Month: September 2017

Saturday events

Strolling for Sickle Cell 5K to be Sept. 9
The seventh annual 5K Fun Walk, Strolling for Sickle Cell, will take place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 9, at Kansas City Kansas Community College Conference Center, 7250 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. Registration is at 8:30 a.m. The cost is $15 for adults, $5 for children ages 3 to 12, and free for children under 3. For more information, call 913-735-2622 or visit www.sicklecellkck.org.

Dash KCK and 5K Run to be held Saturday morning at 10th and State
Dash KCK and the 5K Run will be held prior to the Library in the Park event. The Dash KCK starts at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with the Downtown Shareholders as sponsors. It is based at the nearby JFK Community Center, which has recently changed its name to the Beatrice Lee Community Center, at 1310 N. 10th St. (10th and State Avenue). For more information, see libraryinthepark.org.

Central Avenue parade scheduled Sept. 9
The Central Avenue Betterment Association parade is scheduled at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. The parade route starts at 18th Street and travels to Bethany Park at 11th and Central Avenue. LaPlacita Community Festival will be held after the parade at Bethany Park, 11th and Central. There will be music, food and activities. A high school band musical showdown will be held as bands arrive at Bethany Park, and will end around 12:15 p.m. At noon to 12:30 p.m., Rosemary’s Fiesta Mexicana will perform. At 1 p.m., the Calle Vida Band with Pablo Sanhueza will perform. At 3:30 p.m., the J-Love Band will perform. For more information, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/building-community-pride-at-the-central-avenue-parade-and-festival-saturday/.

Library in the Park celebration to be Sept. 9
Library in the Park, a celebration by the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library, is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at Big 11 Lake, at 11th and State Avenue. The free festival will include live music, food and activities. The book, “Little Melba and Her Big Trombone,” by Katheryn Russell-Brown, will be given away to the first 500 children. The event also includes a musical instrument “petting zoo” from the Kansas City Symphony, face painting, and other activities. Those attending will be able to sample free tacos from five local restaurants in a contest to determine the best. Sheridan’s will provide frozen custard. Everything will be free. For more information, visit www.libraryinthepark.org or see https://wyandotteonline.com/annual-library-in-the-park-festival-to-feature-bands-free-tacos-and-free-books-on-saturday/.

Grinter Place Summerfest planned Sept. 9
The Grinter Place Summerfest will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at 1400 S. 78th, Kansas City, Kansas. Transportation is the theme of the annual event this year, with displays and activities tying together the various years that the Grinter Place has existed, from the 1850s through today. Summerfest will include historical re-enactments, a car show, musical entertainment, the Grinter Quilters at work, and a display of public safety vehicles. Admission is free to the Summerfest. There will be a charge for barbecue and concession stand, horse rides and inflatables for kids. Tours of the Grinter House will be $3 for adults and $1 for kids. Funds raised will go toward programs at Grinter Place. For more information, call 913-299-0373 or visit www.grinterplace.com or see https://wyandotteonline.com/journey-back-in-time-at-the-annual-grinter-place-summerfest-saturday/.

Renaissance Festival continues Saturday
The 41st annual Renaissance Festival will continue Saturday, Sept. 9, and will run on weekends and Columbus Day through Oct. 15. Highland Games Championship is the theme for Saturday, Sept. 9, celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture. The annual Highland Heavy Games Championships will be held all day on the Joust Field at the festival. A Haggis Eating Competition is planned at 2:45 p.m. at the Washer Well Stage. Those who bring five nonperishable food items to donate to Harvesters will receive a buy one, get one ticket opportunity on a regular-priced ticket on Saturday. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The festival site is located at 130th and State Avenue in Bonner Springs. For more information, visit www.kcrenfest.com.

Strawberry Hill Museum
The Strawberry Hill Museum, 720 N. 4th St., Kansas City, Kansas, is open from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The last tour of the day is at 4:15 p.m. For more information call 913-371-3264 or visit www.strawberryhillmuseum.org.

Art show opening reception to be Saturday at Alcott
“Paper and Glue: Cut-Papers Works of Art” by Allison Welter will have an opening reception from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at the Alcott Arts Center, 180 S. 18th St., Kansas City, Kansas. “The Variegated World of Kitt Van Hassel” from Kitt Van Hassel, a Kansas City area illustrator, also will have a show with a reception from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at Alcott Arts Center. The art shows will run through Saturday, Oct. 7. Welter is from the St. Louis, Mo., area and attended the Kansas City Art Institute. She has a bachelor’s in illustration. Van Hassel graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute and has used traditional ink and watercolor media to create illustrations. The Alcott Center is not ADA accessible. For more information, see https://www.alcottartscenter.org/.

Church plans festival Saturday
Unity Fest 2017 will be held from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at Our Lady of Unity Catholic Church, 2646 S. 34th St., on the Sacred Heart field, Kansas City, Kansas. Carnival games, entertainment, inflatables, music and dance groups, a silent auction, a mini soccer tournament, a variety of ethnic foods and mariachi music are planned.

One dead in shooting in Rosedale area

One person has died after a shooting about 6:42 p.m. near West 41st and Adams Street tonight in Kansas City, Kansas, a police spokesman stated.

According to Officer Patrick McCallop, police spokesman, three males were shot while sitting inside a vehicle at West 41st and Adams. They drove to West 41st and Booth Street, where an ambulance took them to the hospital.

One of the males died, while two have non-life-threatening injuries, Officer McCallop stated.

The police tactical team assisted with the recovery of property from a residence, according to McCallop.

Journey back in time at the annual Grinter Place Summerfest Saturday

Grinter Place’s big event of the year, the Summerfest, will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at the historic home at South 78th and K-32 in Kansas City, Kansas. (File photo by Mary Rupert)

Event to include historical re-enactments, car show and transportation theme

by Mary Rupert

A historical sketch re-enacting a three-day visit to Grinter Place in the 1800s will be presented during the annual Grinter Place Summerfest from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9.

Transportation is the theme of the annual event this year, with displays and activities tying together the various years that the Grinter Place has existed, from the 1850s through today, said Pat Spencer, a Grinter Place Friends board member. Grinter Place, a museum preserving the oldest home in Kansas City, Kansas, is at South 78th and K-32. The home was completed in 1857.

“One of our board members Julie Blagg’s ancestor crossed the ferry there, and stayed about three days with Annie Grinter,” Spencer said. She waited three days there while her furniture was being delivered from Leavenworth.

Blagg’s ancestor wrote everything about her visit into a diary discovered by her descendants, and the story was turned into a play that will be re-enacted at Grinter Place on Saturday, Spencer said. Volunteers in costume will be portraying Julie’s ancestor and Annie Marshall Grinter, who was a Lenape (Delaware), in presentations at 1 and 3 p.m., she added.

Some of the antique furniture on display at the Grinter House was obtained through bartering for ferry trips, she said.

The ferry across the Kansas River from Moses and Annie Grinter’s home, at a trading post location known as the Delaware Crossing located in the Secondine area of Kansas, was just one mode of transportation that existed at Grinter Place. The ferry was the only way to get across the Kansas River in this area at that time, she said.

Travelers journeyed to Grinter Place on horseback and in wagons in the 1800s, Spencer said. Some of the travelers were on the military road from Ft. Leavenworth to Ft. Scott that crossed the Kansas River there. The transportation mode changed to trains and cars through the years.

On Saturday, the Summerfest will feature horse rides for kids, as part of the transportation theme, Spencer said. There also will be inflatables with slides for kids, she added.

Another activity Saturday in line with the transportation theme is a car show, Spencer said. Most of the entries in last year’s Grinter car show were antiques.

One highlight of the Summerfest on Saturday will be musical entertainment by the MP3 band, she said. In addition, Mark Millham will be a strolling musician, walking the grounds, playing the guitar and singing, she said.

Grinter Place Site Director Bill Nicks plans to portray Moses Grinter, in costume, while walking around the grounds, she said. The Grinter Quilters will be working on their opportunity quilt at the Grinter House.

There are also about 40 vendors planning to attend, Spencer said. There will be craft booths and some will include handmade items, such as unique hand-sewn crafts, ceramics and signs, she said.

Admission is free to the Grinter Place grounds and to the car show, craft and vendor booths, musical entertainment and historical re-enactments outdoors, Spencer said. There will be a charge for barbecue, food and refreshments, and for horse rides and inflatables, she added. The food vendors will be located at the Grinter Barn.

Tours of the inside of the Grinter Place home are discounted on Saturday to $3 for adults and $1 for kids, she added.

For kids to see up close, there will be displays by public safety agencies here, including a fire truck, a bomb squad robot and dog, and law enforcement vehicles, she said.

Funds raised at the Summerfest will support programs at the Grinter House at 1420 S. 78th, Spencer said.

Grinter Place, a state museum, will be open Wednesdays through Saturdays, until Saturday, Oct. 28, when there will be a campfire program, before closing for the winter, she said.

Many projects have recently spruced up Grinter Place, according to Spencer. Most recently, a new roof was placed on the house. A group of volunteers came in, repainted the hall, bought curtains, and also have been working at the Grinter Place shelter, painting and landscaping it, she said.

Two Boy Scouts from Piper worked on their Eagle projects at the home recently, one making birdhouses and bird perches for the state property, while another built a bench and set it in concrete with a new ramp to go into a door of the Grinter Barn, she said.

There is also a plan to build Grinter Trails on the property of the Grinter Barn, Spencer said. It will be similar to a health walking trail, and the half-mile track would be asphalted so that wheelchairs and strollers could travel on it, she added. They have already received some grants to clear out the area, but they need funding for the asphalt, she said.