Kansas City's Memorial Day Weekend Fun Guide

Kick off summer fun with these great ideas for Memorial Day Weekend!

• Attend Celebration at the Station May 27 at 8:00 p.m. at Union Station (30 W. Pershing, Kansas City, MO). The Kansas City Symphony’s 16th annual patriotic concert event is the largest FREE Memorial Day weekend festival in the Midwest! From a moving Symphony concert to the city’s grandest fireworks display, nothing celebrates our military and veterans quite like Bank of America Celebration at the Station. Make it an all-day family affair with pre-concert musical acts, food trucks, Lee Jeans Family Zone, the Honeywell Veterans Place with services for veterans, plus activities inside Union Station and the National World War I Museum and Memorial. The event site opens at 3 p.m. Concert begins at 8 p.m.
• Spend Memorial Day Weekend at the Kansas City Zoo! Early mornings at the Kansas City Zoo are here for the summer. Starting on Saturday, May 26, the Zoo will open at 8 am daily. Wake up with the animals from May 26th through Labor Day.  On weekdays, the zoo will be open 8 am to 4 pm. On weekends, the zoo will be open 8 am to 5 pm. Explore the brand new Stingray Bay exhibit. Visitors will have the chance to touch cownose and southern stingrays and white-spotted bamboo sharks in this shallow touch pool. This indoor/outdoor facility is ideal for year-round guests, but most importantly, the state-of-the-art exhibit features a water filtration system providing a healthy habitat for the animals. Entrance to Stingray Bay is included with regular zoo admission. For an additional fee, you may participate in one of a limited number of feeding opportunities. AND, meet Bam Bam, the zoo's newest polar bear!  Bam Bam, a 30-year-old female bear, has joined Berlin in the Polar Bear Passage. Bam Bam came to us from the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, where she was born in November 1987. She arrived in early April and has now completed the quarantine process. She has been carefully introduced to Berlin through what we call a “howdy” where the two bears are allowed to first smell and then see each other before they are given physical contact with one another. The Polar Bear Species Survival Plan (SSP) recommended that Bam Bam be permanently transferred to the Kansas City Zoo. She joins Berlin, a 28-year-old female that has resided here since December 2012.  At 18,000 square feet, Polar Bear Passage was actually built to accommodate up to three bears so there is plenty of room for both of them to enjoy. 

• Honor Those who Served, May 25-28 at  National World War I Museum and Memorial. Admission to the Museum and Memorial is free for veterans and active duty military personnel, while general admission for the public is half-price all weekend (Friday-Monday, May 25-28). The Museum and Memorial offers several events during the course of the weekend for people of all ages and interests, including a free public ceremony at 10 a.m. on Memorial Day featuring a keynote address from former astronaut/space shuttle commander Jon McBride. As the commemoration of the Centennial of World War I (2014-19) continues, the National WWI Museum and Memorial serves as a fitting place to honor and recognize the men and women who sacrificed their lives while serving their country during Memorial Day weekend. Additionally, the Museum invites the public to “find your World War I connection” and discover how the Great War affected your family through records, photographs and more with a variety of programs throughout the weekend. 
• Check out Big Backyard at Powell Gardens thru Oct. 21. Explore an oversized world of everyday objects in this larger-than-life exhibition featuring backyard items such as Gigantic Adirondack chairs and an enormous birdhouse.
• Be the first to visit Trivial Pursuit®: A 50-State Adventure May 26 thru Sept. 3. FREE Admission. This pretend trek across the U.S.A. features an activity for every state and the District of Columbia. Ride a mule in the Grand Canyon, celebrate New Year's Eve in Times Square, hit a home run at Fenway Park, and guide your sled dog team on the Iditarod Trail, to name just a few! More than 70 hands-on learning opportunities address key academic standards for school-age visitors and highlight our nation's geography, history, music, pastimes and iconic tourist destinations; hundreds of U.S. trivia questions at interactive game stations encourage a little friendly competition; and photomurals feature of some America's most beautiful and iconic destinations and lots of fun facts.
• Explore Whirlwind: Art in Motion at Overland Park Arboretum thru Sept. 30. Kinetic art is a unique art form utilizing the environment to enhance the aesthetic experience for the viewer. Participating artist Lin Emery aptly described the artistry of kinetic sculpture when she said, “Elements are derived from nature, and I borrow natural elements — wind, water, magnets — to set them in motion. The rhythms are influenced by infinite variables: the points of balance, the normal frequency of each form, the interruption of the counterpoise. I juggle, juxtapose, and adjust to achieve the dance or pantomime that I want.”
• Guests to Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun enjoy admission to both parks for the price of one. Worlds of Fun wants to thank the men and women who have served and who are currently serving in our country’s military. Veterans of the American Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard receive complimentary admission to Worlds of Fun on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28. This season, Worlds of Fun welcomes a new ride, the Nordic Chaser. This family ride takes guests aboard mini ships that rotate speedily around a circuit as you experience the sensation of rising and falling along ocean waves. And this year, the Timber Wolf, the city’s original wooden coaster, opens with a brand new makeover. The park has replaced the helix with a high-speed, over-banked 70-degree turn. This thrilling final corner turns riders nearly sideways! Guests will continue to enjoy seven thrilling coasters, more than a hundred rides and attractions, and seasonal events.
• Experience Illuminated Waters May 25 & 26 at Theis Park. This unique, free, two-day water festival will combine everything we have all learned to love—StoneLion's giant puppet play, food trucks from around Kansas City, interactive art, games and music. Everything will be at Theis Park right next to Brush Creek. You’ll have the same fun you’ve always had, with Mother’s Day for Mother Earth—only this year experience new artists, strolling musicians and activities before the show, watch amazing giant puppets in a play, floating on the water, actually in the water and GLOWING. But wait, that’s not all – after the show join in the fun with a family friendly glow party afterwards. Glowing art, glo performers, backlight fun, music and interactive games alongside illuminated puppets.
• Schlitterbahn opens for the season Memorial Day weekend. Parking is always free and picnics are welcome. At Schlitterbahn Waterpark Kansas City, families enjoy shared experiences, such as an interconnected river system that takes them through more than a mile of rapids, currents, and tidal waves. Save up to $12 on Admission with our coupon.
• Enjoy Downtown Lee's Summit. May 25 is the 4th Friday Art Walk: Fourth Fridays Art Walks in Downtown Lee’s Summit are packed with a variety of activities including artist receptions, artist showcases, Music in the Park at Howard Station Park - this month is The Jack Snaps and the School of Rock, street theater, Yoga in the Streets, and even some surprises!  Enjoy free Friday night concerts featuring a variety of musical genres in Howard Station Park in Downtown Lee’s Summit. Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and/or blankets for seating. This event starts Memorial Day weekend and runs through Labor Day weekend. 
• Take advantage of your final chance to see The Art of the Brick at Union Station. The exhibit leaves on May 28. THE ART OF THE BRICK is the first major museum exhibition to use LEGO bricks as the sole art medium. Sawaya transforms LEGO bricks into tremendous and thought-provoking sculptures, elevating the toy to the realm of art. Sawaya’s ability to transform this common toy into something meaningful, his devotion to spatial perfection and the way he conceptualizes action, enables him to elevate what almost every child has played with into the status of contemporary art.
• Attend the FREE Salute to Veterans Corporation Airshow May 26 & 27 at Columbia Regional Airport, Columbia, MO. Salute to Veterans Corporation invites the public to their two-day airshow at Columbia Regional Airport over Memorial Day weekend. FREE admission and parking! 
• Local outdoor pools and spraygrounds open for the season. Our faves are featured in our KC Water Fun Guide.
• Enjoy Strawberry picking with the entire family. Check out our Strawberry Picking Guide for information.
• Visit one of Kansas City's attractions that you've never experienced before! Discover 500+ great local attractions in our KC Going Places guide.

And, check out our 100 Free (and Cheap) Ways to Enjoy Summer with Kids in KC for more ideas to kick off your summer of fun!