Favorite Festivals in Kansas City

Spring and summer mean festival season in Kansas City! From trendy boutique shopping to old-fashioned county fairs, ethnic festivals with delicious delicacies and local barbecue festivals, there is something for everyone! Click here for our complete guide to Festivals in Kansas City. These are some of our annual favorites!

Brookside Art Annual May 5-7, Brookside District, BrooksideKC.org. This is the first art show of the year and draws more than 70,000 people from the entire region. This show focuses on art! This community loves art shows, and this one consistently ranks in the top 25 shows according to Art Source.

Strawberry Swing May 6-7, Alexander Majors Barn, TheStrawberrySwing.org. This event has been voted one of the top indie craft fairs in the world. Featuring more than100 handmade and vintage vendors, food trucks, live music, kids crafts, photo booth and so much F-U-N!

Celebration at the Station May 28, lawn of National WWI Museum and Memorial overlooking Union Station, KCSymphony.org. The Kansas City Symphony’s 15th annual patriotic concert event is the largest FREE Memorial Day weekend festival in the Midwest. This year, the festival welcomes singer Patti Austin as special musical guest and host. From a moving symphony concert to the city’s grandest fireworks display, nothing celebrates our military and veterans quite like this event. Enjoy pre-concert musical acts, food trucks and entertainment.

Old Shawnee Days June 1-4, Old Shawnee, OldShawneeDays.org. Kick off your summer with everyone’s favorite Shawnee event: Old Shawnee Days! There’s something for everyone: music, carnival rides, contests, games, the parade, crafts, shopping, festival food and so much more. 

Jazzoo June 2, Kansas City Zoo, KansasCityZoo.org. Jazzoo is the Kansas City Zoo’s largest fundraiser, and your attendance helps the zoo feed and care for more than 1,700 animals and educate Kansas City youth through the Zoo Learning Fund. Jazzoo includes live jazz music, performers and a delicious array of food and drink.

Downtown Days June 2-4, Downtown Lee’s Summit, DowntownLS.org. Downtown Days is a family-friendly festival featuring live entertainment, arts and crafts, a carnival, delicious food vendors, a kids area, and much more in Lee’s Summit’s eclectic downtown district!

Dragon Boat Festival June 10, Brush Creek, KCParks.org. The day includes cultural games, performances, delicious food and dragon boat races, plus fun activities for children of all ages. Dancers, drummers and musicians from all over town will entertain you on the stage. 

Crown Center Antique Festival June 10 -11, Crown Center, CrownCenter.com. The festival's 16th year will feature pottery, china, toys, linens, collectibles, furniture, jewelry, books and much more. Shop from more than 40 vendors at nearly 100 booths.

Great Lenexa BBQ Battle June 23-24, Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park, Lenexa.com. The fun begins on Friday as 185 teams arrive with some of the most unique smoking contraptions imaginable. The park comes alive with entertainment and music. The real contest begins Saturday as the judging tent buzzes with activity preparing for the first barbecue samples to arrive at noon.

Future Stages Festival June 25, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, KauffmanCenter.org. The FREE one-day festival invites youth and families to experience a diverse range of performances and interactive arts activities showcasing youth in the performing arts and is an extension of the Kauffman Center's Open Doors "Spotlight on Youth" program.

Maker Faire: Kansas City June 24-25, Union Station, MakerFaireKC.com. Maker Faire Kansas City celebrates things people create themselves—from new technology and electronic gizmos to urban farming and “slow-made” foods to homemade clothes, quilts and sculptures. The event brings together makers, crafters, inventors, hackers, scientists and artists for a faire full of fun and inspiration. New in 2017: Strawberry Swing, Kansas City’s indie craft fair, is hosting a pop-up craft fair at Maker Faire.

Flags for Freedom July 1-8, Merriam Marketplace, Merriam.org. Downtown Merriam and the surrounding area transform into perfect rows of patriotic pride as Flags 4 Freedom organizers place more than 1,600 U.S. flags at the Merriam Marketplace, Irene B. French Community Center and along Merriam and Johnson drives. Throughout the week, enjoy live music, food trucks and more.

Kansas City's Big Picnic July 23, lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Nelson-Atkins.org. Celebrate National Parks and Recreation month as KC Parks partners with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to host the biggest picnic the region has ever seen!  The Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park and Theis Park will be linked to become a giant space for Kansas City to come together for an evening of fun. Pack your own picnic or grab dinner from an on-site food truck! 

Festival of Butterflies Aug. 4-6 & 11-13, Powell Gardens, PowellGardens.org. The 2,500-square-foot conservatory transforms into a temporary butterfly house, filled to the brim with gorgeous blooms and hundreds of tropical butterflies. Festival days are packed with hands-on fun. Highlights include a native butterfly breezeway by master gardeners, Monarch Watch and the Idalia Society, kids crafts, storytelling, a costume parade, a butterfly catch-and-release area and much more.

Missouri State Fair Aug. 10-20, Sedalia, MO, MOStateFair.com.  The 400-acre fairgrounds will present premier livestock shows and competitive exhibits, as well as first-class professional entertainment. Admission charged. 

Ethnic Enrichment Festival of Kansas City Aug. 18-20, Swope Park, KCParks.org. Feel the world beat in the heart of America. This event is one of the largest festivals of its kind in the nation and features more than 60 different cultures selling their native foods and crafts and performing ethnic music and dances. The festival is held near the front entrance of historic Swope Park.  

Santa-Cali-Gon Days Sept. 1-4, Independence, MO, SantaCaliGon.com. The 45th Annual Santa-Cali-Gon Days commemorates the origin of the Santa Fe, California and Oregon trails during the nation’s great westward expansion by early pioneers. Enjoy more than 500 arts, crafts, food and commercial vendor booths, plus three FREE entertainment stages, a large carnival midway and demonstrations.