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Beyond BBQ: Kansas City surprises visitors with treasure-trove of delights

  • The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo., is...

    Chicago Tribune / Mark Taylor

    The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo., is dedicated to preserving the history of African-American baseball. The museum preserves the history of a movement that spanned many decades and reveals how these brave and talented athletes triumphed over racism.

  • J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain in Kansas City, Mo. sprays blue...

    Jamie Squire / Getty Images

    J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain in Kansas City, Mo. sprays blue water in front of the Country Club Plaza in honor of the Kansas City Royals' World Series win in November. Fountains are ingrained in Kansas City's identity and more than 200 throughout the city offer gurgling oases.

  • A dinner platter from Q 39, just one of the...

    Chicago Tribune / Mark Taylor

    A dinner platter from Q 39, just one of the many restaurants in Kansas City, Mo., that pay homage to the city's illustrious reputation for great barbecue.

  • The National World War I Museum and Memorial offers this...

    Chicago Tribune / Mark Taylor

    The National World War I Museum and Memorial offers this grand view of Kansas City, Mo., from its 217-foot observation deck.

  • Gates Bar-B-Q is among the most legendary barbecue outposts in...

    Chicago Tribune / Mark Taylor

    Gates Bar-B-Q is among the most legendary barbecue outposts in Kansas City, Mo. In addition to many restaurants serving classic barbecue, barbecue tour buses and outdoor competitions are enjoyed throughout much of the year.

  • The National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas...

    Chicago Tribune / Mark Taylor

    The National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Mo., displays original weaponry among its well-conceived displays. Touring this vast museum is a remarkable and insightful experience that puts historic events in digestible context.

  • Claes Oldenburg's famous Shuttlecock sculpture in Kansas City, Mo., can...

    Chicago Tribune / Mark Taylor

    Claes Oldenburg's famous Shuttlecock sculpture in Kansas City, Mo., can be viewed through another installation on the grounds of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art -- Magdalena Abakanowicz's Standing Figures.

  • This sculpture by Robert Graham, titled Bird Lives, honors jazz...

    Chicago Tribune / Mark Taylor

    This sculpture by Robert Graham, titled Bird Lives, honors jazz icon Charlie "Bird" Parker. It stands on the Charlie Parker Memorial Plaza, on the grounds of the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, Mo.

  • The American Jazz Museum, in the historic 18th and Vine...

    Chicago Tribune / Mark Taylor

    The American Jazz Museum, in the historic 18th and Vine neighborhood of Kansas City, Mo., includes rare films of early jazz stars and exhibits on jazz giants, as well as historic recordings, posters, photos and interviews. These neon signs in the museum reflect many famous clubs from Kansas City's storied jazz past.

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This is a belated apology to Kansas City: Sorry that it took me so long.

I get it now.

My wife and I arrived in Kansas City, Mo., knowing little of its history or cultural attractions and expecting even less. We’d driven through it, mostly on our way to other destinations and stopping only to sample barbecue.

So we were astonished — and a little embarrassed — to discover this clean, livable western Missouri city as a treasure-trove of great food, fine museums and musical and artistic delights.

Here are just a few reasons why you should love Kansas City:

*Because it’s a down-to-earth, friendly town that offers the planet’s best barbecue, a world-class art museum that is free, and you can park almost anywhere for little or nothing.

Because it’s a city of surprising beauty, culture and history, where the unexpected seems ridiculously commonplace. Beautiful buildings and impressive monuments seem to leap out of the prairie and beckon visitors with alluring attractions.

Because its citizens actually believe in civility and welcome strangers with open arms. There’s a strong sense of civic pride in this big Midwestern metropolis that beats with a small-town heart.

J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain in Kansas City, Mo. sprays blue water in front of the Country Club Plaza in honor of the Kansas City Royals' World Series win in November. Fountains are ingrained in Kansas City's identity and more than 200 throughout the city offer gurgling oases.
J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain in Kansas City, Mo. sprays blue water in front of the Country Club Plaza in honor of the Kansas City Royals’ World Series win in November. Fountains are ingrained in Kansas City’s identity and more than 200 throughout the city offer gurgling oases.

Because it’s the home of the only World War I museum in the United States, with great exhibits, a wide display of weapons, uniforms, trenches and amazing historical facts.

Because it boasts more fountains than any world city but Rome. Fountains are ingrained in the city’s identity and offer gurgling oases throughout the city. The more than 200 fountains feature statuary, waterfalls and color and light displays.

Because the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Mets in the World Series, the team that trounced Cubs fans’ hopes for the first North Side World Series victory in 107 years. (For Cubs fans, isn’t that reason enough?)

Because it is home to both The American Jazz Museum and The Negro Baseball Leagues Museum , which share space in the Lincoln Building in the historic 18th and Vine neighborhood, a center of black culture and entertainment through the 1960s. That area, which produced jazz giants like Count Basie and Charlie Parker, is home to many jazz clubs even today. The neighborhood also hosts the annual 18th and Vine Jazz & Blues Festival.

Memorable museums

The American Jazz Museum includes rare films of early jazz stars and exhibits on jazz giants, as well as historic recordings, posters, photos and interviews. A connected performance venue, The Blue Room, offers live jazz acts; it is named after a legendary local jazz club of the 1930s and ’40s that was located across the street. The museum harkens to a time when jazz was king and Kansas City was one of its capitals.

At the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, fans are transported to the days before blacks were allowed to play in the major leagues, when most U.S. cities with sizable African-American populations fielded teams boasting stars like Ernie Banks, Josh Gibson, Willie Mays, Saturnino “Minnie” Minoso, John “Buck” O’Neil, Leroy “Satchel” Paige and Jackie Robinson. Some went on to become Major League All-Stars, while others played in relative anonymity, unknown outside of their community. Kansas City hosted the Monarchs, a storied franchise that was the pride of the black community. The museum explores the history of the leagues and the lives of team founders, players and coaches, as well as films, oral histories and a smaller mock-up of the Field of Legends baseball diamond. The museum preserves the history of the leagues and reveals how brave athletes triumphed over racism.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art features a diverse collection of modern, ancient, Native American and international art spanning 5,000 years. While special exhibitions, such as the recent display of American muralist Thomas Hart Benton, charge a fee, admission to the museum is always free. Collections include Impressionists such as Monet, Gauguin and Van Gogh and artists as varied as Caravaggio, de Kooning and Moore. The museum also features an outdoor sculpture garden that includes Claes Oldenburg’s famous Shuttlecock, a modern wing and the original neoclassical structure that opened in 1933.

Kansas has long been represented in college basketball’s Final Four, but you don’t have to be a Jayhawks fan to appreciate “The College Basketball Experience” at the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inside the Sprint Center. It’s an interactive experience that celebrates men’s college basketball. Not only does the showplace delve into college hoops throughout the decades and honor the star players and coaches, but it also allows fans to work up a sweat and compete on free throws, game-winning shots and more at activity stations. It’s a decidedly different kind of museum experience.

The National World War I Museum & Memorial pays homage to the doughboys who fought the “War to End All Wars.” The museum is located on a grassy stretch beneath the Liberty Memorial, an imposing tower that offers a grand view of Kansas City from its 217-foot observation deck. Through news reports and eyewitness accounts, visitors can immerse themselves in the lives of all soldiers fighting the war, with recreations of trenches and displays of original weaponry. Accompanying the well-conceived displays, films and interviews are chronologies of the war and the perspectives of soldiers, generals and politicians of the time. Touring this vast museum is a remarkable and insightful experience that puts historic events in digestible context.

Neighborhood gems

Kansas City also boasts some fascinating neighborhoods, including the old Power & Light District downtown with its architecturally significant buildings, theaters and restaurants and the historic City Market area, where the resurrected Steamboat Arabia, “The Titanic of the Missouri River,” sank in 1856 and is now restored as a museum.

There’s also the Crossroads Arts & Design District, featuring art galleries, nightclubs and the soaring arches of the Moshe Safdie-designed Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, and Westport, site of a Civil War battle and the city’s original entertainment district.

Of course, the barbecue

Barbecue is a religion here and besides classic joints like Arthur Bryant’s and Gates Bar-B-Q, and newer eateries like Plowboy’s BBQ and Q 39, there are barbecue tour buses and outdoor competitions throughout much of the year. Kansas City is the headquarters of the Kansas City Barbecue Society, the premier barbecue event-sanctioning organization. And as part of its monthslong annual livestock competition and rodeo, the 116-year-old American Royal, the city also hosts the World Series of Barbecue and the Barbecue Hall of Fame.

A dinner platter from Q 39, just one of the many restaurants in Kansas City, Mo., that pay homage to the city's illustrious reputation for great barbecue.
A dinner platter from Q 39, just one of the many restaurants in Kansas City, Mo., that pay homage to the city’s illustrious reputation for great barbecue.

But there’s more to eat in KC than just barbecue. Since its stockyards made the city a center for livestock transport and processing, meat has been a Kansas City staple and fine steakhouses abound. The area’s growing Hispanic population has spawned some fine Mexican restaurants, and visitors will enjoy sushi and pan-Asian offerings to complement a handful of old-school German spots.

So if you’re making Midwest travel plans, consider KC. It will surprise you.

If you go

A great place to start in planning a trip is the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association, now known as Visit KC. There you can find updated listings covering a spectrum of interests, including art, sports, entertainment, shopping and tours. The site also cites attractions with free admission, as well as restaurants, hotels and deals. City maps, tourism guides, parking and transportation options are also linked. The stylish new Visit KC office is at 1321 Baltimore Ave. For more information call 800-767-7700.

Mark Taylor is a freelance reporter.