Show Me Lee’s Summit: A Celebration of the Missouri Bicentennial
April through May of 2021, join us in the lobby of the Lee’s Summit City Hall for Show Me Lee’s Summit: A Celebration of the Missouri Bicentennial! The exhibit is sponsored by the Lee’s Summit History Museum and will highlight the area that has become Lee’s Summit since 1821 through maps, photos, and artifacts.
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.
Kansas City Black History
There is no Kansas City without Black Kansas City. African American educators, activists, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and athletes built a vibrant community that shaped the city and the nation. For the past 12 years, the Local Investment Commission, Kansas City Public Library, and Black Archives of Mid-America have celebrated this underappreciated history in annually published poster sets, booklets, and calendars that highlight the history of Black excellence in the metro. To commemorate Missouri’s bicentennial year, the 2021 Kansas City Black History project features a special edition publication with more than 50 biographies of notable Black citizens and a collection of essays on the African American experience in Kansas City. Print and electronic versions of the publication will be freely available to the public. Additional content – including lesson plans and other educational resources – will appear in early 2021 on a new website: kcblackhistory.org.
State of Stories: Commemorating the Missouri Bicentennial
State of Stories is a series of free public programs developed by The Story Center at Mid-Continent Public Library and the University of Missouri Extension Community Arts Program. Programs will explore Missouri history and culture through storytelling performances and workshops, book conversations, lectures, a publication, and other activities.
Missouri Mondays: Harry S. Truman’s Connections Across Missouri
Missouri Mondays: Harry S. Truman’s Connections Across Missouri is a social media campaign that will focus each week on a different Missouri town and its connection to Harry S. Truman. The Truman Library will use photos, documents, and motion picture footage to illustrate the connections that Truman made across Missouri that helped him win election to the Senate in 1934 and 1940, and made him a viable vice-presidential and presidential candidate in 1944 and 1948. This campaign will promote understanding of different Missouri communities, and illustrate the different ways that Missouri’s only President made an impact throughout the state, and not just his home region. Follow the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum on these social medial platforms:
Facebook: @TrumanPresidentialLibrary
Twitter: @TrumanLibrary
YouTube: HarrySTrumanLibrary
Instagram: @Truman.Library
Bird’s 99th Birthday Bash
PAST EVENT
Join Jackson County Historical Society and the Mutual Musicians Foundation for Bird’s 99th Birthday Bash to celebrate Charlies ‘Bird’ Parker’s 99th Birthday! The event on August 24, 2019, at 6:00 pm at the Mutual Musicians Foundation – 1823 Highland Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri – celebrated the history of Kansas City jazz and such jazz greats as Charlie Parker, Bennie Moten, and Count Basie – all who played and jammed at the Mutual Musicians Hall, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The evening event included live performances with original and contemporary arrangements of their classics as well as food and drinks.
Live Action Oregon Trail
PAST EVENT
Will you survive the trail? Or die of dysentery? Test your luck at the Live Action Oregon Trail game!
Independence, Missouri, served as the launching point for many moving West. The game, a partnership between the Jackson County Historical Society and National Frontier Trails Museum, highlighted the challenges facing settlers moving out across the Oregon Trail.
Teams of 4 saw if they had what it takes to survive the Oregon Trail! There were 10 stops along the way with games, trivia, and relay races. Teams packed their wagon, “hunted” wild game, and much more! Each team had the chance to win points at each stop. The team with the most overall points won Live Action Oregon Trail! There was also a prize for the best-dressed team.
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.
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