Labor Day weekend brings festivals to Kansas City area 

The heat will still be turned up this weekend, but that won’t stop the fall festivals in the Kansas City area – SantiCaliGon Days, Irish Fest and Hummingbird Festival – from being celebrated.

SantiCaliGon Days Festival

The SantiCaliGon Days Festival, which remembers the origin of the historic Santa Fe, California and Oregon trails, will be celebrated Friday to Monday at Independence Square in Independence, Missouri.

The free festival, which was first celebrated in 1940 and formerly called Three Trails Days, allows guests to experience what Main Street in 1849 would have been like during the time of westward expansion.

Attendees can participate in free, hands-on activities, such as panning for gold, to learn about life during the 1800s. The festival will offer hundreds of arts, crafts, food and vendors, along with a carnival and free entertainment. An authentic blacksmith will also be onsite.

Carnival wristbands are required to enter the carnival area unless you’re a parent accompanying a child under 18. Admission to the beer garden and main stage area costs $5 for anyone 5 years old and up and becomes available at 5 p.m. each evening.

Free parking is available for guests at the Community of Christ Auditorium, and a shuttle, which costs $1 per person, will be running every 15 minutes to transport visitors to the festival.

A curfew will be enforced between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., and anyone younger than 18 years old must be accompanied by an adult at the festival during these hours.

The festival’s hours are:

• Friday noon to 10 p.m. 

• Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. 

• Sunday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. 

• Monday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

KC Irish Fest

The Kansas City Irish Fest will be celebrated Labor Day weekend at Crown Center, bringing the heart of Ireland to the Heart of America.

Guests can enjoy art-in-the-park vendors as well as a series of activities and games for the family. A kids’ area will host entertainers on the stage each day along with bingo, balloon artists, magicians, inflatables, a scavenger hunt and more. The kids’ area will also host a silent disco, which isn’t restricted to just children, each evening.

Visitors can enter raffles for a chance to win a trip for two to Ireland along with other prizes. Opportunities to learn about Irish culture will be sprinkled throughout the festival, including the Culture Cafe, which will have Kansas City Irish Center volunteers available to chat.

Vendors will be offering Irish products such as pottery and handmade jewelry. Several food and drink trucks will also be available.

The festival is not free, and tickets can be purchased.

Hummingbird Festival

As Missouri’s smallest bird prepares to fly over 1,000 miles south for its winter migration, George Owens Nature Park in Independence, Missouri, is hosting its Hummingbird Festival Thursday through Saturday to celebrate. 

The ruby-throated hummingbird spends its summers at its breeding grounds in the eastern half of the U.S., which includes Missouri, and travels back to southern Mexico and northern Central America each winter. 

(Insert migration map, courtesy of Journey North.)

The Hummingbird Festival is free, and attendees can build their own hummingbird perch, play hummingbird-themed games and enjoy exhibits throughout the park. Classes will also be available daily – one on how to attract hummingbirds to your yard at 10:30 a.m. each day and another to learn about tracking migration patterns at 1 p.m. each day. 

The festival hours are:

• Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

• Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

• Saturday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

(Image credit: Screenshot/Facebook/George Owens Nature Park)