Shopping
The phrase the bad seed has gotten plenty of play in our pop culture (a 1956 cult film, a Metallica song), but young, married organic farmers Brooke Salvaggio and Daniel Heryer created their organic farm and market, BadSeed (1909 McGee, 816-472-0027), as a venue offering fair-trade and whole-food products. Their Friday night farmer's market is typically swamped on First Fridays — it's in the Crossroads — and features a variety of area vendors offering fresh vegetables, fruits, grass-fed beef, eggs, baked goods, flowers, jams, culinary and medicinal herbs, Puddin' Head coffee, Green Dirt Farm cheeses and just about everything else you can imagine. The market runs from 4 to 9 p.m.
free admission
Libations, Daytripper, Cheap Thrills
The "RedNek Wine Glass" — a Mason jar perched atop a Libbey candleholder — is all the rage these days in DIY circles. The low-maintenance chugger brought $5 million in sales in 10 months and tops Amazon's best-selling glassware and drinkware list, according to CNN Money. Kansas City has its own way of rebelling against prim-and-proper wine traditions: the
Wine Barn Winery and Vineyard (2850 North 119th Street, Kansas City, Kansas, 913-721-5577). The 16-acre property near the Kansas Speedway pairs wine-lover delights, such as a scenic vineyard and wine made on-site, with casual charm — a metal barn with a concrete-slab patio serves as the winery. "We're a break from the snobby little wine club," Wine Barn co-owner Celeste Mikijanis says. The three-year-old, family-owned business has 17 wine varieties and makes each bottle one at a time. Tastings are free of charge and available during regular hours, typically 12 to 5 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. (The winery is closed Friday, January 6.) The facility also is open by appointment. For more information, see
winedottebarn.com.
Food & Drink (General), Shopping
Woebetide the forlorn middleman. With a supercluster of midweek farmers markets, Wednesday has shaped up as one of the best days of the week to buy produce directly from the farmers who pulled it out of the ground, thereby eliminating — and sticking it to — the middleman. There’s daily produce at the City Market (20 East Fifth Street, 816-842-1271), and the 39th Street Farmers Market at 39th Street and Genessee offers vegetables, fruits and meat from 5 to 8 p.m. Joe’s Community Market opens for the season today, selling produce in front of Terrace Lake Liquors (3601 East Red Bridge Road). The Liberty Farmers Market takes over the parking lot at Crowley’s Furniture, at the intersection of Missouri highways 152 and 291, from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. The Independence Farmers Market is open from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. on the square at Truman Road, between Main and Liberty.
free
Food & Drink (General), Nightlife
Nightly entertainment paired with $3 Kirin and Miller Lite drafts, $4 spring rolls and shrimp shumai and $5 glasses of wine and cosmos.
no cover charge
First Monday, Tuesday, Saturday of every month, 10:30 a.m. & 12:30 p.m.
Public Interest, Cultural Events, Free Events
Those who braved the open house for the
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts might tell you that the experience could have been more agreeable. The lines were prohibitively long, and there was rain. But they'll also tell you that the Kauffman Center is something to behold. The glass-walled Brandmeyer Great Hall (the other name for the lobby) is larger than a football field, with Guggenheim-like circular walkways leading up to the balconies of Helzberg Hall and the Muriel Kauffman Theatre. If you skipped out on the grand opening, you haven't missed your chance. The center offers free, small tours (of 15 or fewer people) on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Reservations are required. Call 816-994-7200 or see
kauffmancenter.org.
free
