Welcome, {{secret_name | Secret Reader}}
From the Bar
The World Cup is here, Kansas City!
I walked the Fan Fest grounds at the National WWI Museum and Memorial Tuesday evening, just past the 65-foot heart at the entrance. The lawn was still filling up. Languages I couldn't place floated across the grass. A couple of guys in Moroccan kits were taking photos nearby. A family from somewhere had a small child in an Ecuador jersey already covered in mustard!
The Fan Fest runs through July 11 — 18 days, free admission with advance registration, live music every day. Tech N9ne opens the main stage Friday night. The Chainsmokers take Saturday. But if you go expecting a concert, you're missing out. The real event is the crowd. It's the first time in most of our lives this city has been a destination for people who have no other reason to be here.
While you're downtown, keep an eye on the streetcar corridor. An Ecuadorian-born artist named MisterAlek is painting a large-scale mural on a wall near the line this week — Dos Naciones, Una Pasión — a permanent piece connecting Ecuador and Argentina ahead of their June 16 matchup at Arrowhead. The KC Streetcar is running all 18 Fan Fest days with expanded service, Plaza to City Market. Between nine and twelve cars on the line. Exit at World War One, Union Station, or Union Hill to reach the grounds. Take the train. There's a lot happening between now and July 11. The Crossroads Night Market kicks off this weekend — five consecutive weekends, 18th Street, free, no fences. And all the best night spots are still open.
I’ll see you at the bar ☾
—Jay, SecretKC editor
🥃 The Can’t Miss List
Rooms that always understand the assignment.
Hotel Bar · Evening
Bar Stillwell
Grown-ass bar energy. The best place to begin and end adventures.
Cocktails · Evening
Verdigris
Johnson County's most serious cocktail room. Worth the drive.
The Monarch Bar
Serious cocktails, serious energy. A clean handoff between dinner and the night.
Cafe · Day or Night
Café Corazón
Indigenous-owned Latin American café. Specialty coffee, yerba mate, empanadas, tamales. Not just a coffee shop. A room with a point of view. 3 locations
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Want to be in front of this crowd? A few placements available each issue — see what's open →
⚽ World Cup Weekend
FIFA Fan Festival™ · Thu–Sun / Hours vary The World Cup lands in KC this week. The Fan Fest opens its first run (June 11–14) on the south lawn of the National WWI Museum and Memorial — live match screens, local food vendors, activations, and headlined concerts. Tech N9ne opens the main stage Friday night; The Chainsmokers take Saturday. Free GA passes required in advance — Friday and Saturday are already at capacity, so register before you go. → KC2026 Fan Festival
Crossroads Night Market · Fri 5–11 PM · Sat–Sun 12–11 PM Weekend 1 of a five-weekend run built around the World Cup. The district transforms 18th Street from Wyandotte to Cherry into a walkable block party — 300+ local artists, live music, open galleries, local food and drink. No fences, no wristbands. First Fridays energy, all weekend long. → Crossroads Arts District
🍸 The Weekend
Risqué Cirque · Friday / Doors 8 PM · Show 9 PM Burlesque and variety circus from KC's own Risqué Revelry — an Indigenous Hawaiian and Latina-owned production. Big Top format with a cast of burlesque and variety performers, intermission, and a live MC. 21+ only. Tickets required. → 1734 Cherry St
Indigo Hour at The Blue Room · Friday / 5:30–11 PM The Blue Room's pre-evening format — live jazz starting at 5:30, running through 11. 18th & Vine, real room. → The Blue Room
Lauren Ashley at VOO Lounge · Friday / 8–11:30 PM Late-night jazz in a reliable late room. Good option for the back half of the evening. → VOO Lounge
Roger Wilder Trio at The Majestic · Saturday / 6–10 PM Piano-led jazz in the downstairs Jazz Club. Dawson Jones holds the upstairs room 6–9:30 PM if you want to compare rooms in the same building. → The Majestic
Bram Wijnands at KC Bier Company · Sat–Sun / 3–5 PM Afternoon jazz both days — a lower-key option if you want live music without committing to a full night out. → KC Bier Company
🥂 Date Nights
Chloe McFadden Duo at Chaz · Friday / 6–10 PM Vocal jazz on the Plaza, in a room that earns the setting. Chaz doing what Chaz does — low light, good piano, grown energy. → Chaz at the Raphael
Clayton DeLong at Stock Hill · Saturday / 8–11 PM Stock Hill's regular Saturday live music slot. Good room for a late dinner and a drink. → Stock Hill
Dragons with Mimosas at Powell Gardens · Sunday / 11 AM–2 PM A daytime date worth the drive east. Powell Gardens' summer-long Dragons and Fantastic Beasts exhibit pairs with live music and drinks for this select-Sunday format. Relaxed, outdoor, beautiful grounds. General admission with add-ons available. → Powell Gardens
👨👩👧👦 Family Friendly
KidZfest at Worlds of Fun · Sunday June 14–July 21 Opening weekend of KidZfest — dance parties, the Marvelous Mutts dog show, kid-friendly rides, interactive games, and treats. Runs Sundays through Tuesdays to close out the summer weeks. → Worlds of Fun
Dragons and Fantastic Beasts at Powell Gardens · Daily through Sept. 24 Life-sized dragons and creatures spread across the botanical gardens grounds. Interactive quest format with the Dragon Discovery Lab, educational stations, and hands-on activities. Designed for families and young explorers. Open Tue–Sun, 9 AM–5 PM. → Powell Gardens
"Jazz Spoken Here" at the American Jazz Museum · Sunday / 3 PM Mike Parkinson's free in-atrium jazz program. Approachable, educational, no ticket required. → American Jazz Museum
Last Call 🍸
The Smoke Show @The Last Call
TIL The Old Fashioned was a brandy drink before it was a bourbon drink.
That's the part nobody tells you. Before Kentucky took permanent custody of the recipe — before every bar in America started pouring it over a single giant ice cube — the Old Fashioned was built on brandy and cognac. German and Scandinavian immigrants in the Midwest made it that way. New Orleans made it that way. The Sazerac, its close cousin, was rye and cognac both, split down the middle, until rye became scarce and cognac got expensive and bourbon inherited everything.
History is mostly about what was convenient….IYKYK
The Smoke Show at Last Call in Overland Park knows. Four Roses bourbon and VSOP Cognac — two spirits, one glass, the original tension. Angostura and Peychaud's bitters both, which is a New Orleans move, the kind of double-bitter layering that gives a drink weight without so much sweetness. Then the smoke — cherry wood, not apple, not hickory — caught under a cloche and released at the table! Abracadabra!!
Last Call sits at 12687 Metcalf, live music Fridays and Saturdays, great cocktails and a nice room of folks to watch.
Order the Smoke Show. Watch them build it. Then remember that somewhere in New Orleans in 1882, someone was drinking something almost exactly like it and calling it old-fashioned. 😂
—Proost! 🍸