Independence Uncorked Wine Festival
The 8th Annual Independence Uncorked Wine Festival will be held on September, 11th, 2021, from 1:00pm-6:00pm on the grounds of the Historic Bingham-Waggoner Estate in Independence, MO. It will be the largest Missouri wine festivals in the state featuring 25 Missouri wineries sampling several of their wines, a guest spirits distiller, and over 2500 attendees. The day will also feature art, music, beer, food booths and wine classes all celebrating Missouri. The event is hosted by the Rotary Club of Eastern Independence. The cost will be $30 in advance and $40 at the door and will include a wine glass and 4 bottle wine bag (for 1st 2000 people). The Bingham-Waggoner Estate is an 1852 mansion and estate once owned by George Caleb Bingham, the famous Missouri artist. Proceeds from the events will go towards various national and local charities supported by Rotary to improve our community and state. The event will feature all Missouri made products and artists-wine, food, art and music with a Bicentennial celebration theme.
Festival of the Trails
Join us on September 11, 2021 for Raytown’s Festival of the Trails! The Raytown Chamber, Raytown Parks & Recreation, Cave Spring, Raytown Historical Society & Museum and the Rice-Tremonti Home, along with other organizations, will celebrate the state of Missouri’s bicentennial and commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Santa Fe Trail. Events may be planned throughout 2021 but the main event will be Saturday, September 11, 2021. Information will be updated as more events are planned and finalized, so stay tuned!
SantaCaliGon® Days Festival
The Annual SantaCaliGon® Days Festival in Independence, Missouri, commemorates the origin of the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon trails during the country’s great westward expansion in the 1800s by adventurous pioneers. Today more than 300,000 attendees celebrate family & fun over Labor Day Weekend. This year we celebrate 200 years of Missouri statehood and the 200-year anniversary of the Santa Fe Trail. This event honors and celebrates Missouri’s (and Independence’s) role in westward expansion. Attendees celebrate with food, music, arts and crafts, dance, etc. that reflect today and yesterday. There is no admission charge to festival grounds or for concerts. The 2021 Festival is scheduled for September 3-6.
Mule Power to Horse Power: 2021 American Solar Challenge
Independence, Missouri, Queen City of the Trails, will be the starting line for Mule Power to Horse Power: 2021 American Solar Challenge. This year, the course will follow the Santa Fe Trail route (200th anniversary) to Santa Fe, New Mexico. This is an annual competition for university students to design, build, and drive solar-powered cars in a time/travel rally. Join us on August 3, 2021, for Display Day, on the Historic Independence Square, to take a close look at the cars and talk with the design and build teams. We will also be celebrating Missouri’s bicentennial with a look back at transportation then and now. This event will celebrate Missouri’s role in the westward exploration and expansion of the country. In addition to the solar cars, we will have covered wagon rides (pulled by Missouri mules) and exhibits of other transportation (Steamboat Arabia for example). This is a free event on and around the historic downtown in Independence. It is provided with cooperation from Independence Parks and Rec, the Independence Square Association, and Innovators Educational Foundation.
François Chouteau and the Osage: Crossing Cultures with Molière
KC Molière:400 in 2022 has commissioned playwright Philip Blue Owl Hooser (Choctaw) to write a one-act play for outdoor performance at the opening of the Chouteau and Native American Heritage Fountain scheduled for July 24, 2021. His comedy for three men (one First Nations) & one woman is an upbeat comedy in which the French traders attempt to explain French culture using Molière’s work as example. Hilarity ensues as they bungle their little performance into something that might be called “Tartuffenthrope.” Good will prevails in spite of their misguided efforts and cross-cultural bonding is achieved. The inaugural performance is open to everyone on site of the new Chouteau & Native American fountain. Later the play will be touring to schools.
Francois Chouteau and Native American Heritage Fountain
The Francois Chouteau and Native American Heritage Fountain will honor those who first settled and traded in the area that would become Kansas City. This magnificent monument/fountain will celebrate Chouteau–the founder of Kansas City–and the Native Americans of the area. Three heroic-sized, bronze statues, depicting a trade encounter between Chouteau and two Native Americans, will be perched atop a rock structure resembling the Missouri River Bluffs. Water will flow over the bluff and into a “river” along the base. The same year Missouri was admitted to the union, Chouteau established a trading post along the Missouri River on its western frontier.
A day-long event to celebrate Missouri’s bicentennial and the new Francois Chouteau and Native American Heritage Fountain is in the works. Our celebration will take place on Saturday July 24, 2021 at the Chouteau fountain site. The event will include stage performances by MOliere 4000 in 2022, music presentations by high school bands, presentation of the flags, dignitary’s recognition of Missouri’s 200th anniversary, and more. We will have the unveiling of the fourth bronze sculpture for the fountain site, Native American culture dance, period fiddler & banjo players on the grounds during the day, fur trapper re-enactors, Native American & frontier art tents, youth activities if the pandemic will allow, horse drawn wagon rides, food trucks, and much more.
Blue Springs Corks & Canvas
Join us Saturday, June 19, 2021, from 11 am – 7 pm, for the Blue Springs Corks & Canvas Art & Wine Festival in historic Downtown Blue Springs. There will be free wine samples, live entertainment, and over 50 Artists and makers with product for sale.
State of Stories: The State of the State: Missouri Writers on Missouri
Dr. Sam Cohen, Associate Professor of English at the University of Missouri-Columbia, describes what the work of Missouri writers—from the first African American novelist Williams Wells Brown to Hannibal’s Mark Twain, Moberly’s Jack Conroy, St. Louis’s T. S. Eliot, Ntozake Shange, and Naomi Shihab Nye, Kansas City’s Melvin B. Tolson and Calvin Trillin, Columbia’s own John Williams, and West Plains’s Daniel Woodrell—tells us about the state of our state across its length and breadth and across its history. Live on The Story Center’s Facebook page.
State of Stories: Developing & Telling Historical, Family, and/or Community Stories
Dr. Gladys Caines-Coggswell collected stories from many of Missouri’s African American communities in her book Stories from the Heart: Missouri’s African-American Heritage. Angela J. Williams, BA, one of the contributors, will share the interviewing process that she used for the book. In this workshop, you will learn the art of collecting, researching, writing and/or telling historical and/or personal stories.
State of Stories: Stories from Family and Community
Wonderfully blending tradition and performance, Dr. Gladys Caines-Coggswell and Angela J. Williams, BA, bring to the stage stories of the African American experience in Missouri. They have shared stories that they’ve learned from several different areas. Both have learned from their great grandmothers, grandmothers, communities, and at family reunions. Some stories reach back to the days of slavery. Others were shared or collected during Coggswell’s research for her book, Stories from the Heart: Missouri’s African American Heritage. They also perform stories about their personal experiences. Live on The Story Center’s Facebook page.
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