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The Group Travel Leader Going on Faith Select Traveler

The Charming Side of Kansas City

Visitors can experience fast-paced adventure while enjoying warm hospitality in Kansas City. The eclectic mix of attractions and event sites will keep them entertained from morning until night. And in Lawrence, art and music thrive, making it the perfect place to indulge their creative sides.

 

Kansas City

Kansas City, Kansas, has small-town charm with major attractions. It is part of the larger metropolitan area of two cities that share the border of Kansas and Missouri.

“We still value our history, and we have a lot of small historical museums,” said Kerry Green, group and event manager of the Kansas City, Kansas, Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We also have major attractions like the Kansas Speedway and Schlitterbahn Kansas City Waterpark.”

The local flavor is diverse and offers unusual opportunities for visitors. History buffs love the museums, including the Clendening History of Medicine Museum, the Huron Indian Cemetery, the Lewis and Clark Historic Park at Caw Point, and the Strawberry Hill Ethnic Museum and Cultural Center.

Strawberry Hill is particularly unusual in that it focuses on the history of European immigrants who settled in Kansas in the early 1900s.

“Each room is decorated based on a different culture,” Green said. “In the Slavic room, for example, you can see how they decorated their Christmas trees, their china and the toys they gave to children.”

Another fun attraction is the annual Renaissance festival. Now in its 26th year, the festival runs every weekend from Labor Day to Columbus Day. Guests enjoy food and drink, mingle with actors in period clothing and watch 20 different stages set up with nonstop entertainment.

For activities with speed, visitors can fly down the “Verruckt,” the world’s tallest and fastest waterslide at Schlitterbahn Kansas City Waterpark; race down zip lines at Adventure Zip Kansas City; or get behind the wheel at the Richard Petty Driving Experience at Kansas Speedway.

Special venues for off-site events include Sporting Park, the Grinter Place State Historic Site and Memorial Hall, Cabela’s and Cider Hill Family Orchard.

Sporting Park is home to the Major League Soccer team Sporting Kansas City, and the stadium’s Sporting Club offers modern, flexible space to host corporate meetings, private parties, galas and other catered events.

Grinter Place is an 1857 home built by early settlers on the Delaware Indian Reserve that offers a look into early frontier life and a quaint setting for meetings and parties.

Cabela’s is a retail store for hunting, fishing and outdoor gear, as well as home to the Mule Deer Country Museum, which showcases life-size trophy animals in their natural surroundings. The megastore also has an art gallery, a furniture department and a gun library, and the site’s in-house catering makes for an efficient meeting place.

Cider Hill Family Orchard sits on 25 acres and has 900 apple trees. Visitors pick their own apples and pumpkins, and fish in the ponds. The Event Barn is a fun locale for everything from corporate dinners to parties.

If you’re looking for out-of-the-box places to stay, visit Chateau Avalon, which has 61 guest rooms and 23 concept suites. The boutique hotel features themed rooms such as the “Tahitian Treehouse” and the “New York Penthouse.”

Primary meeting facility: Jack Reardon Convention Center

Other meeting properties: Great Wolf Lodge, Cabela’s, Cider Hill Orchard

Largest meeting space: Jack Reardon Convention Center (20,000 square feet)

Total hotel rooms: 1,751

CVB website: www.visitkansascityks.com