The Xroads First Friday Thread...

[DaveKCMO]

Crossroads truck parked at 19th & Baltimore handing out free maps -- like it has for years.

Also a mobile-friendly website: https://kccrossroads.org/this-first-friday/

West Bottoms "First Weekend" is a fraction of the Crossroads Arts District. I challenge you to find a suburbanite that ventures outside of Wyoming/Santa Fe/I-670/9th. The Crossroads (I-35/Troost/Terminal/Truman) is almost as big as the downtown loop.

It's not our job to spoon-feed urbanism to Kansas City. Again, FF was and will continue to be about art. If people want something else, go to P&L or Westport (or maybe Sedalia?).

[WoodDraw]

Crossroads truck parked at 19th & Baltimore handing out free maps -- like it has for years.

Also a mobile-friendly website: https://kccrossroads.org/this-first-friday/

West Bottoms "First Weekend" is a fraction of the Crossroads Arts District. I challenge you to find a suburbanite that ventures outside of Wyoming/Santa Fe/I-670/9th. The Crossroads (I-35/Troost/Terminal/Truman) is almost as big as the downtown loop.

It's not our job to spoon-feed urbanism to Kansas City. Again, FF was and will continue to be about art. If people want something else, go to P&L or Westport (or maybe Sedalia?).

Not really sure how to respond to this without going through things we've been through.

I find it very depressing there is a select group of people in the crossroads that continue to ruin one of the unique things that Kansas City has one day a month. NIMBY at its worst.

And these people really think they're throwing some super fun thing for them and their friends!

If the spoon-fed comment wasn't so obnoxious, it would be a great example of what I was talking about. A select group of people want to force something to be something that it's never been.

It's time for a city wide group to take it over from the crossroads, and the sooner the better.

[WoodDraw]

The art has never been the star of FF, it's always been the Crossroads.

I don't recall the year FF started but in the late 90s to early 2000s it was about the art. The galleries need to get back to interesting installations. I recall one I think late 90s with handmade lampshades merged into steampunk contraptions, like bouncing on cable/pullies/springs with old school mechanisms. The vibe of entire room with bouncing lampshades was a very cool effect. Loading dock jazz at the back alley. Great experience.

I'll take heat for this but I dont care. Our downtown is pretty damn boring compared to alot of citites and I dont think all of it has to do with parking.

Which makes the "go to power and light if you want that" shit so funny. Like there is a roaring party just blocks away if you want it.

The whole thing is so absurd. Kansas City organically creates a fun thing and people ruin it because they liked the scene which is literally just them and their friends.

[normalthings]

FF 2019 felt like a uniquely Kansas City event that was on the cusp of becoming something big if given another summer. Very much a bigger, hip city vibe. There would even be lots of family’s at FF before 7-8pm.

I agree that FF should be what it grew into by summer 2019. However, it’s not fair to ask the neighborhood to pay for, volunteer staff, and cleanup after a monthly party. To Dave’s point, older residents may want a chill event they plan for their friends and are now being asked to plan a party for the whole metro instead.

There needs to be a Crossroads CID to pay for and organize these things. To Dave’s point, also needs to be a way to drive traffic to local businesses. I doubt much art of value is sold and many of the 2018-2019 draws were street performers and acts. I suspect the real money at FF is in food trucks.

One idea I have had is that, if FF becomes a large regularly scheduled event, it will drive brick & mortar bars and restaurants to open up. Art in the streets and a party in the brick & mortar establishments. As the event scales, the goal needs to be making it into a regional and then Midwestern draw. Then you are selling visitors a hotel room, 2-3 meals, and maybe even a plane ticket. “Well if I am visiting from Omaha/STL/Springfield/etc I may as well spend Saturday going to first Saturdays in West Bottoms and the farmers market”

But none of that can happen without funding and dedicated leadership.

[DaveKCMO]

A Crossroads CID would totally change the dynamic — paid staff, not having to beg for free permits.

Again, the people this is being hoisted upon are focused on supporting commercial galleries that promote the working artists that defined the neighborhood, and suddenly that’s NIMBY because of noisy food trucks being corralled in a parking lot?

[earthling]

Bringing back the street party is needed, funded by a CID or other means but would be nice to see Xroads spurn broader production back into gear. There used to be a lot of videos produced out of Xroads, including post-production for Hollywood movies to underground music videos and seems to have tapered off as downtown homogenizes.. or has it?

Codie Critcheloe who started the SSION Drag King thing out of his KC Art Institute days in the 2000s produced a lot of videos out of Xroads and continued through 2010s, directing for others.

Nearly all who have attended FF are unawares of what has brewed from Xroads underground...


E Bottoms/Downtown Library, featuring Christoper Elbow chocolates?...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7OSSUwPVM4

Balancas downstairs, now Green Lady Lounge..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY2EDvd ... Y&index=17

Grand Arts/Riot Room, W Bottoms warehouse?...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOF_oo3EgnQ

Around Xroads, cemetery near Crown Center? 47 bus cameo, Tivoli...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h8Nchqs95w

Chubby's?, Succotash?, W bottoms, bizarre, skip 2 minutes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLVWlaGFhXE

I think Grand Arts, somewhere in Xroads...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW_tXgGrVu0

[WoodDraw]

A Crossroads CID would totally change the dynamic — paid staff, not having to beg for free permits.

Again, the people this is being hoisted upon are focused on supporting commercial galleries that promote the working artists that defined the neighborhood, and suddenly that’s NIMBY because of noisy food trucks being corralled in a parking lot?

I agree with this. I don’t believe the people that have been responsible should continue to have such a huge burden.

As long as they don’t actively campaign against 1 day a month, I think everyone agrees the event has outgrown what should be expected of them.

From what I’ve heard though, many simply don’t want ff back as before or to grow.

[wahoowa]

One idea I have had is that, if FF becomes a large regularly scheduled event, it will drive brick & mortar bars and restaurants to open up. Art in the streets and a party in the brick & mortar establishments. As the event scales, the goal needs to be making it into a regional and then Midwestern draw. Then you are selling visitors a hotel room, 2-3 meals, and maybe even a plane ticket. “Well if I am visiting from Omaha/STL/Springfield/etc I may as well spend Saturday going to first Saturdays in West Bottoms and the farmers market”

there are a bunch of event spaces down there that seem like they would be good prospects for this, too.

[flyingember]

One idea I have had is that, if FF becomes a large regularly scheduled event, it will drive brick & mortar bars and restaurants to open up. Art in the streets and a party in the brick & mortar establishments. As the event scales, the goal needs to be making it into a regional and then Midwestern draw. Then you are selling visitors a hotel room, 2-3 meals, and maybe even a plane ticket. “Well if I am visiting from Omaha/STL/Springfield/etc I may as well spend Saturday going to first Saturdays in West Bottoms and the farmers market”

Where does the business come from the rest of the week?