By Paul Thompson

Northeast News

July 6, 2017

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – The Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association’s 4th of July Celebration attracted hundreds of attendees to The Concourse on Tuesday to celebrate Independence Day.

In addition to providing a laser light show in lieu of fireworks, the 2nd annual 4th of July Celebration included live music and kids carnival games. The Kansas City Museum set up the live music, the Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation Department loaned valuable equipment and Scarritt Renaissance Ken and Deborah Richardson set up the carnival games to raise money for the neighborhood association’s annual Easter Egg Hunt.

Scarritt Renaissance resident Michael Donnici, who organized this year’s event, said that the event was truly a team effort. Because the event was granted $2,000 less this year from the Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund (NTDF) than in 2016, the extra support proved vital in the event’s success.

“Parks (and Recreation) was a huge help. They loaned us generators and sound equipment, so we didn’t have to pay for it,” Donnici said. “The Museum helps us with entertainment. They took care of Rex Hobart, and they did all the road blocks and the permitting for us.”

The company that provided the lights for the laser light show even reduced the cost of the equipment because neighborhood volunteers helped load and unload the gear. The only hiccup, Donnici noted, were the pockets of rain that threatened the equipment and may have kept even more residents from attending. Thankfully the equipment ended up being fine, and the event went off without a hitch.

“The only problem we did have was the little rain we got,” Donnici said. “We got my wife’s blow dryer and we were up there with a blow dryer trying to dry everything off.”