solid chance at seeing whatever is being performed on the stage area or on the big screen. We had a blast and I think that is going to go down as one of my best non-stadium soccer experiences I've ever had.

Fun event! Some of the wines were awesome, and some I ended up throwing away. It's fun to try…read moredifferent wines and tickets are only $20. It's a nice, short street that's fun to walk around. Great restaurants along the way- we checked out Tribe and Betty Rae's.

I like wine. A lot. So, I was really looking forward to this event. For some reason, I also…read moreexpected that this walk would give me information about the local wines being served at each location, like they do at tastings. The businesses that participated had no additional information to provide, or maybe I stopped asking too soon. The other thing that kind of stunk was that the wine served at the walk was really sub par. I've had boxed wine that tasted better. Now that I've gotten all the negativity out of the way, I really enjoyed the idea of the walk...and I enjoyed seeing a new part of town and people watching. I do really only recall one good wine tasting and it was the sangria served at The Farmhouse, which is also where we purchased our wristband. Overall, it was a fun event and at $15, got pretty buzzed, despite being told I probably wouldn't. And, I'm no lightweight either. Oh, and in no way was this event pretentious as stated in another review. It was super chill and easy going. The art was cool and the artists seemed nice enough. I even bought a t-shirt from one of them for my brother.

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. I call it the…read moreKansas Opera House :). This massive performing arts center is like a State pride for Kansas City, Missouri. It reminded me of the famed Opera House in Australia, except that this one is at a crossroad, not near any sort of water body, and much closer to home in US !  Kansas , Missouri has been historically known for its jazz, classical music and theatre. It has this typical theatrical staging for an auditorium with all the seats facing the same way towards the stage, which is framed by an arch- this setting also has a fancy name - its called  Proscenium Arch ( pruh-see-ni-um - I had to ask google how to pronounce it ...lol)It is a non-profit theatre !!!!  Wow! Built to promote dance, opera, music , it is perfect for the city to live up to its reputation of being widely recognized destination for vibrant and colorful arts. It has two big halls interconnected with a foyer, its simply impressively massive and absolutely stunning architecture.  I read from the brochure that Acoustical considerations factored into every architectural decision of the building, right from the shape of the hall to the grain of the wood paneling. And also that it seats 1600 guests at a time. Located at the heart of downtown Kansas on 16th and Broadway, it is near the  city's Power & Light District, the T-Mobile Center and the Crossroads Arts District with plenty of parking within, but if you don't want to get stuck after a performance, it is better to take a cab here.

RedBull Dance Your Style Qualifier Midwest USA took over the Muriel Kauffman stage last night and…read morewhat a night! One on one street dance battle where the crowd decides who's the winner, red or blue, with wands that were handed out, narrowing the competition down to the final two. And the winner is Briana "Passion" Grey. The cost was only $16 dollars! Excuse my lack of video editing but for close up pictures and better videos check out the Kansas City Stars article.