By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
March 16, 2011

Northeast’s Askew Inn morphed into a Mardi Gras headquarters March 8 as attendees gathered for the Beads, Beans & Beers fundraiser.

Mardi Gras beads dangled from the buffet table lined with Cajun beans, rice and cornbread. Attendees lined up for the feast and some sported elaborate costumes. Marti Lee, executive director of Southtown and Troost Commercial Improvement District, and Buck Hessel of Kansas City, Kan., won the costume contest, earning the titles of queen and king.

Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and the Historic Northeast Events hosted the fundraiser to raise funding for automobile insurance on the Historic Northeast Events tour bus.

Northeast Chamber President Bobbi Baker-Hughes said the event raised approximately $1,200.

“I think Beads, Beans & Beers went great,” Baker-Hughes said. “We had a lot of great sponsors, a lot of great donations and a lot of great attendees.

“I’m hoping it’s (donations) enough to get us one step closer to having the Northeast Events bus up and ready to start showing off the great spaces and places in Northeast.”

Northeast Chamber plans to use the bus for its May 7 International Business Crawl, she said.

Now in it’s third year, the business crawl aims to highlight Northeast by offering tours of the shopping district. Participating businesses receive their country’s native flag and attendees are given passports to be stamped at each participating store.

The last two years have focused on Independence Avenue, but this year, the Chamber wants to expand the tour to include 12th and Brooklyn, Lexington, St. John and Elmwood, and possibly 18th and Vine.

“We’re trying to get folks familiarized with shopping available here in the Northeast,” she said.

Historic Northeast Events will continue to host fundraisers, she said, all in an effort to “promote all those good places and spaces” in Northeast.

Top: Attendees didn’t shy away from wearing festive costumes during the Beads, Beans & Beers fundraiser March 8. At left, NE Chamber of Commerce President Bobbi Baker-Hughes, right, distributes beads to guests, including Tracy Marriott of Northeast, center, and Buck Hessel of Kansas City, Kan. Above: John Campbell, left, and Gary Hodgin, both of Northeast, pile up the Cajun beans. Photos by Leslie Collins