Visit Barbecue Festival on 2009 Family Vacations

This Culinary Delight Highlights Fun Trips to Kansas City MO

Jan 18, 2009

A 2009 trend for a family friendly vacation is to visit a key barbecue festival in October in Kansas City Mo, a city which offers many captivating things to do.

With the trends in 2009 of family vacations, remember Barbecue gatherings are favorite pastimes across the USA and every region has its own distinct way of cooking and celebrations. Two significant culinary barbecue events are:

Barbecue Festival in Kansas City MO

Kansas City advertises the 30th Annual American Royal Barbecue as the “world series of Barbecues.” This event is located in the heart of the city at the historic stockyards before the annual American Royal Show every year. The American Royal, more than just a livestock show, has been in existence since 1899, currently is a horse show, art, (and more) and, of course, showcases this renown barbecue festival.

An extraordinary place to hold this barbecue festival is in Kansas City, which is famous for this barbecue culinary delight. Today, Kansas City offers this taste in more than 100 establishments across the city. This particular barbecue festival started in 1980, although Kansas City Barbecue dates to the early 1900’s with key restaurant establishments of Gates B-B-Q and Arthur Bryant’s Barbecue.

Other Family Attractions Before/After the American Royal Barbecue

Kansas City, one of the cities with the most number of fountains (behind Rome) is a family friendly city with many fun attractions for vacations before or after this barbecue festival. A great time to visit this city is in the fall when the leaves turn colors, and plan the itinerary to include many cultural things to do with history, music, sports, shopping and more great food tastes.

History is very evident as Kansas City, a river town on the Missouri, is known to be the gateway to the American West. Visitors will be able to see remnants of three main trails from the covered wagon trains in the 1800”s.

A Presidential influence from the thirty-third president of USA, Harry S. Truman, is indeed present for visitors to explore at the Harry S Truman Library. Or, tourists may visit the World War I museum located at the Liberty Memorial in the downtown area. Jazz, Riverboat artifacts, Art and several other museums are available.

Kids (and adults) may spend the day at Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun Amusement Park (open on weekends during October), which has a theme of Around the World in Eighty Days or marvel at exhibits at Science-City located at the historic Union Train Station where many east/west trains met through USA history. Hallmark Cards and Harley-Davidson Operations are open to visitors to tour through.

Sporting events are popular throughout Kansas City with two major league teams, Royals (baseball) and Chiefs (football) at the Truman Sports Complex (close to the Truman Library) and the very popular Kansas Speedway for racing events.

Shopping is very common throughout Kansas City. A recommendation is to start at historic Country Club Plaza, built in the early 1900’s, and is one of the oldest suburban outdoor shopping centers. “The Plaza” resembles Spanish architecture from Europe and offers a unique extravaganza of holiday lights in December every year.

A favorite pastime in USA is barbecue and grilling foods where people in the community interact with each other and will be one of the trends for family vacations. Kansas City, Missouri is a noteworthy mention as a place where families may join in with this world famous barbecue culinary event and visit many other fun and inexpensive attractions before and after the festival.

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