KCKidsFun

RED Development’s Duck Derby benefitting Children’s TLC will take place this SUNDAY–June 27, 2010 on the Country Club Plaza’s Brush Creek.  The fun begins at 11:00 am and will include food vendors, a Kids Zone with inflatables, face and hair painting, performances by Funky Mama and the JoCo All Star Band, and much, much more. There will also be a special performance by the Jewish Community Center Theater as they showcase excerpts from their summer production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

What is Duck Derby, you might ask?  Imagine tens of thousands of rubber ducks floating down Brush Creek–all for a good cause!  The ducks are individually numbered and “adopted” with lots of cool prizes up for grabs. Prizes include Justin Bieber concert tickets, KC Hopps dining packages, original art by Mike Savage and numerous tickets to KC sporting and cultural events.  The “duck drop” is a sight your family won’t soon forget–they are dropped from a net suspended from a crane!

A duck adoption will cost you only $5, with online adoptions closing at midnight Saturday!  New this year is the option to adopt at area KC Hopps restaurants.  These include:  75th Street Brewery, Barley’s Brewhaus, 810 Zone, O’Dowd’s Little Dublin, Blue Moose Bar & Grill, Los Cabos and Wild Bill’s Legendary Steakhouse and Saloon.

A great afternoon on the Plaza for a great cause–the kids at our city’s own Children’s TLC preschool. Kate and I love this organization and wish everyone the best on Sunday!  Good luck.

The Kansas City air is getting hot and sticky. The mosquitos are biting and the kids are already complaining of boredom. Must be June in Kansas City!

And June in Kansas City means the start of a long schedule of fairs and festivals! We’ve already seen the Brookside Art Annual, the Prairie Village Art Show, Old Shawnee Days and Lee’s Summit Downtown Days.

But there are plenty left!  And each and every fair has a TON of awesome activities to share with your kids! KC’s fair and festival season is starting…and there are so many that you have ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE to not catch at least one!

The 2010 Kansas City fair and festival schedule looks like this:

Sugar Creek Slavic Festival - Sugar Creek, MO – June 11 and June 12

Scottish Highland Games & Celtic Festival, E.H. Young Park, Riverside, MO – June 11 thru June 13

Greek Festival – St. Dionysios Greek Orthodox Church, Overland Park – June 11 thru June 13

Dragon Boat Festival, Brush Creek near the Country Club Plaza, KCMO – June 12

Fiesta Filipina – Filipino Cultural Center, 79th St. between Antioch & Frontage in Overland Park – June 12 and June 13

Festival on the Trails, Gardner, KS – June 12

Belton (MO) Community Days, Mackey Park – June 16 thru June 19

Browne’s Irish Street Faire – Kansas City, MO – June 19

Chalk & Walk Festival, Crown Center Square, Kansas City, MO – June 19 & June 20

28th Annual Waterfest, Excelsior Springs, MO – June 26 and June 27

KC Riverfest – Berkley Riverfront Park, KCMO – July 3 and July 4

Cass County Fair, Pleasant Hill, MO – July 13 thru July 18

Amelia Earhart Festival – Atchison, KS - July 16 and July 17

Miami County Fair, Paola, KS – July 24 thru July 31

KC Fringe Festival – various KCMO locations – July 23 thru August 1

Platte County Fair, Platte City, MO – July 21 thru July 24

Douglas County Fair, Lawrence, KS – August 3 thru August 7

Wyandotte County Fair, Kansas City, KS – July 27 thru July 30 (4H fair only this year; to be held in Leavenworth County due to unavailability of new fairgrounds)

Johnson County Fair, Gardner, KS – August 2 thru August 7 – don’t miss the rodeo, Family Fun Night or the parade!

Missouri State Fair, Sedalia, MO – August 12 thru August 22 – 12 & under FREE every day; lot of free kids’ entertainment

Festival of Butterflies, Powell Gardens, Kingsville, MO – August 6 thru August 8 and August 13 thru August 15 – no carnival but still super cool!

Leavenworth County Fair, Tonganoxie, KS – August 10 thru August 14

5th Annual Midwest Kids Fest, Overland Park, KS – August 21 and 22, Overland Park Trade Center

Ethnic Enrichment Festival, Kansas City, MO – August 20 thru August 22

Trails West!, St. Joseph, MO – August 20 thru August 22

Parkville Days Riverfest, Parkville, MO – August 20 thru August 22

Lewis & Clark Trail Days, Buckner, MO – August 27 and August 28

Santa-Cali-Gon Days, Independence, MO – September 2 thru September 6 – TONS of fun for kids and adults alike. If you’ve never been, you should definitely try this one!

Kansas City Irish Fest, Kansas City, MO – September 3 thru 5 – awesome children’s area at this Crown Center event

Kansas City Renaissance Festival, Bonner Springs, KS – September 4 thru October 17

The 48th Annual Annunciation Greek Food Festival, Kansas City, MO – September 10 thru September 12

Old Settlers Days, Olathe, KS – September 9 thru September 11

Valley Fair Days, Grain Valley, MO – September 10 and September 11

Kansas State Fair, Hutchinson, KS – September 10 thru September 19 – Selena Gomez closes the Fair on the 19th!

Blue Springs Fall Fun Festival, Blue Springs, MO – September 17 thru September 19

Zona Rosa Art Festival, Kansas City north, MO – September 17 thru September 19

Jesse James Festival, Kearney, MO – September 10 thru September 19

Plaza Art Fair, Kansas City, MO – September 24 thru September 26 – spend some time at the Kids’ Art Workshop!

(Photos via jonathan_moreau)

It’s hard to believe that our weekends are already getting scheduled into May! You’ll definitely want to save some time to attend the Brookside Art Annual with your family.  This year’s event takes place the last weekend in April— April 30, May 1 and May 2, 2010.  This also marks the 25th year of this wonderful, uniquely Kansas City event!

If you’re not familiar with the Brookside neighborhood, it’s one of KC’s most recognizable.  It’s centrally located in KCMO and is only a few south minutes of the Country Club Plaza.  This is a national caliber event, and the art show and draws over 70,000 visitors to this eclectic neighborhood on 63rd St., between Main Street and Wornall Road.

If you are like my family, you can’t head out without first planning where to eat.  Brookside is full of choices, from the fancy to the neighborhood joint.  Typically, most of the local restaurants operate food booths with a limited menu.  Kid-friendly choices include a Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream/Topsy’s Popcorn Shoppe, Bella Napoli (for pizzas and sandwiches), Blue Grotto for wood-fired pizzas, Brooksider Bar and Grill, Charlie Hooper’s Bar and Grill, DoMo Japanese Restaurant, Foo’s Frozen Custard and Jalapeno’s Mexican Restaurant!   I still didn’t come close to mentioning every one!

2010 Fair hours are Friday, April 30, from 5pm-9pm.  Saturday, May 1 from 10am-9pm and Sunday, May 2 from 11am to 5pm.  The show features children’s activities on Saturday and Sunday and light music in the evenings.

Load up the stroller, get outside and enjoy the art fair!  Who knows–you might even find that piece you’ve been looking for…

*image courtesy of Brookside Business Association