Downtown is Back, Baby!

Tourism

Downtown is Back, Baby!

Happy Tuesday, Kansas City! Downtown Kansas City is serving as a model for resiliency in the post-pandemic world as it recently recovered to pre-2020 levels of visitors.

• We’re Back!: As of August 2023, Downtown KC has restored 100% of its 2019 unique visitors and 95% of visit frequency, with attendance rebounding in performing arts, museums, and entertainment.

• No More Remote Work: Employee visits to offices have also increased significantly by 78% since 2021. The residential population has grown by 13% since 2020, with more developments underway. Downtown remains the region's economic and cultural hub.

• Big City Living: Over the past two decades, Downtown KC evolved into a thriving, mixed-use neighborhood with housing, businesses, and more. In fact, Downtown's population has increased by 139% since 2000, totaling over 32,000 residents.

To read more about the milestone, check out this article from Downtown Kansas City.

Sponsored By: Scavuzzo’s Food Service

Restaurant Festival Returns

The third annual KC Restaurant Festival, a free yet exclusive event for local restaurants, is October 17th from 2-6 pm at Children’s Mercy Park.

• Major Event: The third annual festival is a celebration of restauranteurs as well as a jam-packed event filled with free food, free drinks, live demos, live music, and more.

• Demos on Demos: The event will showcase several local vendors offering the freshest ingredients possible in the KC area and several demos for those in the hospitality industry including food and cocktail demonstrations.

• Still Not Sold?: Alongside a great time, there will be several $1000 Warrior tipouts, 3 $1000 culinary tours, dozens of new ideas to help the local community, and more.

The event at Children’s Mercy Park on October 17 from 2-6 pm is free for any local restauranteur or restaurant employee. To find out more about the event, go to the KC Restaurant Festival website here.

Awards

Best Of The ‘Burbs

This year’s Best of Johnson County food and restaurant winners were released last week.

• Big Winner: Arguably the biggest winner from the list was Meddy’s in Prairie Village. The Mediterranean/ restaurant came home with 3 titles, Best New Restaurant, Best Mediterranean/Middle Eastern, and Best Vegetarian Food.

• Best Chef: While the best fine dining restaurant went to Story in Prairie Village, Best Chef was given to Hannah Winnett from the Wandering Vine at the Castle for her creations using high-quality seasonal ingredients.

• Best Of The Rest: Other winners on the list include local favorites such as Minsky’s Pizza winning Best Pizza, The Snack Shack winning Best Burger, and Bamboo Penny’s winning Best Thai.

To see the full list, check out the Shawnee Mission Post’s website here.

KC Daily Picks

In Other News

• 🐝Get In Formation: KCTV 5 put together a list of everything you need to know before you take on Beyonce’s final concert.

• 🎡Wheely Awesome: Take a deep dive into the Ferris Wheel that changed Kansas City’s skyline overnight.

• 🛬KC Steel Mill: After a malfunction with their plane, the Pittsburgh Steelers were forced to make an emergency stop in KC.

• ⛳Teeing Up: Check out the new golf concept Golf Ranch in Lee’s Summit and you can book a time online.

• 🌽Corny Coaching: Curious where they film those cornfield images of Andy Reid’s face? Check out Johnson Farms.

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