Hello Kansas City!
Welcome world. First, let’s define Kansas City, because unless you live here, you probably don’t understand that actual, downtown Kansas City is in MISSOURI, not “Kansas!”
And, it’s not your problem, it’s our problem. See, there are two Kansas Citys… Kansas City, MISSOURI and Kansas City, KANSAS. The population of KCMO is 444,965, while the population of KCKS is a paltry 146,866. Since this is the Kansas City, Mo. blog, we’re sticking to the Missouri side.
Although, the two cities are contiguous, and are members of the Kansas City Metro Area, which is a bi-state, 15-county Kansas City Metropolitan Area, anchored by Kansas City, Missouri, 27th largest in the United States with an estimated population about 2 million in 2006. Included in the metro area is Independence, Mo., home of President Harry Truman, as well as about 75 other cities/suburbs with names like Avondale, De Soto, Lake Lotawana and Lone Jack.
So now, here’s the deal: When it comes to “Kansas City,” the Kansas side is bean dip as compared to the Kansas City in Missouri. KCMO is home of the Kansas City Chiefs, the Kansas City Royals (well… it is…) …. It’s the home of Hallmark Cards, H&R Block, Sprint, AMC Theatres, Applebees, Black & Veatch, DST Systems — even Interstate Bakeries, makers of Twinkies and Wonder Bread! and the world’s first shopping center, the fancy-schmantzy Country Club Plaza. It has theater, Frank Lloyd Wright-designed structures, 20 colleges and universities, a major zoo and important museums. It is known for jazz, steak and barbeque.
Downtown KCKS is about two blocks long, and its movie theater is boarded up.
In my lifetime, I’ve had several dozen conversations on planes and whatnot that go like this.
Stranger: So, where are you from?
Me: Kansas City
Stranger: So, what’s it like to live in Kansas?
OR
Oh, so you know all about Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz…
OR
How many tornados have you been in?
And/or, more recently:
So, you’re the ones who don’t believe in evolution, right?
NO! THAT’S ALL K A N S A S STUFF! (Sorry to shout… it’s not your fault!)
Wheat, sunflowers, tornadoes, Wizard of Oz, Eisenhower…. all Kansas.
Missouri stuff? Uh, Missouri Mules, Harry Truman, Show-Me State, Ozarks… I don’t think there’s a prominent Missouri-based movie. But, for the record, we do have lots of tornadoes here, too.
June 15th, 2007 at 7:08 am
But they have some great festivals on the Kansas side of KC :).
June 15th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Oh, no doubt! Kansas is great. My mother grew up there; my daughter was born there. It’s just that this blog is called, “Kansas City, Mo,” so that’s where I’ll stick. Yes. I understand you’d like for me to post festivals in KC.
June 19th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
There may not be a prominent MO movie (that I can think of) but there is the movie “Kansas City”, which several Lincoln Prep students acted in.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:42 am
[...] Kansas City Readers by Eliza Ferree Howdy ya’ll, I’m Eliza and I’ll be your new Kansas City Blogger and I hope I do it justice. Let me be tell ya briefly about myself. I’m the mother to [...]