KCKidsFun

Friday, September 2, 2011

• Rock The Light music and arts festival: A Great Family “Staycation” over Labor Day weekend (Sept 2-4). Come out to Youthfront South campground in LaCygne, KS, and camp, enjoy music, participate in sports competitions and attend special interest tents and workshops. Also, enjoy lake activities such as canoes, paddle boats, a lake Blob, pool and waterslide and much more. Special programming for children, and kiddos 5 and under get in free. See www.rockthelight.com for more info.
• Santa-Cali-Gon Days, Independence, MO – September 1 thru September 5 – 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 2 thru 4 – awesome children’s area at this Crown Center event

Saturday, September 3, 2011

• Santa-Cali-Gon Days, Independence, MO – September 1 thru September 5 – TONS of fun for kids and adults alike. If you’ve never been, you should definitely try this one!
• Midland Railway’s Railfest 2011 – Baldwin City, KS – train rides, motorcar rides, music and food!
• Kansas City Irish Fest, Kansas City, MO – September 2 thru 4 – awesome children’s area at this Crown Center event
• Kansas City Renaissance Festival, Bonner Springs, KS – September 3 thru October 16 (Saturdays, Sundays & Labor Day)

Sunday, September 4, 2011

• Santa-Cali-Gon Days, Independence, MO – September 1 thru September 5 – TONS of fun for kids and adults alike. If you’ve never been, you should definitely try this one!
• Silent Movie Sunday: Shoulder Arms at the National World War I Museum, 1pm – In this 1918 movie, Charlie Chaplin stars as a private who outshines all others with his incompetence. At night, he dreams of what he will do on the battlefields. Once there, he saves the girl and captures German leaders; but is it all still a dream? Bring your family to watch the comic genius in this free event that will take place in the Museum’s J.C. Nichols Auditorium.
• Midland Railway’s Railfest 2011 – Baldwin City, KS – train rides, motorcar rides, music and food!
• First Sunday Family Fun Day, noon to 4 p.m. at the Kansas City Museum. Families will use printmaking techniques using fruits and vegetables, as well as blocking printing and stamping to create wonderful pieces of art to take home!
• Kansas City Irish Fest, Kansas City, MO – September 2 thru 4 – awesome children’s area at this Crown Center event
• Kansas City Renaissance Festival, Bonner Springs, KS – September 3 thru October 16 (Saturdays, Sundays & Labor Day)

Monday, September 5, 2011

• Blue Valley Rec Open Gym, Overland Park, KS – 10:30am-3:30pm
• Santa-Cali-Gon Days, Independence, MO – September 1 thru September 5 – TONS of fun for kids and adults alike. If you’ve never been, you should definitely try this one!
• Midland Railway’s Railfest 2011 – Baldwin City, KS – train rides, motorcar rides, music and food!
• National World War I Museum open 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. – Last day to view special exhibition “Following My Grandfather’s World War I Diary, A Photographic Journey.” Exhibition in Memory Hall is included with regular Museum admission. Hands-on History for kids from 1 – 2:30 p.m.
• Kansas City Renaissance Festival, Bonner Springs, KS – September 3 thru October 16 (Saturdays, Sundays & Labor Day)
• POPS IN THE PARK with the Kansas City Symphony – 7pm at The Theatre in the Park at Shawnee Mission Park, 7710 Renner Rd, Shawnee, KS 66219 – The Kansas City Symphony’s FREE Labor Day concert celebrates the holiday with familiar classics and your favorite movie themes — from Pirates of the Caribbean to Star Wars! Bring your family and friends, plus blankets and lawn chairs. The parking lot opens at 4:30 p.m.; gates open at 5pm Instrument Petting Zoo begins at 5:30pm.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

• Annual Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus Animal Walk, 6am. (PLEASE NOTE the start time is subject to change due to the nature of railway traffic). The animal walk will begin at Avenida Cesar E Chavez and W 22nd Street on the North Side of Union Station and continue downtown to Sprint Center.
• Leawood City Pool Doggie Dunk – 5:00-7:00pm

In celebration of annual National Museum Day, scheduled this year for Saturday, Sept 24, 2011, the city of Independence, MO (and many others, including KCMO)  has attractions that are joining with hundreds of other museums across the nation to offer free admission to seven of the city’s popular tourism sites. The promotion, spearheaded by the famous Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. is held to encourage awareness of museums and increase visitation by those who might not usually tour museums around the country.

Residents and visitors are invited to take advantage of free admission to the city’s top attractions on that day. In order to gain admission, go to the Museum Day website at microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/ and print off the special ticket pass, which is good for free admission to one museum for the ticket holder and one guest. There is a limit of one ticket per household. The following Independence museums are participating in the September 24 event.

• The 1859 Jail & Marshal’s Home and Museum, 217 N. Main
• Bingham-Waggoner Estate, 313 W. Pacific
• Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, 500 W. U.S. 24 Highway
• Leila’s Hair Museum, 1333 S. Noland Road
• National Frontier Trails Museum, 318 W. Pacific
• Puppetry Arts Institute, 11025 E. Winner Road
• Vaile Mansion, 1500 N. Liberty

The Harry S. Truman Home National Historic Site at 201 N. Delaware will be free all day in honor of National Lands Day, although complimentary tickets must be obtained for specific tour times at the Truman Home Ticket Center, 223 N. Main. As always, the Community of Christ Temple, 201 S. River and Auditorium, 1001 W. Walnut, Mormon Visitors Center, 937 W. Walnut, and Chicago & Alton Depot, 318 W. Pacific, are free. Make life easier and catch the Truman Trolley, offering rides all day for only a buck a person, as you and your family travel from the Square past many of the city’s tourism attractions. For trolley details, click here.

You can also call Independence Tourism at (816) 325-7111, toll free (800) 748-7323 or go to www.visitindependence.com.

It seems that everyone likes trains.  Grandparents, travelers, children…you name it.  Luckily, Kansas City offers ample opportunities to take in a train ride. Here’s a rundown of some railway-related activities!

It’s that time of year…when Thomas & Friends/Day Out With Thomas gets ready to roll into Baldwin City, KS.  If you’re not familiar with the program…The Midway Railway in Baldwin City is where it all goes down.  There are six dates for Thomas’s 2011 appearance…June 3,4,5,10, 11 and 12.

“The Leader of the Track Tour 2011″ includes a 25-minute ride with a full-size Thomas the Tank Engine, a meeting with Sir Topham Hatt, Storytelling, Live Music and more.  Tickets are $18 for ages 2+ and advance purchase is strongly recommended.  Thomas is rain or shine!

The Midland Railway operates excursion trains on a line originally constructed in 1867. Train rides feature an over-20-mile round trip from Baldwin City via “Norwood, Kansas” to Ottawa Junction, Kansas, traveling through Eastern Kansas farmland and woods via vintage railway equipment. It is a completely volunteer-staffed, non-profit, common carrier railroad operated to preserve and display transportation history as an educational demonstration railroad.

You can click here for regular Railway Schedule and Fares.  Baldwin City is on U.S. 56 Hwy, 4 miles east of U.S. 59 Hwy; 10 miles north of 1-35 (Ottawa) and 17 miles south of 1-70 (Lawrence). From U.S. 56, turn south onto 8th or 11th Streets, then right (west) onto High Street. Follow the signs to the Midland Railway Depot.

If you take Hwy 71 South, you’ll end up in Belton, MO.  There, you will find the Belton, Grandview & Kansas City Railroad.  The Belton, Grandview and Kansas City Railroad Co. is a short line passenger railroad and demonstration museum just south of the Kansas City Metro Area. The BG&KC offers excursions on their line running south from Belton on a 5 mile, 45 minute round trip. It is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving rail travel and railroading.

If you want to head north, you will find the Kansas City Northern Railroad/Line Creek Route. Take I-29 North to NW Waukomis Drive. The route is open May-September and fare is 50 cents per ride, all ages! Now seriously- when is the last time something cost 50 cents?!?  Trains depart from the depot approximately every 7 minutes.  Again, when do you recall only waiting 7 minutes for something fun?!? The restored Miniature Train Company (MTC) and Allen Hershell G-16 trains operate on ½ mile of track in the park. All trains are powered by V-4 Wisconsin air cooled gasoline engines of 26-28 horse power. These engines were used in hay balers and early Bobcat skid loaders. The tunnel is 110′ long and the face stone for the portals came from the old Paseo High School when it was torn down. Group charter rides can be scheduled for Fridays during open season for only $20.00.  They also charter by the hour–the cost per hour is $75.00.

Don’t forget about Amtrak, too.  The Missouri River Runner Route will take you all the way east to St. Louis, MO.  You can hop the train in downtown Kansas City, MO, Lee’s Summit, MO and Independence, MO.  What a fun, educational way to see Missouri and travel as a family!