There’s something special about Kansas City, and folks in this metro area know the way to every planner’s heart: incredible food, the best in jazz music and enough top-notch attractions to please any attendee. Whether it’s barbecue, entertainment, arts and culture, shopping or NASCAR, the area, encompassing Kansas City, Mo., Kansas city, Kan., and Overland Park, Kan., is sure to please the pickiest palate.
Kansas City, Mo.
“We’ve had so much going on in the last five years, including a $6 billion boom in development,” says Denise DeJulio, executive director of convention sales for the Kansas City (Mo.) Convention and Visitors Assocation. “If people haven’t seen Kansas City for a while, they’re totally blown away.”
From the $276 million Sprint Center, which opened in 2007, to the $414 Kaufmann Center for the Performing Arts, which opened last fall, Kansas City, Mo., has seen a steady stream of development dollars while many destinations felt the national economy’s pinch. Several projects, including the Sprint Center and Kansas City Convention Center expansion, are related to the $850 million Power and Light entertainment district, the largest and hippest new entertainment district in the Midwest. Phase one of the Power and Light district wrapped in 2008, and the eight-block area now boasts more than 45 clubs, restaurants, shops, bars and venues, totaling 450,000 square feet of entertainment and retail space.
One unique feature of the Power and Light District is KC Live.
“It’s the center point of the district covering one city block,” DeJulio says. “At the center of it is a permanent stage called the Living Room set aside for live entertainment, and that area can hold thousands for a private event.”
The Power and Light District offers the perfect atmosphere for a jazz-themed pub crawl or other event, or attendees can follow the latest trend DeJulio has spotted, which is allowing attendees more free time in the evenings without a schedule or itinerary.
“It saves the organization money, and it gives people a chance to find the flavor of the city,” she says.
Thanks to the recent progress, she also notes that there’s a buzz about Kansas City, the area is seeing an uptick in groups across the board, and they’re combining the cool vibe of the entertainment district with other popular venues like the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art or the American Jazz Museum, where planners can also rent the adjoining club, the Blue Room. PageBreak
If one half of Kansas City’s famed reputation is built on jazz, the other comes from the region’s best barbecue. Travel + Leisure named Kansas City as the Best Barbecue City in 2011, and there are numerous eateries around town ready to make planner’s tasty dreams come true, like Danny Edwards Famous KC BBQ or the legendary Arthur Bryant’s Barbecue. There’s more to the culinary scene than succulent, slow-roasted meat, however. Saveur magazine picked the city as a Top Culinary Destination this year, citing chefs like Debbie Gold of The American Restaurant and Celina Tio of Julian in upping the stakes for local cuisine.
Sport venues are always popular with attendees, from Kauffman Stadium, home to the Kansas City Royals, to Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs. Kauffman Stadium recently underwent a $250 million upgrade, and Arrowhead Stadium wrapped up a $375 million renovation. Both facilities offer special perks to groups, from behind-the-scenes tours to space for receptions and meetings.
Other hotels and facilities include the Crowne Plaza Kansas City Downtown, the Westin Crown Center and the Kansas City Marriott Downtown.
Just minutes outside Kansas City is Platte County, with properties like the Argosy Casino Hotel & Spa, with more than 18,000 square feet of function space; Hilton KCI Airport Hotel; Hyatt Place, KC Airport; and Marriott KCI.
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is such a vibrant, bustling metro, it takes more than one state to hold it. The greater Kansas City area extends into Kansas and Wyandotte County, and this side of the state line boasts its own diversions, such as NASCAR racing at Kansas Speedway and the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame.
While the area, known by locals as KCK, offers plenty of entertainment similar to Kansas City in the form of nightlife, amazing barbecue places and sports teams, there’s also a distinct state-inspired flavor as well, according to Kerry Green, meeting, group and event manager for the Kansas City, Kansas CVB.
“Our Kansas heritage is prominent in many of our venues,” she says. “We have a mix of history and modern and we exemplify a culturally diverse community.”
That mix includes sites like Kaw Point Park, a place where the Kansas and Missouri Rivers meet. Lewis and Clark camped here, and even though visitors can look across the water to city high-rises, they can also follow wooded trails along the shoreline and imagine how this land looked in the time of explorers. The Strawberry Hill Museum and Cultural Center is another intriguing stop, with more than 30 rooms of displays celebrating Kansas City’s ethnic heritage. This 1887 Victorian home was an orphanage until 1988 when it was no longer needed and was converted into a museum. Hall rentals are available, and the facility can hold up to 100 people.
The area also has a thriving arts scene, including a series of murals throughout downtown that celebrate the city’s history and diverse culture, and the Alcott Arts Center, which features both art exhibitions and theater productions. The center also offers a meeting room and a 60-seat theater. PageBreak
Shopping is a favorite pastime of attendees visiting KCK, and there are 400 acres of shopping to keep retail warriors satisfied. Legends Outlets has turned shopping into a destination activity, with more than 80 “edutainment” displays regarding legendary Kansans throughout the center’s 1.2 million square feet of retail space. In addition to exclusive shops like Sak’s Fifth Avenue, Ann Taylor and Tommy Hilfiger, the site also features T-Rex, a 20,000-square-foot restaurant showcasing dinosaurs in eye-popping settings.
Nearby is the new Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway, which recently opened with 100,000 square feet of gaming, entertainment and dining. Future plans for the casino include a 300-room hotel, spa and meeting space. The Kansas Speedway offers meeting space for up to 5,000 attendees.
Other facilities in the area include the 281-suite Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor waterpark resort with a restaurant, spa, arcade and event space for up to 200, and the 147-room Hilton Garden Inn & Jack Reardon Convention Center, which offers 20,000 square feet of meeting space.
Overland Park, Kansas
Since the construction of the Overland Park Convention Center in 2002, the city has become an attractive option for groups. Five new hotels have opened since the convention center was completed, and Overland Park boasts an inventory of 1,000 rooms within walking distance of the center.
“Overland Park has enjoyed a steady growth in occupancy and convention center bookings, even during the economic downturn,” says Liron BenDor, vice president of marketing for the Overland Park CVB.
“2013 and 2014 are looking very strong and we’re thrilled to welcome a diverse mix of association, corporate and sports groups to the area.”
BenDor also says plans are in motion for the new Prairiefire project, a future development featuring shopping, dining, entertainment and cutting-edge exhibits from New York’s famed American Museum of Natural History.
Overland Park also has plenty of attractions and venues to keep attendees entertained, like the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, which is the largest museum of its kind in the four-state region. The museum can accommodate up to 300 for an event, or planners can select the stunning natural setting of the Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, which handles up to 100. One of the gems of the city’s off-site venues is the Culinary Center of Kansas City, offering a dazzling array of activities from wine-tasting events to interactive dinner parties, cooking classes and more.
In addition to the 237,000 square feet of event space in the convention center and the adjacent Sheraton Overland Park Hotel, with 20,000 square feet of meeting space, there’s also Marriott Overland Park Hotel, Doubletree Hotel at Corporate Woods and Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Overland Park–West.
Beth Bartlett is a frequent contributor to Meetings Focus MidAmerica.
