A Royal Delay

Weekend Roundup

Happy Friday, Kansas City! Here is a summary of some of the events going on around the metro this weekend:

• Plaza Art Fair: The Plaza Art Fair starts tonight at 5 pm. Join the 250,000 people who will attend for the art, food, and music.

• Pivo Fest 2023: BKS Artisan Ales’ lager brewing spinoff, Pivo Project, will take over the brewery this Saturday.

• Into The Spiderverse: In Concert: The Midwest Trust Center will host a live concert to accompany Spide-Man: Into the Spiderverse tonight at JCC.

• KC Symphony Performs Led Zeppelin: The Kansas City Symphony will play the music of Led Zeppelin tonight at the Kauffman Center.

• Ciderfest: The Louisburg Cider Mill is hosting its annual Ciderfest with pony rides, inflatables, and cider and donut making.

• Liberty Fall Fest: Liberty is hosting its annual Fall Festival with carnival rides, chalking, and hundreds of vendors starting at 11 am.

Sports

A Royal Delay

The Royals have officially delayed the announcement of the location of their new stadium.

• Well, We’re Waiting!: Despite the club’s announcement that they would select a location by the end of September, the Royals announced that they will not meet that deadline as they continue to evaluate both locations.

• Funds Rolling In: The club has announced that they have raised about half of the estimated $2B target they believe it would take to build the new ballpark. Perhaps one thing delaying the announcement stems from their pursuit of tax incentives from Jackson and Clay County.

• Still Competing: The Royals already receive a 3/8-cent sales tax in Jackson County that they would need to extend for the stadium to be built downtown. Clay County has floated a full 1-cent tax to help fund the project in NKC.

While no timetable has been set by the club to make an announcement, they did mention in their social media post that they would need to reach a decision in time for local residents to vote on it in April 2024.

Events

Roasting The Competition

Kansas City will host several competitions in the preliminary round of the US Coffee Championships.

• The USCC: The US Coffee Championships is an annual competition for Coffee roasters and baristas all over the country who compete in categories like coffee roasting, baristas, latte art, and spirit inclusion.

• Messenger’s Two Heats: This year, Kansas City will play host to a set of preliminary competitions. Messenger will host the Brewers Cup Preliminary in which competitors have to brew 3 extractions of a coffee, and the In Good Spirits Preliminary where baristas must incorporate a mystery alcoholic spirit.

• The Roasterie Gets Involved: Across the Crossroads, The Roasterie will host the Roasters competition where contestants receive a 20-pound bag of coffee ahead of time and will be judged on how they roast it.

The events will take place next weekend, September 29-Oct 1. Tickets are still available for each competition, or you could volunteer at each event for free entry.

Food & Drink

Waxing & Waning

Moon Bar is a new pop-up bar located inside Cafe Cà Phê and Westport’s Chingu, bringing Japanese-style cocktails with global flavors to Kansas City.

• A Global Affair: Saranya Hubbard, co-owner and drink designer of Moon Bar, combines East Asian and global flavors, creating thoughtfully crafted cocktails that constantly evolve based on feedback and available ingredients.

• Heading West: After starting her career as a bartender in Bangkok, Hubbard decided to bring her love of creating cocktails with Eastern flavors to KC, a city that seriously lacked a Japanese-style cocktail bar.

• Challenging Your Tastebuds: Moon Bar's cocktails include creative blends like the Roselle Wasabi, a base of sake and grappa with a kick of horseradish, and the Green and White, a Japanese whiskey base combined with a delicate mixture of matcha and white chocolate, topped with puffed rice.

You can try Moon Bar at one of its pop-ups which get announced a few weeks ahead of time on its Instagram.

KC Daily Picks

In Other News

• 💘Catching Kelce: Jason Kelce confirmed that his brother, Travis Kelce, has been dating Taylor Swift. Or is it just a big bro picking on his little bro?

• 🍔What-a-Quarterback: Patrick Mahomes, quarterback of the Chiefs and owner of several Whataburger restaurants, is opening another location in Johnson County.

• 🌯 Drive-Thru Burritos: City filings show that Chipotle is taking over the old Google fiber building and including a drive-thru lane.

• 👑Crowning Monarchs: The KC Monarchs won their 3rd championship in 5 years this weekend with a walk-off win.

• 📝Accelerated Program: Edgerton Elementary and Roesland Elementary both were awarded the 2023 National Blue Ribbon honor.

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