@Firebirds!
Welcome, {{secret_name | Secret Reader}}
Welcome to Q4! It’s been a little over a year of SecretKC, and I’m planning something special to celebrate! If I get my druthers, it’ll be a cocktail mixer at my new office’s event space, a tarot card reader, a couple of party games, and a musical duo performing! Sponsors and a couple of giveaways to round out the party! Happy Birthday, SecretKC!
🍸 The Weekend
Subterranean Ramblers @ Audrey's · Thursday / 6 PM
Live music in Audrey's weekly Thursday series, with cocktails, a deep bourbon list, and wine flights. 21+.
→ Audrey's Wine + Bourbon Lounge
A9iversary: Artist Night · Thursday / Doors 6 PM, Panel 6:30
Atlas9 turns one. The artists and creative team behind it hold a panel and Q&A, then go back to their own rooms to talk about the work. The $9 ticket includes admission, a fraction of a normal night.
→ Atlas9
Sally's Tomato @ The Black Dolphin · Thursday / 8 PM
Live set in the Grand Boulevard jazz room next door to Green Lady.
→ The Black Dolphin
Crossroads First Friday · Friday / ~5–9 PM
Gallery openings and open studios across the Arts District, plus free live music from Aden Eilts at Lifted Spirits Distillery.
→ Crossroads Arts District
American Royal World Series of Barbecue · Friday VIP Night
The Royal's first year on its own KCK campus. Construction means no main stage and no public grounds this year. Friday's VIP night in Barn 2 is the one way in without a team invite.
→ American Royal
Bill Murray and His Blood Brothers · Friday / 8 PM
The actor's rock-and-roll band, working classic material on the Knuckleheads stage. Meet-and-greet packages are limited. Not sold out, but resale starts around $155.
→ Knuckleheads Saloon
The J. Love Band · Saturday / 7–10 PM
Soul, funk, and blues with a pocket you can dance in.
→ The 1909 Club
📖 From the Guides
Not everything we write is about this weekend. The Guides are SecretKC's evergreen side: the bars, rooms, and rituals that hold up any night of the year. They live on the site, not in your inbox, so here's where to find them.
The Best Hotel Lobby Bars in Kansas City
Bar Stilwell made this week's list for a reason. Here's where the rest of the city's best hotel pours are hiding.
→ Read the guide
The Best of Kansas City Nightlife: SecretKC's Year One
A year of rooms, records, and last calls, boiled down to the places that earned a second visit.
→ Read the guide
💃🏽 Date Nights
National Vodka Day Cocktail Class · Sunday / 1 PM
Prime Social teams up with Beluga. A welcome cocktail, then you shake two of their signature cocktails yourself, with light bites paired to each, sixteen floors over the Plaza. $45. I'll see you there.
→ Prime Social Rooftop
Indigo Hour: Chalis O'Neal · Friday / 5:30 PM
The Blue Room's free early-evening Friday set, before the room fills for the late shows.
→ The Blue Room
Kevin Church Johnson · Friday / 7–10 PM
Soul, blues, and storytelling from a groove-driven performer, in Lee's Summit's cocktail-and-jazz room.
→ The 1909 Club
👨👩👧👦 Family Friendly
GloWild: Hidden Treasure · Friday–Sunday / 6–10 PM
The zoo after dark, lit up for a ticketed evening walk.
→ Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium
Weston Applefest · Saturday 10–5 / Sunday 11–5
Arts-and-crafts booths and apple everything down Main Street in historic Weston. Free.
→ Historic Weston
Missouri Town 50th Annual Fall Festival · Saturday & Sunday / 10 AM–5 PM
The living-history village marks fifty years of its fall festival. $15 per car.
→ Missouri Town Living History Museum
From the Bar
In 1899, it was cattlemen under a tent in the West Bottoms stockyards, at a Hereford show that grew into the American Royal. Henry Perry was already selling smoked meat out of an alley stand, the first barbecue joint Kansas City ever had. In 1980, the Royal needed a fundraiser and tried a barbecue contest. About two dozen teams showed up in a parking lot. Six years later, that contest had spawned the Kansas City Barbeque Society, which now sanctions competitions coast to coast. The World Series of Barbecue became the biggest in the world.
This weekend it moves again, a new campus out in KCK, with 350-plus teams firing up. Friday's VIP night is the way in if you don't have a team invite. Smaller year. Same BBQ smoke.
Saturday I'm headed to Lee's Summit for The J. Love Band at Libations. Soul, funk, blues, and drinks! Sunday I'm back on the roof at Prime Social for their National Vodka Day class with Beluga. I've done their World Cup open and the tequila class, and had a blast at both. You get a welcome cocktail, then you get a presentation and shake two of their signatures yourself. Sunday afternoon, sixteen floors up over the Plaza.
Smoke in KCK. Vodka on the Plaza. Funk in Lee's Summit. That's the weekend.
I'll see you at the bar ☾
Negroni!
— I’ll see you at the bar ☾
Jay, SecretKC editor
🥃 Cocktail Destinations
The Monarch Bar — Serious cocktails, serious energy.
→ The Monarch Bar
Verdigris — Leawood cocktail room from the Monarch/Mercury Room team.
→ Verdigris
Bar Stilwell — The Loews lobby bar downtown. A proper cocktail before or after anything nearby.
→ Bar Stilwell
P.S. Speakeasy — The old mail-sorting room in the Hotel Phillips basement. Reservations run about a month out.
→ P.S. Speakeasy
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