FREE COMPLIMENTARY COPY September 2, 2016 • Volume 3, No. 45
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5th annual Raytown Arts & Music Festival a success despite heavy rain
Photos (top) courtesy Ron Fowler Despite heavy rains leading up to the event, hundreds of festival-goers were at C. Lee Kenagy Park this past weekend to Liverpool: A Tribute to The Beatles performs at the 5th annual Raytown Arts & Music Festival Aug. 27 at C. Lee Kenagy listen to local music at the Raytown Arts & Music Festival. Park.
Photos by Omar El-Khatib
By Kris Collins The 5th annual Raytown Arts & Music Festival held Aug. 27 at C. Lee Kenagy Park is in the books as a success, no thanks to Mother Nature. Dave Turner, sports and special events supervisor for the Raytown Parks and Recreation Department, said he and parks staff were making adjustments on the morning of the event because of approximately 10 inches of rainfall Raytown saw during the days leading up to the festival. “The kids’ area was the only thing in the correct spot per our
Raytown High student achieves perfect ACT score
Photo courtesy Raytown C-2 School District Raytown High School senior Paul Lawless scored a perfect 36 on his ACT, placing him in the 99th percentile. According to figures from ACT, 1,598 students, or 0.08 percent of all test-takers, got perfect stores on the test in 2015.
plans,” Turner said. “Friday and Saturday morning we changed the location of the stage, we changed the location of the artists, and we changed the location of the food trucks.” Those changes brought about other complications. The trucks used to move stage and sound equipment tore up the grass and made it unfit for guest parking. As a result parking space at the park was reduced by 60 percent. “After those big trucks went through, there was just no way we could open that area to parking,” he said. “It was just torn up and it would have been inviting
out and so many people saw the event,” he said. “I think that really helped in not perfect conditions, and brought a really nice sized crowd of people to Raytown.” The peak of attendance hit shortly after 5 p.m. when headliners Liverpool: A Tribute to The Beatles took the stage. “Otherwise the event was fantastic,” Turner said. “It couldn’t really have gone much smoother. Our talent was so much better this year than any year we’ve had it. We were all very happy about that. We had a lot of good artists and we had a few new vendors.”
The last-minute changes may have worked out for the best for the artists, who were stationed near the shelter house. “It seemed to me like quite a few of them, almost on accident, really enjoyed being set up there,” he said. “I think our artists were happy with that alternate location even though we were just trying to make it work at the time.” The event also featured performances by Lyin’ Eyes, an Eagles tribute band, and local talent in Wildwood Boys and Barbwire Revolt.
Raytown School partners with Missouri Mavericks
The Raytown Schools Wellness Center has been selected as the official training facility of the Missouri Mavericks. The partnership will provide the Missouri Mavericks players and full-time staff with free facility use in exchange for enhanced access to certain Missouri Mavericks games, players, and events to include: school visits by Missouri Mavericks players and mascot, three tickets and recognition at each home game for one elementary school and one secondary school age student, and one Hospitality Suite Night. “We are excited to begin what we hope will be a long standing partnership with the Missouri Mavericks,” Superintendent Allan Markley said. ‘This partnership not only expands our school community, but also highlights the great work we have done with the facility. I’m proud to say that we have a state-
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disaster to let everybody park in a wet, grass area.” Nevertheless, attendance was healthy. Turner estimated upwards up 4,000 people came to the event throughout the day. “We tried something new this year,” he said. “We really pushed this on Facebook and our event had over 12,000 views, which made me very nervous. There was no way we could handle 12,000 at the event.” However, Turner said the high publicity brought folks out to the park despite the rain, soggy ground and humidity. “I’m glad we got the name
staff will use the facility and equipment during normal business hours as available with no interruption to the current schedule
of-the-art facility that will meet the needs of the players and staff who train with us.” The team will also host a ChuckA-Puck beneficiary night and fundraiser events to benefit the Raytown Educational Foundation and Raytown Youth Sports scholarship fund.
“The team’s willingness to host multiple fundraisers for scholarships shows us that the players and staff recognized the importance of the work that we do and are committed to our mission to provide great opportunities for our students,” Markley said. Missouri Mavericks players and
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