On the first Friday of every month, the Crossroads Arts District throws open its doors and Kansas City comes to look. Galleries, studios and design shops stay open late, food trucks line the streets, and thousands of art-lovers wander a district that helped reinvent downtown.
The Crossroads earned its name honestly — freight houses and film rows turned into lofts, galleries like the Belger Arts Center and Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, print shops, and maker spaces stacked between 18th Street and Union Station.
Every First Friday is different: an exhibition opening here, a glassblowing demo there, live music spilling from a courtyard. The only plan you need is comfortable shoes and a starting corner.
It’s the city’s longest-running block party for the eyes — free, friendly and gloriously Kansas City.
