More photos from the Wyandotte County Ethnic Festival
Category: Arts and entertainment
Saturday events
Breakfast with Easter Bunny planned April 13
Breakfast with the Easter Bunny is planned from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 13, at the Strawberry Hill Museum and Cultural Center, 720 N. 4th St., Kansas City, Kansas. The breakfast menu includes pancakes, sausages, biscuits and gravy, fruit, coffee, juice and milk for $6 for adults and $5 for children under 10 years old. Photos with the Easter Bunny will be available for $5 each. For more information, visit https://www.strawberryhillmuseum.org/event/breakfast-with-the-easter-bunny-2-2/.
Turner Recreation to sponsor pancake breakfast and Easter egg hunt
The Turner Recreation Commission will sponsor a pancake breakfast and an Easter egg hunt with the Easter Bunny on Saturday, April 13, at 831 S. 55th St., Kansas City Kansas. Holiday arts and crafts and photos with the Easter Bunny will be free. The pancake breakfast will be $5 for ages 13 and older, $4 for ages 4-12, and children 3 and under free with an adult purchase. The Easter egg hunts will be 9:45 a.m. for ages 0-3, 10 a.m. for ages 4-7, and 10:15 a.m. for ages 8-12.
Rosedale plans large cleanup on Saturday
More than 200 volunteers are expected to participate in the all-Rosedale Cleanup and Cookout from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 13. Volunteers will meet at 8 a.m. in Fisher Park to get supplies and assignments, and then will fan out around the area to work on cleanup projects. They will meet back at Fisher Park, at Fisher and West 39th, for a catered picnic lunch at noon. The volunteers will clean up graffiti, pick up litter and remove brush.
Folk dancing planned
“Programa de Folklorico” is planned from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 13, in the story time room at the South Branch Library, 3104 Strong Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. The Spanish language program is for children, teens and adults. Lugarda Rodriguez is the presenter.
WyCo Ethnic Festival to be April 13
The WyCo Ethnic Festival will be Saturday, April 13, at the Kansas City Kansas Community College field house, 7250 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. Hours of the event are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Music, dance and educational booths are planned at the festival. The festival promotes better understanding among people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. There is no admission charge to the festival, and it is open to the public. Ethnic foods will be available for purchase. For more information including a schedule, visit www.freewebs.com/wycoethnicfestival.
Groundbreaking for Piper fire station to be April 13
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Piper fire station is scheduled to be 11 a.m. Saturday, April 13, at 2913 Hutton Road, Kansas City, Kansas. The groundbreaking was originally scheduled March 9 but was changed because of the weather. Because of construction on Hutton Road, access to the site is available only from Leavenworth Road.
Family story time planned
Family story time is planned from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 13, at the youth services craft room, Main Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library, 625 Minnesota Ave. There will be stories, dancing and singing. The story time is geared to families with readers ages 2 to 6.
Spanish singing lessons planned at library
Spanish singing lessons (Clase de Canto) are planned from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13, at the South Branch Library, Conference Room B, 3104 Strong Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. The Spanish language program is for all ages. Sandra Zamora is the instructor.
Town hall meeting planned
A town hall meeting sponsored by State Sen. Kevin Braun, R-5th Dist., will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 13, at the Leavenworth Library, 417 Spruce St., Leavenworth, Kansas. The guest speaker will be Dr. Joan M. Murnane, DVM, on “Border Security is Biosecurity.” To register, visit https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07eg880p4rbc59fb74&oseq=&c=e37b2520-eb23-11e6-b774-842b2b5261ac&ch=e4527250-eb23-11e6-b78e-842b2b5261ac.
Czech Easter traditions and egg decorating at library
All ages may attend a program on Eastern European Easter traditions and see a display of Czech Easter eggs from different regions from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 13, in the Café area at the Main Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library, 625 Minnesota Ave. There also will be a hands-on coloring workshop using natural dyes. Participants will be able to take the dyed eggs home. The presenter will be Magda Born.
Easter egg hunt planned
Wyandotte United Methodist Church, 7901 Oakland Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, is planning an Easter egg hunt for toddlers through sixth grade at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 13. Registration will be at 2:30 p.m. The event will be supervised and participants will be divided into three age groups. The event includes a craft and story, and it will be held rain or shine.
Two authors to speak at library program
Two best-selling authors, Kiki Swinson and Tiffany Warren, will speak at a Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library program from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 13, at the Reardon Convention Center, 520 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. The program will be followed by a book signing. A limited number of free copies of each author’s books will be given away to the first persons to arrive. Doors will open at 1 p.m. Advance registration was required for this program. For more information, visit https://kckpl.librarymarket.com/conversation-tiffany-warren-and-kiki-swinson.
Alcott Arts Center to hold season opening Saturday
The Alcott Arts Center, 180 S. 18th, Kansas City, Kansas, will hold its season opening art exhibit and gallery dedication on Saturday, April 13. The dedication for the Cecil Mashburn Gallery will be held at 5 p.m., with a reception at 5:30 p.m. Mashburn was a student at Louisa May Alcott School in the 1940s who became an artist. In the new Mashburn Gallery on Saturday will be works by Kayla Wortman, a senior at Washington High School. Wortman will display artwork that shows her growth as an artist from an early age, to her current work. Pencil drawings and paintings are among her works on display. In the Harrison Gallery, works by Shane Yazzo’s gifted program in the Kansas City, Kansas, middle schools will be presented. The Alcott Arts Center is not handicapped accessible. For more information, visit www.alcottartscenter.org or call 913-233-2787.
Alcott director invites public to Saturday’s opening, ‘possibly for the last time’
As the Alcott Arts Center at 180 S. 18th St. kicks off its 18th season on Saturday, a bittersweet message was sent out by executive director Chris Green.
“This may be the year that we have to say goodbye to KCK,” Green wrote. “But we don’t want to go; the whole reason we are here is because we wanted to save the building, do good things for our neighbors and be a positive influence in what was then a negative environment. We have been doing just that since 2001. We would love to see our wonderful building restored so we can keep offering artistic opportunities right where we are.”
Green said a light industrial development proposal that had been turned down previously for the Indian Springs property now is seeking to develop the land at the Alcott Arts Center and around it. Some of the neighbors are for it, while some are against it, she said. She would like to save the Alcott building, she added.
The proposed development would tear down the old Alcott Elementary School, now the Alcott Arts Center, and build a convenience store on the site, she said. The larger portion of the industrial buildings would be built on land nearby. The proposal is still in the early stages, she added.
It is a challenging time for Green, as the proposal would take both the land for the Alcott Center as well as her nearby home. It also is difficult for her since her center’s motto is “Everything Positive – Nothing Negative.”
“Our whole purpose of getting the building and starting the nonprofit was to save the building, in the first place,” Green said.
She said if they have to leave, they would still want to do art, but they would have to go where they are needed and wanted. She is hoping the Alcott Arts Center can stay open where it is.
The Alcott school was built in 1923 and was converted into the Alcott Arts Center around 2001. The center includes art galleries, a theater and space for arts and crafts classes.
Green said that currently, the Alcott Arts Center is on 18th Street, which is also Highway 69. Across 18th is the Prescott Plaza, which includes a grocery store and retail stores. I-70 is to the south. To the west are several blocks of land, then City Park.
While there doesn’t appear to be industries immediately around Alcott Arts Center at the present time, the center is about 2 miles or so north of Kansas Avenue and the old Procter and Gamble plant, where there is an industrial district. I-70 and train tracks separate the areas.
On Friday, Green was getting the Alcott Center ready for Saturday’s opening art exhibit and also for a gallery dedication.
One gallery will be named the Cecil Mashburn Gallery at 5 p.m. Saturday in honor of a student from Alcott Elementary School in the 1940s who became an artist. Two of Mashburn’s pictures will be on display. Mashburn has done a portrait of Louisa May Alcott, the namesake of the school, for the arts center.
According to Green, Mashburn got interested in art when he was asked by the Alcott principal to draw a cardinal. That started an interest in art that continued throughout his life. A reception will follow at 5:30 p.m.
In the new Mashburn Gallery on Saturday will be works by Kayla Wortman, a senior at Washington High School, Green said.
Wortman will display artwork that shows her growth as an artist from an early age, to her current work. Pencil drawings and paintings are among her works on display.
In the Harrison Gallery, works by Shane Yazzo’s gifted program in the Kansas City, Kansas, middle schools will be presented.
This year, the students have worked on a three-piece project from concept to final product.
Planned are a presentation by Casey Crockett on his Boy Scout project, as well as a monologue adaptation of “Beowolf” by Bennett Addink and performances by selected students.
Also on display will be entries from the Kansas PTA “Reflections” program, “Heroes Among Us,” from area schools. The exhibit will run through May 4.
The galleries are open every Saturday and Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Alcott Arts Center also is planning art exhibits through the year, along with musical performances and the annual Shakespeare production in September.
The Alcott Arts Center is not handicapped accessible. For more information, visit www.alcottartscenter.org or call 913-233-2787.