Northeast News
November 12, 2014

Kessler Park had quite the week these past seven days and this news-dog is glad to report more good news from what is becoming the centerpiece for urban Kansas City parks.

Last week’s Cliffhanger Run brought over 3,000 participants to run through the fall foliage, raising money for Northeast Neighbor to Neighbor. Later in the week, Brett Shoffner led a crew of Kansas City Chiefs cheerleaders along the byway to clean things up, thin out some invasive honeysuckle and plant some new trees. The event was co-sponsored by Bridging the Gap and the Kansas City Chiefs. Thirty two new trees were added to the urban forest that day near the old Green Lake.

But this ‘lil doggie is savin’ the biggest news for last. We’re champs ladies and gentlemen. We’re home to the state’s biggest tree. That cover photo doesn’t lie and we’ve got the plaque to prove it. All of this points to a growing trend that makes this news writin’ pooch pretty tickled.

At long last, this area of the city, thanks to hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours put in by neighbors throughout HNE, is finally coming of age once again. Say what you will, but with a resurgence of volunteerism by residents and additional attention from the city, things are lookin’ pretty darned skippy going into 2015 and that makes this news-dog give a healthy wag-of-the-tail.