A Fond Farewell to Fall Fest 🍁
For the past seven years or so, our organization has been run on a volunteer basis, getting willing collaborators to pull off amazing events that it has truly been a joy to be a part of. All net revenues earned from our events go right back into our nonprofit organization, to pay for future events and activities that serve the locally-owned bars and restaurants around North Kansas City. And our ability to do that is only as good as the time and energy available by our volunteers.
That said, our committee has chosen to end on a high note, regarding the NKC Fall Fest event — with two successful street parties we will always fondly remember. Due to personal scheduling conflicts, business closings in NKC, and a crowded field of Fall events in the Kansas City area, we decided that instead of breaking the backs of the few volunteers available to go all-in this year, that we would approach the City of NKC about repurposing those tourism dollars for a future event.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who has supported the event in the past, as well as our Pint Path pub crawls. A big shout-out to Kathy Burrows, who led the effort last year… as well as Nathan Rausch of the Record Machine, who coordinated some pretty tasty band lineups in ’23 and ’24. If you’d like to thank this team of volunteers and buy them a drink sometime, reach out to Chandler Hottenstein, Kaleigh Rangel, Jessica Johnson, Kiley Sutter, and Sean Galloway (plus Sam Jones for lending her talents to Jessica’s arts and games space for the kiddos). And major thanks to Kim Nakahodo and Bryant Delong, who helped make this happen at the City level. Apologies if I’m forgetting anyone — there’s a whole army of day-of volunteers and champions for this event who contributed, little by little, along the way. We will miss Kathy, and Big Rip Brewing Co, on the southside of Swift Ave. She’s the glue that helps hold the craft brewing scene together in KC. Wherever she lands– be sure to make that a regular hangout of yours, as you’ll be in good hands!
North Kansas City is full of hard-working creative people, and I don’t doubt that whatever comes next will be spectacular. Thanks for giving us the chance, and let this be a reminder that you don’t have to have tons of resources or experience to put together a passion project. Go out and build a team, and make sure it’s something you want to work hard at, even if it means occupying that precious sliver of personal time that we don’t get enough of in life.
