Wine & Roses
Capping off the final week of summer, the Kansas City Rose Society held its annual Wine & Roses event at the Laura Conyers Smith Municipal Rose Garden in Jacob L. Loose Memorial Park. Beyond smelling the roses, I was there to support my friend and the event’s chair, Amy Embry.
The expansive circular form garden is centered around a commodious marble fountain and surrounded by stone and timber pergolas. Since 1931, the garden has been carefully maintained by the all-volunteer Rose Society. These volunteers spend 1,500 hours a year grooming and tending to more than 130 varieties of 3,000 rose bushes. In 2018, the venerable World Federation of Roses Societies recognized our fine garden with the prestigious Garden of Excellence award (including it among peer rose gardens in Paris, Vienna, Buenos Aires, Beijing, and Tokyo).
This elegant garden party—straight out of Bridgerton—is the primary source of funds for the organization, allowing continued care for the 1.5-acre garden. The evening’s rose-inspired festivities included passed hors d’oeuvres by Olive Events and a wine bar. (Plenty of rosé, naturally, but also some delicious, flavored waters—basil pineapple, anyone?) The UMKC Conservatory Graduate String Quartet delighted the hundreds in attendance with their playful finesse, harmonious sounds, and dramatic movement. And, while the roses stole the show, patrons’ garden party looks were a close second. It was the sartorial final hat tip to summer, just ahead of stowing away these garments for the cooler months approaching.
Thanks to the society volunteers’ tireless work and our community’s generosity, the Laura Conyers Smith Rose Garden can continue to serve as an iconic public gathering space, enriching the eyes and minds of all who visit.
Spotted: Erin & Steve Mos, Rachel & Nelson Sabates, Karen & Jack Holland, Heather Paxton, Susan & Dr. Stephen Bubb, Heather & Tim Pluard, Frances Baszta, Don Loncasty, Chadwick Brooks, Liesl McLiney, Ford McLiney, Michelle Roberts, Kandi & Mark McCasland, Betsy Beasley, Taylor Smith, Nancy & Bruce Schall, Anna Schall, Kristopher Dabner, Paul Gutiérrez, Richard Lara, Susan & Charlie Porter, Dan Bolen, Deanna Deiboldt, Josh Dampf
Hot Gossip: Whose birthday turned into a 16-hour Sunday Funday?
Putting Along
I’m not sure when I first learned about the forthcoming Puttery mini golf location on the Country Club Plaza. If memory serves me correctly, I seem to recall hearing about the concept pre-pandemic, which means a years-long wrench was thrown into its grand plans. The drawn-out anticipation meant I was quite excited to be invited to a pre-opening night of putt-putt, extensive bites, and cocktails.
Puttery is a 21+ only, modern spin on putting—an immersive experience of creatively designed mini golf courses, wrapped up in a social environment of competition, music, upscale food, and inventive cocktails. Reservations can be made in advance or walk-in guests can have a tee time assigned (if you like; golfing not required) and wait while enjoying some food and drinks.
Kansas City’s location marks the eighth for Puttery, with others in Dallas, Houston, and Chicago. New York City and Miami are on the way. Each outlet offers uniquely themed courses. The Plaza’s two-story location features three nine-hole courses. There’s an art museum-themed course upstairs (think: putting through Warhol-inspired stacked Campbell’s soup cans), a conservatory theme (redwood forests, desert cacti, Japanese cherry blossoms), and a rooftop theme (not an actual rooftop, but skyline views included) located downstairs. Each course has a sizable adjacent bar.
Puttery offers an extensive menu, and my friends universally praised the food, of which we were plentifully supplied. The beef sliders were A+, the chop salad was excellent, and the sausage and hot honey pizza—with its thin, yet soft and pillowy, crust—was dynamite. The desserts are bite-sized and small enough that one could try all three (they have a dessert flight!) without guilt. Wine and beer are of course represented, but the drinks menu focuses on signature cocktails. I happily tried the Mean Machine (gin, orgeat syrup, Midori, lime, cane sugar, and mint) and the BBQ on a Saturday Night (bourbon, honey, smoked peach, lemon, and bitters).
Having visited other similar concepts, I’ll note that this is by far the most elaborate and well-executed I’ve experienced. Aside from the pandemic, it’s no wonder that it took so long to complete. There are also a lot of group package options, and I’m already planning with a larger group of friends when we should make a night of it. Time to start perfecting my swing.
Overheard: “JEEZ-A-LOO!”
Renaissance Festival
It seems to be a common refrain for me here: I’ve lived in KC for fifteen years now, and I’ve still never done [fill in the blank]. Though I’ve clearly made progress with my quest to fill these pages over the past five years (and adventuring well before that), there’s always plenty remaining to explore. So, just recently, I coaxed some friends into joining me on my first trip to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival.
For seven weekends, beginning late summer and extending through mid-October, the festival—one of the largest in the U.S.—hosts roughly 200,000 newly curious and longtime fanatic visitors. Falling into the former category, I was initially struck by the sheer size of the (47th annual) festival. It is a massive event, and the provided program and map are absolute necessities.
We arrived near lunchtime and were quite hungry. Lines were long, but we divided and conquered—some waiting for food and others reserving seats at the nearby jousting field. Burgers, pork tenderloin sandwiches, and chicken tenders were on the menu, in addition to the iconic turkey legs (I resisted). The jousting match (my first ever) is absolutely the quintessential highlight of a Renn Fest experience, and it was a riotous good time.
Following the match, we spent a few hours meandering along the festival’s circuitous paths. Across glades, through forests, and over streams, we encountered a variety of characters. It was difficult to discern who among them were the 100+ cast members and who was simply looking for an excuse to pull their Lady Galadriel costume from Halloween storage. Adherence to the historical Renaissance theme seemed to be honored rather casually, as really any Middle Earth, steampunk, barbarian, or cosplay costume fit the bill.
Along our journey, we also peeked into what were easily more than 100 crafters’ and vendors’ shops. There are also a dozen games and rides to try, from tossing faux decapitated heads into basketball hoops or tomatoes at a jester to ziplines that zigzag across the tree canopy. At any given minute, there are also innumerable shows and entertainment programs happening. You’ll want to keep the schedule handy. And final pro tip: save yourself the ATM trouble and bring cash with you. Despite the website indicating that cards are widely accepted, we found that cash still reigns as the primary king.
If you miss this year’s final October 15 festival date, there’s also a Knights of Lights experience on weekends, November 24 through December 31, where lights guide guests through a dozen holiday scenes. Huzzah!
Hot Gossip: Who’s always “so humbled” to instantly dash said humility with a haughty brag on social media?
Wild Life!
What better way a to punctuate an important anniversary than a splashy party? The 30th Anniversary Wild Life! event was held at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art on the Johnson County Community College campus to celebrate 30 years of art on campus and simultaneously honor the legacy of Bruce Hartman, the museum’s retired founding executive director and chief curator. Contemporary art on the JCCC campus took off in the early 1990s with its newly opened Gallery of Art and the recently hired Hartman mapping a path forward.
Fast forward to 2002—Jerry Nerman phoned Hartman with an offer to assist with building a new contemporary art museum on campus. The Nerman family’s foundational pledge and work to secure other donors ultimately led to the 2007 opening of the Nerman Museum that we know today. The elegant, minimalist building clad in white Kansas limestone was designed by architect Kyu Sung Woo. Throughout the museum’s 41,000 square feet and two levels are 11 galleries, an auditorium, classrooms, and a café. The impressive cantilever entrance features a dazzling 60,000 white LED overhead installation, Microcosm, by artist Leo Villareal. Both Kyu Sung Woo and Leo Villareal were in attendance for this anniversary celebration and offered reflective remarks.
Since the Nerman Museum’s opening, it has received national and international acclaim for its architecture, exhibitions, educational programming, and collection. JCCC is ranked as one of the top ten college campuses for public art in the U.S. The museum’s permanent collection (which includes works from luminaries such as Kehinde Wiley, Kerry James Marshall, Nick Cave, Louise Bourgeoise, and Dana Schutz) was initially comprised of works primarily gifted by Marti and Tony Oppenheimer and the Oppenheimer Brothers Foundation. Art obtained via the JCCC acquisition fund represents a growing supplement to these gifts; the collection has grown from 81 works in 1990 to approximately 2,000 today.
More than a celebration, the event was also, of course, an opportunity to raise funds. The event’s proceeds are specifically earmarked for the restoration of Villareal’s exterior light sculpture, which requires roughly $1 million in repairs. On temporary display at the event was the Wild Life! exhibition, showcasing six works that would be sold later in the evening via live auction. The six works were by legendary artists, including Julie Buffalohead, Ebony Patterson, Lauren Quin, Paul Anthony Smith, Leo Villareal, and Summer Wheat. Villareal’s signature LED and acrylic piece was a show-shopper (and garnered the highest sale price at $25k). Summer Wheat’s Laptop—a giant pebble-shaped fiberglass sculpture, mosaiced in marble—was instantly recognizable, despite not taking the form of her most-recognized medium: painting. It was my favorite piece of the six and desperately made me wish the next day that I’d had a couple more glasses of champagne, pre-auction. Like many, I find live art actions to be exhilarating, and this one was absolutely a nail-biter.
In addition to enjoying gourmet bites and live music, party patrons could also explore the just-opened New Chapter exhibition. As the title suggests, it is comprised of acquisitions made over the past two years under the curatorial vision of the museum’s new director, JoAnne Northrup. Northrup’s selections bring attention to the incredible diversity of the Nerman Museum’s permanent collection and carry forth the priorities pioneered by founding director Hartman, including a commitment to collecting and displaying works by artists of color and queer artists. The exhibition is on display through November 19.
Finally—as if we needed more to celebrate—the event also served as the official launch of the museum’s 30th anniversary publication—a massive, 563-page coffee-table tome, 30 Years of Art on Campus. I was so pleased to be gifted a copy on my way out, and I’ve been making my way through it ever since. Flipping through the catalog of past exhibits, more than a few conjured pangs of regret that I missed them. The book serves as a weighty (literally) reminder to not let these fleeting talent showcases pass us by. Going forward, I’ll be watching the museum’s schedule more carefully.
Spotted: Sue & Lewis Nerman, Tony Oppenheimer, Lena Price & Thomas Cohen, Linda & Brad Nicholson, Mary Kemper Wolf & Gary Wolf, Ellen & Jamie Copaken, Ruki Neuhold-Ravikumar, Peregrine Honig, Linda Lighton, Scott Heidmann, Ken Petti, Kim Klein, Toma Wolff, Lisa Lala, Sean Kelley, Melanie Miller, Katie Van Luchene & Jerry Foulds, Mark Allen Alford, Jr., Lorece Chanelle, Rachelle-Gardner-Roe
Overheard: “Where are the servants?”