"Up to Date in Kansas City" a Kansas City Travel Page by yooperprof

Kansas City's "New" Downtown - including the new headquarters of H & R Block, and the "Sprint Arena" - part of a multi-billion dollar boom that is infusing life bringing some much needed energy to the urban core.

Sometimes I see references to Kansas City as being the capital of the "Breadbasket" of America. It doesn't seem quite right to me for several reasons. For one thing, the main wheat-growing "belt" is a couple hundred miles west of K.C. You do see _some_ grain elevators here, but nothing compared to the massive rows in a place like Duluth. All of the slaughter-houses - the meat-packing plants moved out decades ago, and the stockyards are closed for good. And the Future Farmers of America - who used to meet here every year - have moved their annual convention to Louisville! When I was younger we used to go downtown for the F.F.A. parade - but I think that there is still a parade for the big American Royal Livestock Show every fall.

The Country Club Plaza - the most "picturesque" area of Kansas City - was a 1920s shopping center designed to create associations with medieval Granada. Decorative towers, fountains, and sculptures interlaced with chi-chi shopping and a mix of local and chain high-end restaurants make the Plaza what it is. I'm not sure how I feel about it - it has elements of kitsch, to be sure, but it is also one of the few successful "urban spaces" in the region. A downside is that it is owned and operated as a fiefdom by a private developer. The upside is that there are a number of pretty things there, and in general it's the type of place that would never be built today - somehow, we can't "afford" this kind of thing any longer.