Goin' to Kansas City...

July 09, 2010

Legendary Jazz Musician, Fats Domino once wrote that he was ‘Going to Kansas City – Kansas City here I come!’  Whether you know the song or not, you probably know that Jazz is as important to Kansas City as Jack Stack Barbeque and the Christmas Lights on the Plaza every year.  With summer half gone, Independence Day past, and back-to-school time just starting to appear on the horizon, you may be wondering what there is to do around town – or if there’s something you’ve never done before.  

In South Kansas City, there’s Alexander Major’s Historic House, located at 8201 State Line Road.  Major was a cofounder of the Pony Express and later toured with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show.  The house is filled with period furnishings and one of the barns has a fully working blacksmith shop.  This site is open on weekends.

If you’re up north of the river, you can pay a visit to the Jesse James Farm and Museum in Kearny.   Where else but in the Midwest do bank robbers become immortalized? (And, relating to Alexander Major, failed businesses?) Artifacts in this house include the bandit’s boots and spurs, along with Frank James’s letter of surrender.  The home is open year round.

How many times have you been on Wornall Road?  Odds are, more than you can remember and almost more than you can count.  The street was named after John Wornall, and you can visit his home, known as the John Wornall House Museum, located at 146 West 81st Terrace.  The home was used as a hospital during the bloodiest battle of the Civil War west of the Mississippi River:  The Battle of Westport.

Even though it’s only the first full week of July, August will be here before you know it and August means plenty of events and festivals for you and the whole family.  The Aviation Expo at the Downtown Airport, you can find all the information for this event here.  There’s also the Kansas City Irish Festival held at Crown Center, Summer Skies, an astronomy festival held at the Kansas City Museum and the Ethnic Enrichment Festival held at Swope Park.

If you have the time, you can take a road trip to Sedelia – and head for an event that you’re sure to remember:  The Missouri State Fair.  You can find information and more about this fourteen-day extravaganza here.