Ryan Millan-Pulley
Editorial Intern

Parade of Hearts is in full swing once again, with dozens of heart-shaped sculptures appearing throughout the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. 

According to its website, Parade of Hearts is a public art experience meant to celebrate “Kansas City’s creativity, culture, and compassion.” 

This public art experience started in 2021 and enlists a wide variety of local artists to create heart-shaped sculptures of varying styles. The theme for 2026 is “Hearts of Unity.”

Exactly 150 of these hearts are placed around the KC Metro, challenging residents to explore and see how many they can find. The website even has a leaderboard where residents can log the hearts they’ve visited. 

Two of these hearts are located in the Northeast’s industrial area.  

One is “Kansas City Has Heart,” located at 2715 Rochester Ave. Created by Dawnua Dawson of The Collective Heart, this piece aims to celebrate Kansas City’s diversity. One side displays the word “Welcome” in 88 different languages, including Braille and American Sign Language.  

“The design invites everyone, residents, visitors, and newcomers alike to feel at home and part of our shared story,” Dawson said. 

Dawson also owns Sweet and Salty Artifacts, a small business specializing in custom laser engravings and wooden kitchenware. 

The other is titled “If I Only Had a Heart,” located at 2700 Guinotte Ave, next to the J. Rieger & Co. Distillery. This piece is inspired by the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, complete with a rustic metal paint job, clock-heart, Kansas sunflowers, and the Yellow Brick Road as its base.

The artist behind this piece is Mark J. Peterson, who specializes in surrealist works in ink and acrylic. When designing “If I Only Had A Heart,” Peterson wanted it to symbolize “Love, growth, and the journeys we take to find what we value most.” 

Peterson also created a Scrabble-themed sculpture for 2023’s Parade of Hearts.

More of Peterson’s artwork can be found on his website, www.mjpetersonart.com, where he accepts commissions. He also has an Instagram page, where his username is @markjpetersonart. 

On their website, Parade of Hearts will offer two separate online opportunities to purchase hearts to own once the display ends in August. 

At noon on May 21, 2026, an opportunity will open featuring 120 hearts for immediate online purchase. 

When this closes on May 25, any remaining hearts will move to an online auction that opens on May 27. 

While most of the hearts are located in the KC Metro, some are far outside it. Two of them are in Lawrence, Kansas, while two more are located in St. Joseph and Chillicothe, Missouri. 

The complete map of heart locations can be found on the Parade of Hearts website, linked below.

KC Region Directory | Hearts, Events, Artists, Attractions & Communities