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Your connection to Downtown Kansas City: Essays and images for KC’s Downtown dwellers, 9-to-5’ers, and urban explorers

In The Loop

In The Loop: July 2023

Your connection to Downtown Kansas City

Kevin Worley

Jun 25, 2023

Twitter remains a mess, but we’re still there and, thanks to all the great readers and followers, we have some pretty good discussions there still. However, The Loop has opened a Spoutible.com account and hopes to move over there as soon as possible. The Spoutible Android app is already out and is the No. 1 social media app on Google Play as of this week. The iOS app for iPhone users is supposedly going to be available soon. Have a look at Spoutible and see what you think and, if you decide to jump in, give The Loop a follow!

And now, on to the The Loop….

Test your Downtown knowledge….

Q. Which team and stadium hosted the first nighttime baseball game using a permanent lighting system in Kansas City?

A. See the answer near the bottom of this issue.

July 1924: First comics section in the Kansas City Star

The Sunday edition of the Star on July 27, 1924, featured eight comics on eight pages, including “Gasoline Alley,” “Smitty,” “The Man in the Brown Derby,” “The Bungle Family,” “Hairbreadth Hairy,” “Reg’lar Fellers,” “Winnie Winkle,” and “Mr. and Mrs.”

**Above, excerpts from four of the eight original comics in the July 27, 1924,** **Kansas City Star** **comics section, the newspaper’s first such section.**

July 1931: Goodyear blimp burns at Downtown airport

The Mayflower II, a Goodyear blimp christened on May 17, 1929, would fly less than two months before it was destroyed in a fiery crash at Kansas City Airport.

On the evening of July 12, 1931 — six years before the infamous Hindenburg airship disaster in New Jersey — the crew of the Mayflower II had just removed the ship’s door for repairs when a storm approached with gusting winds and rain. The crew had hoped to get the blimp into the air to avoid ground-level threats associated with a moored airship, but it was too late. The vessel’s mast broke loose, then it struck a nearby hangar building before bumping into high-tension electrical lines, sparking a fire that caused the blimp to erupt into flames, including the gondola where Capt. Charles E. Brannigan, co-pilot R.H. Hobensack, and possibly one or two ground-crew members braced themselves.

Goodyear's Mayflower II blimp at unidentified locations. Left photo: Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Mo. Right photo: Goodyear Aircraft Corporation Photographic Department, Akron, Ohio.

At some point, co-pilot Hobensack and the two ground crew members were able to jump out through the door-less airship, but Capt. Brannigan remained on the out-of-control vessel which traveled eastward. Eventually the gondola, engulfed in flames, dropped onto the west slope of the railway grade across from what today is the Broadway Extension. Hobensack had chased the blimp across the road and, soaked in rain, entered the flaming gondola to pull the captain out of the fire. Alas, it would be too late, as the captain would die from his burns five days later at the age of 35.

Before the disaster, passengers had been given rides over the Kansas City skyline with special interest given to two new architectural icons: The Power & Light building and the Fidelity National Bank & Trust Building, both of which had opened earlier that year.

The Kansas City Power & Light Building and the Fidelity National Bank & Trust Building, both opened in 1931, were the star attractions of the blimp rides when the Mayflower II was in town.

Make Music Day Kansas City!

Video story by Hannah Schuh

The world celebrated International Make Music Day on June 21 and, for the third consecutive year, Kansas City joined in. Summer staffer Hannah Schuh captured some of the day….

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Port KC: Goats and Sheep to help clear vegetation on riverfront

Beginning yesterday, Port KC welcomed several dozen four-legged friends to help clear invasive weeds taking over nature areas along the Riverfront Heritage Trail. The goats and sheep will be used to remove unwanted vegetation in a natural, environmentally friendly way. Over the course of several weeks, the goats will be moved in three phases along the nearly three-acre area. To learn more about the company that supplies the animals, click here:

LINK: Goats on the Go website

Lilly’s Cantina: Midtown Mexican cafe relocating to the Boulevard

According to their social media accounts, Lilly’s Cantina, currently on Southwest Trafficway, will be moving July 1 to 900 Southwest Boulevard, former home of the Tenderloin Grill (which recently moved to the City Market). In the summertime, I suggest the Fresca margarita!

LINK: Lilly’s Cantina Instagram Account

**900 Southwest Blvd. as the Tenderloin Grill — soon to be Lilly’s Cantina.**

KC Streetcar Authority: Art in The Loop 2023 kicks off

The 2023 Art in the Loop program kicked off Wednesday with the unveiling of KC Streetcar #804 as one of the Art in the Loop projects and, later that night, by celebrating all of the artists whose works will be displayed at KC Streetcar stops, at the downtown ARTwall, and on KC Streetcar #804 between June and November 2023. For a full rundown of artists, artworks, and locations, click below:

LINK: Art in the Loop Kick Off Events

**Here, With You** **by Arin Yoon at the River Market North streetcar stop**

Twitter: Streetcar halfway there

Last month marked a significant benchmark for the streetcar extension:

Bringing you some of the most interesting properties for sale or lease in and around Downtown Kansas City….

Open house today in Beacon Hill

2400 Forest Ave, Kansas City, MO 64108

Property presented by: Sandra Kenney
Brokered by: Chartwell Realty L L C
Price: $800,000
See the property online here

Homes and buildings featured in The Loop are not necessarily recommendations or endorsements, but rather illustrations of interesting properties for sale or lease in the vicinity of Downtown. Properties may or may not remain available at time of publishing.

1915

**Isaiah McDaniel,** **Demonstrations 3**. Oil pastel, acrylic and modeling paste on canvas, 55 x 68 inches, 2023. A derivation of this work is included as part of the Art in the Loop program, and can be seen at the Metro Center Northbound (12th and Main) streetcar stop.

**Spectacular image from last weekend’s Boulevardia festival by Ryan Mott.**

Who are all these people?

Answering the question “Who are all these people and where are they going?”, The Loop brings you a list of some of the biggest events happening Downtown each week. Please give a friendly Downtown-Kansas City welcome to audiences and attendees of….

JUNE

TODAY (25th)

Kansas City Symphony presents Season Finale Broberg Plays Rachmaninoff, with Puccini and Tchaikovsky, June 25 at Kauffman Center
Bluey’s Big Play - The Stage Show, June 25 at Kauffman Center

26th - July 1

Grace Piper Fields, June 27 at Folly Theater
Dirty Heads, June 27 at Grinders KC
Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Hailey Whitters, June 29 at KC Live! Block
Fleet Foxes, July 1 at the Midland
Peso Pluma, July 1 at T-Mobile Center

JULY

2nd - 8th

Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Randy Rogers Band, July 6 at KC Live! Block
First Friday, July 7 in the Crossroads Arts District
First Friday Weekend, July 6-9 in the Tower East KC neighborhood
First Friday Weekend, July 7-9 in the West Bottoms district
Sparks, July 8 at the Midland

9th - 15th

Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Kip Moore, July 13 at KC Live! Block
KC Fringe Festival, July 14-30 at various locations
Andrew McMahon, July 14 at KC Live! Block
Kauffman Center presents Dave Koz & Friends: Summer Horns 2023 with special guests Candy Dulfer & Eric Darius, July 15 at Kauffman Center

16th - 22nd

The Smile, July 19 at the Midland
Shania Twain, July 19 at T-Mobile Center
Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Granger Smith, July 20 at KC Live! Block
The Backseat Lovers, July 21 at Grinders KC
Jagged Edge, Ginuwine & Shai, July 22 at the Midland
DaBaby & Gucci Mane, July 22 at T-Mobile Center
Tedeschi Trucks Band, July 22 at the Kansas City Convention Center

23rd - 29th

Death Grips, July 25 at the Midland
Miller Lite Hot Country Nights: Brothers Osborne, July 27 at KC Live! Block
Kansas, July 27 at the Midland
Dude Perfect, July 27 at T-Mobile Center
Jinkx Monsoon, July 29 at Folly Theater
Michael Franti & Spearhead, July 29 at KC Live! Block

30th - 31st

Theresa Caputo, July 30 at the Midland

For a more exhaustive list of everything happening Downtown, go to the VisitKC events page and use the “regions” function to search for Downtown, Westside/Southwest Blvd, West Bottoms, River Market, Power & Light, Crown Center, Crossroads, 18th & Vine — or anywhere you want to go in the KC Metro

For live Kansas City Jazz performances, visit LiveJazzKC.com

Q. Which team and stadium hosted the first nighttime baseball game using a permanent lighting system in Kansas City?

A. The Kansas City Monarchs had played under portable lighting as early as 1930, but the first permanent lights were used at Muehlebach Field (later Municipal Stadium) for a Kansas City Blues minor league home game on July 6, 1932. The Blues lost 3-0 to the Indianapolis Indians, a team that still exists today as a Triple-A farm team for the Pittsburgh Pirates.