Guide: Sean O'Dell

Time: 3:00pm  

Location: General Information Booth at the Corner of 11th and Hickory, West Bottoms

Age Range: 10+ 

RSVP : RSVP at westbottomsreborn.com

Description: Join us on a walking tour of the most photographed sections of the West Bottoms. Along the way, we'll decode the hidden language of street art and discuss the history of the local scene.

Sean O’ Dell  has been a fan of graffiti since his first trip to NYC in the early '90s and has been documenting local graffiti for the last four years. He has also self-published five photo books about Kansas City graffiti art.

Guide : Cydney Millstein

Time : 3:00 pm

Location : Mulberry Room , 1321 W 13th St #2, Kansas City, MO 64102

Age : 14 + 

RSVP : RSVP at westbottomsreborn.com 

Description : 

Cydney Millstein, an architectural historian and author of Houses of Missouri, 1870-1940 (Acanthus Press, NY: 2008) will lead a tour of the historic West Bottoms focusing on architecture and bridges. 

Ms. Millstein’s firm, Architectural & Historical Research, LLC, was founded in 1983.

http://www.ahr-kc.com/ 

Guide : Jose Faus

Time : 1:00 pm

Location : General Information Booth at the Corner of 11th and Hickory , West Bottoms

Age: 12+  

RSVP: Reserve your spot on the bus at  westbottomsreborn.com 

Description :  Drive, walk, imagine and reclaim a past between memories, a meandering river, rambling streets - concrete and metal spans. Bring a lunch for a picnic and talk.

We will take a drive and walk through some areas where scenic views reveal how the city has grown away from the river, the bluffs, and the old civic center - turning back on the waterways. We will picnic in Strawberry Hill Park and talk about what it means to be a river town with no connection to the river, and how to inspire and create the atmosphere that weaves a river back into the civic tapestry.

http://www.caridostudio.com/bio.html 

Guide : Cydney Millstein

Time : 11:00 am 

Location : Outside the Strawberry Hill Museum , 720 N 4 St, Kansas City, KS 66101

Age : 14 + 

RSVP : Limited Seats RSVP at westbottomsreborn.com 

Description :  Cydney Millstein, an architectural historian and author of Houses of Missouri, 1870-1940 (Acanthus Press, NY: 2008) will lead a tour of historic Strawberry Hill focusing on architecture and bridges. 

Ms. Millstein’s firm, Architectural & Historical Research, LLC, was founded in 1983.

http://www.ahr-kc.com/ 

Time : 2:00 pm - 4:00pm  

Location : Stockyard Exchange Building , 1600 Genessee St #846, Kansas City, MO 64102

Age Range : 12yrs + 

RSVP :  Limited Seats Available RSVP @ westbottomsreborn@gmail.com 

Description : 

The Land Institute is transforming agriculture through scientific research in perennial polycultures and through educational projects that spread a new way of thinking about the relationships between plants, places, and the planet. Participants in this workshop held in the Historic West Bottoms will engage with The Land Institute’s work through presentations, experiential activities, and a walk near the river. The workshop will be led by Aubrey Streit Krug, a postdoctoral fellow in Ecosphere Studies at The Land Institute.

About The Land Institute

When people, land, and community are as one, all three members prosper; when they relate not as members but as competing interests, all three are exploited. By consulting Nature as the source and measure of that membership, The Land Institute seeks to develop an agriculture that will save soil from being lost or poisoned, while promoting a community life at once prosperous and enduring.

https://landinstitute.org/ 

Presenters :  Jim and Gloria Austin , founders of The National Western Heritage Museum 

Time : 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm 

Location : Stockyard Exchange Building , 1600 Genessee St #846, Kansas City, MO 64102 

Age :   All ages  

RSVP :  Open to the Public

Description:  Did you know that the majority of cowboys driving cattle up and down the Midwest were people of color !  Join us for a unique presentation on the histories of cowboys of color, as we welcome our special guest lecture from The National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. 

About The National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum

The National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum’s Hall of Fame was founded to give recognition to the outstanding pioneers who played a role in settling the early American western frontier.  The National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum and Hall of Fame also acknowledges individuals that have contributed to the western culture and tradition and play a part in keeping this important piece of American History alive.

The National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum was founded February 1, 2001 by Fort Worth, Texas, husband and wife team Jim and Gloria Austin to acknowledge the contributions of individuals of Hispanic, Native, European, Asian and African decent to the settlement of the Western American Frontier.

cowboysofcolor.org 

Time : Meet at 5:30 pm , ride out 6:00 pm

Location :  Liberty Courtyard behind the Hobbs Building, West Bottoms

1427 W 9th St suite 405, Kansas City, MO 64101 

Age : All Ages 

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC < COME RIDE WITH US  

Description: Join us for a city wide bike ride as we occupy public space with in the domain of city streets ! We will zig zag back and forth between Kansas and Missouri, while taking in a couple of popular KC landmarks.  Bring your bicycle, and helmet, and enjoy this ride through the Historic West Bottoms !  

KC Fun Ride

Group bicycle rides for riders, by riders.  KCFR exists to introduce folks in Kansas City to the fun that is group bicycle riding!  We aim to provide means for riders of all ability levels to learn, be safe and meet like-minded bike owners and most of all, have a lot of fun!  

http://www.kcfunride.com/ 

BikeWalkKC

Our mission is to redefine our streets as places for people to build a culture of active living. We see a community that is barrier free, has complete biking and walking access, and has a connected culture of active transportation and active lifestyles.

http://bikewalkkc.org/ 

816 Bike Collective

The 816 Bicycle Collective is a volunteer run organization working to rescue and repair bicycles. We strive to increase our bike community in an effort to promote alternative transportation that is healthy, cheap, zero emission, and above all fun.

https://www.facebook.com/816bike/

Guide : Amanda Gehin

Time : 1:30 pm and 2:30pm 

Location :  General Information Booth, Kaw Point Park

Age: All Ages

RSVP :  RSVP @ westbottomsreborn@gmail.com 

Description : Amanda Gehin, artist and native plant specialist, will lead a walk on the Kaw Point trail where she will identify existing plant species and discuss the botanical history of the place. Kaw Point is a significant ecological and historical site, being at the confluence  of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, and our walk will occur during a significant botanical time of year- ephemeral season. Amanda’s narrative will focus on ethnobotanical information.

http://amandagehin.com/home.html 

Time : 11:00 am -1:00 pm  and  2:00pm -4pm  

Location : Meet at the General Information Booth at Kaw Point Park 

Age Range : 7yrs + 

RSVP :  RSVP at  westbottomsreborn@gmail.com 

Description : 

  In 1913, the construction of the Turkey Creek Diversion Tunnel, made it so that the bulk of the watershed preemptively drained into the Kaw, avoiding the floodplain where it once found confluence.  The purpose of this diversion was to allow for the installation of the early 20th century's largest sewer , still in place just south of Kemper Arena.  The Turkey Creek Sewer and the OK Creek Diversion Tunnel are profoundly responsible for the West Bottoms we know today. Join the Turkey Creek Institute and Healthy Rivers Partnership for a unique boat tour on the Missouri River, as we explore the phenomena of flowing water.

The Turkey Creek Institute For Phenomenal Awareness

We seek to raise phenomenal awareness in the public by fostering engagement with Turkey Creek.  Some interesting frameworks for engagement have been photographic archiving, psychogeographic exploration, local histories, and landscape ecology.

The Turkey Creek Institute For Phenomenal Awareness was founded in 2014 by Timothy Amundson. Check out this Phenomenal work and history ! 

http://turkeycreekinstitute.tumblr.com/

http://turkeycreekinstitute.tumblr.com/history

Healthy Rivers Partnership  

Healthy Rivers Partnership is a Non- for- profit, volunteer based organization connecting people to their rivers and rivers to their communities. We host river clean ups, educational events, festivals and restoration projects.

http://healthyriverspartnership.com/ 

Guide : Irving Jackelman

Time: 8:30pm

Location: General Information Booth Outside Blip Roasters 

Age: 18 & Up

Description:

Step into the dark side of historical preservation and discover the hidden history of a secret society of exploration. The identity of a city sometimes is lost and forgotten as iconic structures fall by the way side to make room for new expansion. Journey into the shadows as you learn about a unique subculture of historian enthusiastic adventurers and the community at large all over the world. This society aims to uncover the lost mysteries of the past and document the forgotten city, before it is gone. For those who are bold, for those who thirst, for those who don’t always play by the rules, we welcome you.

Historic Architecture Protection Society

The Historic Architecture Protection Society (or HAPS) specializes in locating, documenting, protecting, and supporting building restorations or re-purposing. Historical buildings exist all over Kansas City that are often forgotten or lost to our local community. Consequentially those structures uniquely significant stories are often destroyed by vandals or crumble due to lack of care, HAPS is here to document these important spaces before they are gone.

Guide: The Turkey Creek Institute for Phenomenal Awareness 

Time : 7:00pm  

Location : Meet at General Information Booth Outside Blip Roasters 

Age Range : 13 + 

RSVP :  RSVP at  westbottomsreborn@gmail.com 

Description : 

       Any serious investigation of Kansas City that did not account for the West Bottoms would be woefully incomplete !  The same could be said of any investigation of the West Bottoms that does not account for Turkey Creek.  The histories of these two features are irrevocably intertwined, geologically, geographically, and culturally.  Ironically, in present times, these two bodies no longer interface, at least not in any obvious way.  The Turkey Creek Sewer is profoundly responsible for the West Bottoms we know today, making it possible for a mostly dry floodplain.  It is a phenomenal constant that water flows downhill, though you may find this is no longer an observable event as we explore the Central Industrial District of the West Bottoms.  Join the Turkey Creek Institute for Phenomenal Awareness as we examine this scientific and historical discrepancy.

The Turkey Creek Institute For Phenomenal Awareness

We seek to raise phenomenal awareness in the public by fostering engagement with Turkey Creek.  Some interesting frameworks for engagement have been photographic archiving, psychogeographic exploration, local histories, and landscape ecology.

The Turkey Creek Institute For Phenomenal Awareness was founded in 2014 by Timothy Amundson. Check out this Phenomenal work and history ! 

http://turkeycreekinstitute.tumblr.com/

http://turkeycreekinstitute.tumblr.com/history

Guides : IMP Ensemble 

TIme : 5:30pm 

Location : Blip Roasters  

Age Range : All Ages 

RSVP : Open to the Public  

Description : Please join UMKC’s IMP ensemble for sonic interpretations of Kansas City’s iconic West Bottoms.  Original compositions will recontextualize the sounds of locations, embedding field recordings within a texture of orchestral strings, brass, keyboards, noise, and Hip-Hop beats.   

UMKC’ s IMP Ensemble explores improvisation in the broadest definition, where listening and responding become a way of real-time creation. IMP is a think-tank of people willing to risk and fail quickly, so any show can go on, using new individual media to explore the boundaries of medium and improvisation.

Guide :  The King Of Herrings

Times: 3 spots available during each time slot 5:30pm, 7:30pm,  8:30pm

Location: Secret. Discloser upon RSVP Confirmation. 

Age Range: 18+

RSVP :  3 spots available during each time slot 5:30pm , 7:30pm,  8:30pm  RSVP at westbottomsreborn@gmail.com 

Description: KC's favorite reflection in a dirty puddle, the King Of Herrings, invites you to partake in a unique tour of the West Bottoms' peculiar auditory environment. Cast aside the burden of your sight and allow your other four (five?) senses to rise to the occasion. Participants will don blindfolds and commune with some of the West Bottoms' not-quite-human denizens . Though involving no physical risks, this experience is not for the faint of heart. Step off daytime's stage, if you dare, and into the darkened wings.

Karen McCoy

Investigation : Sound 

Event :  WBR + KCDC 

Description : Listening Trumpets 

"There is a geographical quality to listening…Of all the senses, hearing most resembles a contraption some ingenious plumber has put together from spare parts. Its job is partly spatial…Sounds have to be located in space, identified by type, intensity, and other features."
–Dianne Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses

Imagining an experience, sculpting or composing it, in such a way that viewers must walk to discover it is, in itself, an act overlaid with many intentions. The use of Listening Trumpets on walks places emphasis on the contemplation of a place and its sounds. The trumpets focus and subtly (or at times not so subtly) amplify sound. They are extremely directional and bring the sound at which they are aimed closer to the listener while excluding other sounds in the environment. The effect is subtle, more like the resonance of a musical instrument than electronic amplification. By using the large or small circular aperture at either end to sight and frame an image the Listening Trumpets may also be used to isolate visual phenomena. In this way the play of moving light and shadow may become a miniature "film" or the brilliance of green mosses, the patterns of lichens spread on a boulder, may become miniature abstract pictures. The emphasis is on increasing sensory perception through concentrating, focusing and isolating particular sounds and sights.

In the future, perhaps noise pollution from technological devices, personal and otherwise, and from our ever-expanding cities will be so increased that sound quality might form the basis for retreats from the urban. The concept of the park as a quiet zone is not unthinkable. Walking with a small listening trumpet in hand creates a situation in which viewer/participants may take a sort of journey to discover that which is available all the time, to anyone, but seldom noticed. As each Listening Trumpet makes its way into a variety of soundscapes; or is used as a visual sighting instrument, it becomes part of a larger sculptural experience. The creation of this dispersed "situational sculpture" is intended to create a multi-layered experience for participants. Concentrating on small visual fragments of great beauty in the environment can alter our perception of place. Walking with a focus on sound, listening and close scrutiny of the immediate environment invites a slower pace and an attendant increase in sensory perception. We engage in a kind of heightened perception that may filter into our daily lives. Since the "situational sculpture" consists of a dispersed experience, it calls upon the viewer to remember and mentally assemble all the parts in order to experience the whole. Listening as part of a geographical experience creates a process of assembling sound into an aural picture of the landscape; likewise with viewing visual fragments. They contribute to a new and broader vision of the landscape. 

Of central concern in this work is the cultivation of simple awareness. Alongside this is a recognition of the human need to break from the oftentimes-mechanical rhythm of contemporary life. An intentional cultivation of our perceptual facilities allows frequent conscious retreats from the usual patterns of our fast-paced lives, and nurtures our ability to facilitate this. It’s amazing to think that the use of a simple, humble device might lead to increased sensitivity to the natural world. To walk is restorative. It encourages quietness, intimate communality with surroundings and with others. Our ability to find moments of beauty in the everyday may increase the sense of joy in our lives, and perhaps catalyze a greater interest in the health of our life- supporting planet.

Listening Trumpets provide a way of "cupping our ears to the earth". 

http://www.karen-mccoy.com/walking/trumpet/trumpets01.html

Silent Walking Club 

Site : I-670

Investigation : Sound 

Rules !

1. Walking in silence for one hour

2. Start where you end, end where you start

3. The group follows each other

4. Keep walking, no talking

Suggestion : Follow interests, not fear 

UMKC Conservatory of Music 

Investigation : Sound + Plants + Ecosystems 

Blip Roasters 

Event : WBR + KCDC+ OPEN TO PUBLIC 

Description :  Outwards [Inwards] Upwards / /: Sound and Space A sound migration from 1-670 to the 12th St. Alley. Sound, like plants and water, finds its way into the nooks and crannies of everywhere not specifically designed to repel it. The 2 hour video installation and performance flows, migrates, and relocates from underneath the 1-670 Bridge, in the West Bottoms, with its vertically closed, but horizontally open space, to its spatial inversion in the 12th Street Alleyway, with vertical openness and horizontal confinement. Along the way, a pocket of musicians, and a few 21st Century troubadours vacillates between these two spaces.  Like the cracks in the brick mortar, now supporting plant life, so our sound invades the pathways and alleyways of the city, where sound knows no bounds, and maximally respects open space.

The King of Herrings 

Site : West Bottoms 

Investigation : Soundscapes 

Event: WBR+KCDC+ PUBLIC ; 6 spots available for this tour RSVP @ westbottomsreborn@gmail.com 

Description : Drone Of Absence / Dream Of Asphalt

West Bottoms Reborn and the King Of Herrings invite you on a tour of the West Bottoms like no other. Descend into the vaults of Kansas City’s cathedral of beef and brick, close your eyes, and experience a pleasantly spine-tingling late October evening with all other senses heightened to maximum acuity. Participants will be blindfolded and led on a route that foregrounds the West Bottoms’ unique auditory and psychic environments. Those attending this tour may find themselves communing with the familiar spectres of the season, the deeper spirits of the landscape, or even the greater vacant genius that haunts those places which are completely clean of ghosts.

Spaces are extremely limited for this one-night event. Participants should wear sturdy, comfortable footwear that can take a bit of dirt, and outdoor-appropriate clothing. Participants should be aware that this tour, while physically safe, may push some boundaries of mental comfort.

Aubrey Streit Krug , The Land Institute

Investigation:  Habitat 

Site : Lawrence, Kansas 

Event : KCDC +WBR + Public ; 5 spots available for this workshop , please RSVP at Westbottomsreborn@gmail.com

Description:

The Land Institute is transforming agriculture through scientific research in perennial polycultures and through educational projects that spread a new way of thinking about the relationships between plants, human places, and the planet. Participants in this workshop held at the Perennial Agriculture Project Field Station near Lawrence, Kansas, will engage with The Land Institute’s work through presentations, experiential activities, and discussion. The workshop will be led by Aubrey Streit Krug, a postdoctoral fellow in Ecosphere Studies at The Land Institute.

Heathy Rivers Partnership 

Site : Mo River  

Investigation : Flowing Water 

Event: KCDC+WBR+PUBLIC

Description :  Join Us for a River Clean- Up with Healthly Rivers Partnership

- Please wear work clothes and shoes , no sandals !  

- Bring Sunscreen, bug spray, and refillable water bottle  

- Gloves, bags, and tools provided 

- Picnic lunch at noon 

Volunteers are taken by boat to riverbank sitesalong 13 miles of the Missouri River ( mouth of Blue River east to Missouri City ). After picking up trash and piling  it on shore, volunteers are taken back to the park and served lunch.   After lunch, volunteers can leave or stay to haul trash from boat ramp to dumpsters. Shirt and gloves provided.   

Artist Amanda Gehin and Ecologist Steve Van Rhien 

Investigation: Habitat

Site: River Front + West Bottoms

Event : KCDC + WBR+ Public ; 10 spots available, please RSVP at WestBottomsReborn@gmail.com

MEETING SPOT IS HEALTH RIVERS PARTNERSHIP PARKING LOT

Description:

Amanda and Stephen will be leading an exploration of two sites that were historically a part of the same ecosystem - a continuous bottomland hardwood forest that followed our two big rivers, the Missouri and the Kaw.  Site One, The Riverfront Park , resembles what a bottomland hardwood forest may have looked like prior to European settlement. These floodplain forests offer valuable assets to the ecosystem and provide quality resources to the habitat. As we tour the West Bottoms we will discuss what habitat potential exists within this highly altered landscape. As we walk we will identify and discuss species of plants that we encounter along the way, as well as propose deep and changeling questions !  Do we attempt to return pockets of this landscape back to a historical reconstruction, or do we respond to what this new environment has to offer? 

ATTENTION : THERE ARE TWO TOURS STARTING AT 12PM and AT 2PM , PLEASE BE SURE TO SPECIFY WHICH TOUR YOU WOULD LIKE WHEN YOU RSVP

Tim Amundson 

Investigation: Flowing Water 

Site: Mo River - Meet at Kaw Point 

Event: WBR+KCDC+PUBLIC ; Limited seating please RSVP at westbottomsreborn@gmail.com 

Description : 

Any serious investigation of Kansas City that did not account for the West Bottoms would be woefully incomplete !  The same could be said of any investigation of the West Bottoms that does not account for Turkey Creek.  The histories of these two features are irrevocably intertwined, geologically, geographically, and culturally.  Ironically, in present times, these two bodies no longer interface, at least not in any obvious way.  In 1913, the construction of the Turkey Creek Diversion Tunnel, made it so that the bulk of the watershed preemptively drained into the Kaw, avoiding the floodplain where it once found confluence.  The purpose of this diversion was to allow for the installation of the early 20th century's largest sewer ,still in place just south of Kemper Arena.  The Turkey Creek Sewer is profoundly responsible for the West Bottoms we know today, making it possible for a mostly dry floodplain just in time for the Industrial Era.  It is a phenomenal constant that water flows downhill, though you may find this is no longer an observable event as we explore the Central Industrial District of the West Bottoms.  Join the Turkey Creek Institute for Phenomenal Awareness as we examine this scientific discrepancy and the simulacra that it has enabled. 

ATTENTION !  You WILL need to wear water repellent footwear, galoshes, or rubber boots. 

The Turkey Creek Institute For Phenomenal Awareness

We seek to raise phenomenal awareness in the public by fostering engagement with Turkey Creek.  Some interesting frameworks for engagement have been photographic archiving, psychogeographic exploration, local histories, and landscape ecology. Turkey Creek is a modest watershed that exists entirely within an urban environment.  It can be found beside, beneath, or near Interstate 35 as it travels through Johnson and Wyandotte Counties in the Kansas City, Kansas metropolitan area.  The valley formed by Turkey Creek has served as a navigation route for hundreds of years.  Its current environment is dominated by light industry, commercial development, auto and railway infrastructure, suburban residential neighborhoods, and engineered flood control constructions.  Despite the heavy traffic of the area, many native residents have never engaged with Turkey Creek, some admit to having no awareness of it at all.  What would it mean to rethink this creek as a place for learning rather than ignoring, for immersion rather than evasion, for involvement rather than abandonment?

The Turkey Creek Institute For Phenomenal Awareness was founded in 2014 by Timothy Amundson. Check out this Phenomenal work and history ! 

http://turkeycreekinstitute.tumblr.com/

http://turkeycreekinstitute.tumblr.com/history