On behalf of the Downtown Council, we hope you had a great Cinco de Mayo! As we continue to build off our Annual Luncheon theme of Connecting Communities, we wanted to highlight how in Downtown KC, this day is a wonderful opportunity to experience the rich tapestry of Mexican culture, especially on the Westside.
My name is Dasia Mendez and I am excited to step into my new role as a Business Liaison Ambassador for the Downtown and River Market Community Improvement Districts. I started my career not working for the man but the mouse—Mickey Mouse. During my time at Walt Disney World, I gained invaluable experience rooted in world-renowned standards of excellence and a customer-centric mentality that I hope will help me flourish in my new role.
We are so excited to have you join us later this week as we celebrate all things Downtown KC! First, we will gather Thursday evening in the south lobby of the Grand Ballroom at Bartle Hall for the Urban Hero Awards Reception. This event, from 5pm to 7pm, will recognize five outstanding individuals and small businesses who are passionate about making Downtown Kansas City a more vibrant place to live, work, and play. And then Friday is the 2025 Downtown Council’s Annual Luncheon.
The Downtown Council is thrilled to announce this year’s class of Urban Hero award winners who are making a significant impact in Downtown Kansas City. These individuals and organizations are dedicated to making connections not only in their communities, but throughout downtown through their roles as nonprofits, developers, retailers, and impact makers.
The Downtown Council is thrilled to announce that Mallory Brown, a renowned Human Connection Expert, will be our keynote speaker at this year’s Annual Luncheon on Friday, April 11th. Mallory is an adventure traveler, documentary filmmaker, and global humanitarian who has dedicated her life to connecting communities through impactful stories. In her keynote, she will draw upon her global experiences to highlight the significance of community-driven progress and illustrate how this approach can bolster initiatives taking place in Kansas City.
On behalf of the staff of the Downtown Council and the Annual Luncheon Planning Committee, we are excited to announce that Friday, April 11th will be the date of the 2025 Annual Luncheon. This year’s theme will be Downtown KC: Connecting Communities. From catalytic projects such as the South Loop and the Greenline, to promoting policies around housing and neighborhoods, this year’s luncheon will focus on a community update from the Imagine Downtown KC 2030 Strategic Plan.
Each year, in conjunction with our Annual Luncheon, the Downtown Council honors a new class of Urban Heroes. We invite you to participate in the nomination process by submitting the name of someone who you think deserves to be honored.
From all of us at the Downtown Council of Kansas City, we wish you and yours a warm and happy holiday season. We hope your time during this season is filled with family and friends, spent making memories and celebrating traditions.
With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, the staff at the Downtown Council would like to use this week’s post to express thanks to the downtown community.
On a picture-perfect day last month as Kansas City was getting ready to cheer on the Chiefs at their home opener, another celebration was happening at 8th and Paseo. For the second year in a row, the NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs, in partnership with Little Caesars, brought the Love Kitchen to the Beehive to deliver a hot meal to those in need. This is the third year that Little Caesars has been the official pizza sponsor of the NFL. In conjunction with that partnership, they have been traveling across the country with their Love Kitchen, a mobile restaurant on wheels, stopping in key NFL cities to provide pizza to communities in need.
The fish are no longer being thrown at the famous Pike Place Market, but that did not dampen the enjoyment members of the Downtown Council staff experienced when they visited Seattle last month for the International Downtown Association’s 70th Annual Conference & Marketplace. The IDA’s conference brings together urban place management professionals from across the U.S. and Canada to learn, network, and discover new ideas for their hometowns. Acronyms like BIDs, and CIDs, and SSAs could be heard in meeting rooms as over 1400 people gathered at the convention hotel.
Have you ever stopped to think about the impact that happens when you take a pencil and fill in a small bubble with graphite on a paper ballot? That small action, combined with hundreds and thousands of other filled-in bubbles, impacts the future direction of our communities, states, and country. Voters in Missouri, and throughout the country, had the chance to make their voices heard this past August 6th when the national primary election date was on the calendar.