West Bottoms

Kansas City has welcomed thousands of visitors as the metro enters its second week of the World Cup. But as international crowds come in, many local shop owners feel they're taking a backseat. Some small businesses say the economic boost is not evenly distributed.

The SpraySeeMO mural festival is marking the World Cup with seven large-scale painting projects in the West Bottoms, which is undergoing a more than $500 million redevelopment.

Mass Street Plant Company is set for a soft opening May 2 in the Lawrence space that formerly belonged to plant shop Jungle House. The original Kansas City location opened in 2022.

Justin Easterwood is building out a 5,400-square-foot Chef J BBQ location in North Kansas City after years inside The Beast haunted house in the West Bottoms — which will stay open as well. The new space will let patrons get up close to the smokers and pitmasters.

Kansas lawmakers are considering restricting student protests after high schoolers organized walkouts across the state in protest of immigration enforcement. We’ll hear from three students about their experience. Plus: We'll go inside the Greenhouse Print Space, a Kansas City studio keeping hundreds of years of printmaking technology alive.

A creative studio in Kansas City is home to hundreds of years of printing technology. Organizers of Greenhouse Print Space host classes and clubs where professionals and hobbyists alike can create new art.

SomeraRoad, a real estate and development firm, is undertaking a massive redevelopment project that will transform the West Bottoms over the next several years. The firm hopes to make the Kansas City neighborhood into a must-see "destination."

A New York developer plans to renovate several historic buildings into apartments and office space, in addition to new construction. The city has provided millions in tax breaks and financing to make the project possible.

Near the Hy-Vee Arena, the historic bridge is being refit with 35,000 square feet of music venues, coffee shops, dining and trails. The project will physically connect Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, and hopes to revitalize the riverfront.

Bill Haw Sr., who died at the age of 85 last Thursday, will be remembered for working to preserve the Flint Hills in Kansas and contributing to the revival of Kansas City's historic West Bottoms neighborhood.

The Kansas City business leader and rancher left a lasting legacy in the Flint Hills and helped redevelop Kansas City’s West Bottoms. He died on Thursday.

Megan Karson is heading out on the open road this summer. She’ll spend the next three months making dreamy tintype images of the people she meets at pop up events in Montana and the Pacific Northwest.