The Pitch: May 2023 (Pet Issue)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 10

THURSDAY, JUNE 8

THURSDAY, JUNE 22

SATURDAY, MAY 20

SUNDAY, JUNE 11

SATURDAY, JUNE 24

FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JULY 14-15

Breakaway Music Festival

FRIDAY, AUGUST 4 Sam Hunt with Brett Young and Lily Rose

THURSDAY, AUGUST 10 Mudvayne with Coal Chamber, GWAR, Nonpoint and more

FRIDAY, AUGUST 11 Y’allapalooza with Parker Mccollum, Chris Lane, Travis Denning and more

SATURDAY, AUGUST 19 Incubus with Badflower and paris jackson

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30 Gojira with Mastodon

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 Rob Zombie with Alice Cooper, Ministry and Filter

FAITH NIGHT AT the K!

SATURDAY, MAY 27 | 3 PM GAME

Purchase discounted tickets at cor.org/royals and receive a voucher to enjoy a free dessert during the game.

Special family-friendly performance from COR Worship Collective A er the game.

Get your tickets today!

Grassroots animal advocate Scott Poore named Chief of advocacy and Media Relations at Great Plains SPCa Scott Poore has spent the last 12 years advocating for shelter animals across Kansas and Missouri, all funded from his own pocket. Poore left a career in medical sales and started Mission Driven Goods, an animal-themed apparel company, to fund his advocacy efforts. Mission Driven Goods has raised more than $1.5 million for animal shelters and helped thousands of shelter pets find their forever homes. Poore recently received a new leadership role at Great Plains SPCA, where he will place more pups and kitties with loving families. His other advocacy efforts include On a Mission KC, a new nonprofit organization that invests in shelters’ infrastructural needs, as well as writing The Pitch’s weekly Creature Feature, which showcases local animals up for adoption. Poore deserves a round of a-paws for his relentless efforts putting pets into forever homes.

Does your Dog Byte? accessibility to live pets can be complicated but advances in video game companions feel familiar Even the most hardcore gamers get a thrill from the ability to play with a virtual pet. Something about animals makes people feel innately happy, and animals in video games are no exception. We rounded up the best video games in which players can tend to animals, travel with furry companions, or even play as a feline protagonist. From casual escapes like A Little to the Left to some less obvious choices such as Far Cry 6, we’ve recommended something for gamers and animal lovers of all levels.

6 LETTER

Letter from the Editor Animal Collective BY BROCK WILBUR

8

POLITICS

Secret Service

Support animals—and their owners— have too many hoops to jump through

BY SARAH MOORE

10

CULTURE

Grieving the Star of the Pot Roast

Cinematic Universe

Pot Roast’s Mom reflects on life one year after the famous TikTok cat’s death

BY LAUREN

12

Trap it Up

14

Deep Blue KC

Expansive new aquarium coming to KC Zoo after 10 years of development

BY AMANDA HADLOCK

15

Good Grief

Processing pet grief sans Pet Sematary

BY LAUREN

16

TEXTOR

FOOD & DRINK

Roman’s Holiday

Barbacoa brings backyard BBQ to center stage

BY JORDAN

17

TEXTOR

How KC’s dog and cat trappers find the metro’s lost and stray pets

BY AJ STUTZER

18

Crust Punks

Dispatch Pizza caters wood-fired theatrics and Tuscan ethos

BY AMANDA HADLOCK

19

Mise en Place

Four Inane Questions with Chef Johnny Leach Johnny Leach took over as head chef at The Town Company in the middle of the 2020 pandemic. Helen Jo, Leach’s wife and a prolific pastry chef, creates the desserts while Leach handles the savory fare. Between the two of them, the Hotel Kansas City restaurant has seen a culinary revival in the last three years. We asked him a series of inane (but related!) questions, which he managed to marinate and make more interesting.

24 aDVICE

Keep Them Coming

Neurodivergence and sexual connection

BY KRISTEN THOMAS

26

Whiskers Cat Café’s Audrey Boese pours lattes, love, and lots of hours into fostering cats

BY KATE

20

BARANOWSKI

Eat This Now

Pad Key Maw at Baramee Thai Bistro

Stone Fruit Kombucha from Lucky Elixir

FRICK

MUSIC Migration Pattern

And the World Still Spins launches

The Swallowtails into orbit BY NICK

SPACEK

22

EVENTS

May Events Calendar BY THE PITCH STAFF

KC CaRES

KC

Cares

Bridging the Gap

BY BETH LIPOFF

Cover by Cassondra Jones

Photo by Steph Castor

Chef Johnny Leach. Courtesy photo

A Little to the Left. Courtesy photo

Scott Poore with his beloved pup, Leo. Courtesy Mission Driven Goods

Editor-in-Chief

Brock Wilbur

President & Chief Operating Officer

Andrew Miller

Director of Marketing & Promotions

Jason Dockery

Associate Editor

Steph Castor

Community Manager

Sarah Sipple

Sales Executive

Erin Carey

Music Editor

Nick Spacek

Film Editor

Abby Olcese

Little Village Creative Services

Jordan Sellergren

Art Director

Cassondra Jones

Contributing Writers

Liz Cook, Michael Mackie, Barb Shelly, Beth Lipoff, Kristen Thomas, Kala Elkinton, Michael Cripe, Jordan Baranowski, Lauren Textor, Caroline Rose

Newman, Adrian Torres, Kate Frick, Scott Poore, Hannah Strader, Grace Wilmot, Ivy Anderegg, Tyler

Schneider, Britt Frank, Robert Miner, Sofia Mongillo, Ashley Lindeman, Amanda Hadlock, Sarah Moore, AJ Stutzer, Orrin Grey, Rachel Potucek

Editorial Interns

Emma Hilboldt, Jacqulyn Seyferth, Brynn

Winkler, Belle Yennie

Contributing Photographers

Zach Bauman, Chase Castor, Travis Young, Jim Nimmo, Chris Ortiz, Brooke Tramel, Maura Dayton, Isabella Galvan, Allison Scavo, Pilsen Photo Co-op

Contributing Designers and Illustrators

Alex Peak, Jake Edmisten

VOICE MEDIA GROUP

National Advertising

1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com

DISTRIBUTION

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COPYRIGHT

The contents of The Pitch are Copyright 2023 by The Pitch LLC. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without the express written permission of the publisher.

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Greetings, dearest friends and readers. Welcome to the May 2023 edition magazine, wherein we finally dared to live out our longtime fantasy: an entire issue dedicated, wholly and completely, to little guys who just want to be little No big thoughts, just big love.

This edition of our publication evolved behind the scenes more organically than just picking a topic and everyone diving in. Originally, this was going to be a magazine dedicated to Mental Health Awareness, as May is the month our society has designated as The Appropriate Time To Address That Whole Thing.

For most of us here, our familiars are so integral to our lives that they’ve become equally integral to our work and space. Cats, dogs, turtles, and other “freelance

ference room hosted a reunion of kittens who, born of our associate editor’s cat Shoresy, have now found homes with the rest of the staff. Yes, we’re all close enough now that we do actually adopt each other’s offspring. Keeping it all in the family.

We didn’t want to just serve you an issue that was a glorified, snuggly pet calendar, as tempting as that would be. Instead, we sunk our teeth into the stories, movements, problems, and power in what the current moment challenges us to do regarding our tiny extended family members and their families at large—wild and domesticated—from the Midwest and even far away oceans.

That said… we still wouldn’t deprive you of staff pet photos. We fell down a rabbit hole of discussing just how many— mostly blurry—pics one must snap of a pet to get an image that conveys a tiny, cute thing they were doing. Is pet photography really that hard for all of us?

To answer that question, we called up Angie House of Elly May Moments. She’s a local pro-shutterbug with her own biz, capturing animals with their owners and also shooting the images you see on pet products in major chain stores. Amid her stories of drool and hair, photoshop, and squeaky toys for sightlines, her most important bit of advice boiled down to one thing: meeting your pet at their perspective.

“You’ve got to come down to their level,” House says. “You’re working with a subject that is, maybe, 30 inches tall. You’ve got to be at their level to connect with this, and then you engage with them from there. Obedience is helpful, and using plain backgrounds can really make a pet pop, but the easiest thing that anyone photographing a pet can do is just meet them where they are and go from there.”

House—who has used everything from YouTube recordings of puppy sounds to mimicking the sounds of a stranger knocking to command pet attention—re -

grets how little time we have on this rock with our furry friends.

“I wish more people booked time for shoots with their pets before it was so near the end,” House says.

My Letter from the Editor ex actly a year ago today was the story of a TikTok cat that had just passed and how her owner was dealing with the grief in a pub lic, relatable, darkly comedic, and important-to-discuss way. That story of one single pet being re moved from someone’s life, what comes crashing down, and what gets built in honor/tribute… that’s all followed up in the Pot Roast story on page 10 from Lauren Tex tor.

We’ve got interviews with pet doulas on how others choose to process grief, information on ac cessibility for humans and humanitarian efforts toward sharks in a piece about our new aquarium, and the murky politics around the service pet world—and the people exploit ing the system.

This issue has some mo ments that are really brutal to grapple with and a lot of mo ments built as shrines of pure delight. As you navigate it with us, please take a moment to let your heart breathe and simply be thankful for all the animals in your life—pres ent, past, and hopefully future.

Pitch in and we’ll make it through,

Secret Service

SUPPORT ANIMALS—AND THEIR OWNERS—HAVE TOO MANY HOOPS TO JUMP THROUGH

By Sarah Moore

Service animals aren’t pets—they’re employees. People who benefit from SAs, whether for a physical disability or mental health, spend at least $3,000 to train them. Some wait nearly three years before receiving a trained SA. These animals offer assistance that cannot be replicated, so when the system is abused by people passing off fake SAs, it is detrimental to the owner and the animal.

There has been a growing occurrence in the U.S. of owners trying to pose their pets as service animals to gain the benefits that come with having a trained SA. For example, SAs are the only animals that are federally permitted to go into “no pets allowed” businesses.

In Missouri, anyone found using a fake service animal will be charged with a class C misdemeanor. The punishment is up to 15 days in jail and up to a $700 fine.

However, the law is hazy around how people can find out if a dog is a real SA. Business owners and employees are prohibited from asking people with SAs certain questions because it discriminates against people with disabilities or triggers anxiety.

“Legally, a business owner can only ask two questions,” says Chuck Klingsick, owner of Dog Training Elite. “‘Is that a service dog to help with your disability?’ And ‘what is one task that dog does to support your disability?’ They cannot ask any other question.”

The U.S. does not require an SA certification. This gives owners the option to train their animals at home, lessening the financial requirements that come with professional training. However, if an animal acts up in a public place due to poor training, the owner has the right to ask for the animal to be taken outside—not to ask the person to leave. The caregiver will also be financially responsible for any damages that their dog caused.

“If a person claims to have a service dog and that service dog is all over the map, there’s a good chance that dog has not been trained to be a service animal,” Klingsick says. “If a person claims they have a service dog and a service dog is paying very close attention to that person and being well behaved when that person sits down, the dog just kind of talks and gets out of the way—that’s a good indication they’ve been trained.”

There are an estimated 500,000 service animals working in the U.S. However, only about 70% of animals that go through the training will become certified. At Dog Training Elite KC, dogs can be trained for PTSD and Psychiatric needs, mobility and autism needs, or medical alerts. The training ranges from $3,795-$7,495 and requires 20-25 weeks. The animals—most commonly dogs—will be trained in the owner’s home, in a park with other dogs, and in public spaces like malls and pet stores.

The animals are subjected to every situation that may cause them to act up or stray from their job and won’t move on with training until they have settled in the environment.

The training requires a lot of dedication from the animals and their caregivers, so Klingsick is careful not to accept people into the program that are trying to get a service animal for reasons other than disability assistance.

“I ask them if they could get a note from their therapist or doctor saying that, yes, they will benefit from a service dog, and what the tasks are that they need their service dog to provide,” Klingsick says. “We do that requirement because that’s one way that we can help weed out those people who just want a dog to fly on a plane.”

When poorly trained SAs come in contact with those that are trained, they do not have the control to stay calm. They will become excited or could potentially lunge at another animal, and injuring a service animal can be detrimental to the person that they are working for.

Kelly Miller has been with her service dog Emerald for almost a year now. She is blind and waited over two years before receiving her guide dog from the Kansas Specialty Dog Service, which raises and trains dogs to be service animals.

“It’s my job to not untrain him, and I have to work with him every day,” Miller says. “It’s a matter of learning a bunch of commands, what to do when, how to correct, how to praise, and how to keep his attention on me.”

Canine Companion is one of the leading service dog organizations in the country, and in 2022 they conducted the biggest study of the impact of service dog fraud to date. This was a global survey that found 79% of respondents have experienced a poorly trained dog snapping at, biting, vocalizing, or interfering with their service dog. In addition, 80% said poorly trained dogs had negatively impacted their independence and quality of life.

Part of this issue is the confusion between the job of a service animal and an emotional support animal (ESA). While both are intended to bring relief and support to their caregivers, the role of an ESA requires no special training. They bring relief through companionship.

“I think that ESAs have their value and they have their place, but it’s not in public where they can potentially harm me or my dog,” Miller says.

ESAs are not recognized under the Americans with Disabilities Act and cannot accompany their owners in public spaces. However, in Missouri, SAs and ESAs are protected under the Fair Housing Act, which was created to require equal housing opportuni-

ties for everyone with a disability.

This act exempts anyone with an SA or ESA from “no animal” housing policies and pet fees, but landlords are allowed to request written proof from a medical professional in your state that you have a qualifying disability for an SA or an updated ESA letter.

This letter could be from a therapist that you are familiar with, or a short Google search can generate several pages of websites for setting up an appointment with a mental health professional. One of the most popular of these sites is Pettable. If you have $150 and time to answer a short survey, they will be able to match you with a therapist and get an ESA letter in your hands within three days.

Even with the protection of the Fair Housing Act, it is not uncommon for landlords to attempt to deny applicants with service and emotional support animals, claiming that their disability is fake or doesn’t qualify, especially among people with mental disabilities that aren’t as apparent.

Applicants who are denied do have the option to pursue legal action. Magda Werkmeister, the hotline coordinator for city-wide tenant union KC Tenants, says that she will

direct people to legal services when receiving a call about “no pets allowed” housing. Sometimes it is just a case of bringing a legal professional to talk with the landlord, but it could also lead to filing a lawsuit.

Support animals are essential for people with disabilities to live full and independent lives. The Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Act defend these rights, but it is not uncommon for people to abuse their privileges.

If your animal is not trained to behave and assist as a service animal, do not bring them to spaces where they can cause damage or harm others. The backlash from these incidents negatively affect those who may have been waiting for years or have spent thousands of dollars to have a legitimate service animal.

“I’m working so hard to help my community of people who have service dogs to not make it harder for anyone else. It is exhausting, but it’s fantastic because I can be independent,” Miller says. “[Emerald] gives me confidence that I didn’t have before.”

Big dog energy. Courtesy Dog Training Elite KC

Grieving the Star of the Pot Roast Cinematic Universe

POT ROAST’S MOM REFLECTS ON LIFE ONE YEAR AFTER THE FAMOUS TIKTOK CAT’S DEATH

By Lauren Textor

with her cat. Animal intuitives form bonds with animals that are meant to help transmit feelings, emotions, and messages. Scimeca also offers services similar to a life coach.

“To me, if I heard another woman talking about a life coach, I’d be like, ‘Both of you get a grip,’” PRM laughs. “But she’s helped me a lot in terms of me trying to make money to survive without my engineering job. When Pot Roast was sick, last January and February, before I knew what was happening… She was eating her litter and the vet said all her tests were fine. I reached out to the animal intuitive, and I asked if we could have a session. That’s how we initially got connected. As Pot Roast got sicker and sicker, we were talking every single day. We still talk and she still gives me little messages from Pot Roast. She has a Patreon where you can ask your pet, living or dead, one question a month. Having her through every phase of that was just so wonderful. I feel like I live in such an echo chamber of weirdos—I know a lot of people don’t believe in animal intuitives, but I really do, and we’ve had a really special relationship.”

On Feb. 16, 2023, PRM posted a video of herself reading a spoken word poetry piece about her feelings one year after Pot Roast’s death. A follower named Sara commented, “You have the ability to put grief into such heart-wrenchingly beautiful words. We appreciate you always.” Another follower named Karlene commented, “I genuinely cannot think of a more beloved and more missed creature that ever left messy little tracks on the earth.”

Grief is strange.

Everyone experiences it differently. Some shut the rest of the world out, some let a select few inside, and some take to the Internet to document their experience for hundreds of thousands of followers. A year after the death of Kansas City’s feline TikTok celebrity, Pot Roast’s Mom is taking stock of her life and setting new boundaries with her online community.

Pot Roast’s Mom (whose name will remain anonymous for privacy reasons) has been creating TikTok videos since January 2021, most of which starred the legendary Pot Roast until her death in Feb. 2022. She has 1.2 million followers on TikTok and 144,000 on Instagram.

“I tweeted the first week she blew up,” PRM says. “It was like, ‘I have seven likes on Tik Tok. I’ve been shot into fame!’ That’s kind of how I feel still, as it keeps growing and growing. I’m always a little bit surprised. People really relate to this, and they really, really love their cats.”

It’s not fair to say that PRM loves her cat more than anyone else does. But she does have a robo-cat named Bot Roast, a model of a feline skeleton called Bone Roast, and she’s getting Pot Roast’s skeleton articulated. She

also has 1,500 photos of Pot Roast uploaded to her Google account.

Like many people, PRM began working from home during the pandemic. But unlike most, she was able to quit her engineering job to produce social media content full-time. This allowed her to spend all day with Pot Roast during the last year of the cat’s life. Her Patreon tiers range from “Dough” at $3 per month to “Incinerated” at $115 per month. Beginning at “Scorched” ($40 per month), patrons get to participate in monthly video chats with PRM and her other cats, Coupon and Faucet.

“Pot Roast gave me this,” PRM says. “She gave me a community of people to support me. I don’t think I’ve talked about it a lot, but Pot Roast’s medical treatment was paid for by followers. I get so weird about my name and stuff, so I didn’t give out my Venmo or my PayPal or anything like that. I just gave out my Cash App. In total, her death was between $11,000 and $12,000. I tried really hard to keep her around. It was a very expensive venture, but it was paid for by people donating. I feel very lucky. She left me a lot.”

PRM connected with animal intuitive Em Scimeca shortly before Pot Roast’s death in the hopes of continuing to communicate

However, PRM has also had a few unpleasant encounters with over-enthusiastic followers.

“It’s hard for me to say this parasocial relationship is bad because I benefit from it so much,” PRM says. “I wasn’t ever grieving Pot Roast alone. So much good has come from it. The darker side of this has been people—not thinking that we would be friends, but with people assuming that we are friends, and then getting upset when I don’t respond in a certain way. But that has been rare.”

Since Pot Roast’s death, PRM has adapted her approach to being online.

“It took her dying to realize that I can’t share every piece, but also when she died, I was so open about it. I saw how people benefit from that because when she died and my life imploded, no one said to me, ‘It’s just a cat,’” PRM says. “I was obviously grieving in a huge, public way. But I think people who had things like that said to them saw me and were like, ‘Oh, my grief is valid.’ I definitely don’t regret being vulnerable, because I do think it helps people. But I also think I need to be a little bit better about holding on to more pieces for myself.”

Learning what to post and what to hold back has been a challenging but necessary lesson.

“I always joke that I use the Internet

like my personal diary,” PRM says. “That has been good for my grief. At times, it’s been bad. There were some really dark, dark moments. At the beginning, I had not guarded myself against criticism surrounding her death, so when it came, I was shocked… The criticism of keeping her bones, Jesus Christ.”

Now, after a year of practice, PRM says cruel comments are rolling off her back.

“On the anniversary of her death, I thought to myself, nothing’s changed. I still feel the way I did that day. But then I’m like, ‘No, go back and watch the videos. Your life has done a 180. You’ve changed and you’ve grown and you have processed stuff, even if it doesn’t feel like it,’” PRM says.

She’s currently working on writing a book about pet grief to help others process their emotions. Writing the book, as well as sharing her poetry pieces and Instagram captions, has directed her pain into more hopeful productivity.

“I put my grief out there and people say, ‘This is what mine looks like,’ and that’s validating,” she says. “When she was alive, it was like, ‘Look at her. This is my life. I love her so much’. When she died, it felt like me and the Internet just looked at this hole. What do we do now? Having people there who are staring at the same version of the hole in their life…” PRM pauses. “When she died, I did not think that I would keep posting. I thought that would be the end of it. Then the response when I transitioned into posting about sad things and dead things was positive. It’s what she gave me. She gave me a community of people who pivoted with me when my life changed.”

After attending therapy, PRM has come to the conclusion that Pot Roast was her first secure attachment, which is why her grieving process has been so difficult and life-altering. She hopes that by normalizing the intensity of pet grief for others, she can help people process similar experiences to hers.

“I saw nothing after her death,” PRM says. “I didn’t see myself posting. I didn’t see a life without her. To be able to have a community that was treating me with such kindness and such support… I was like, ‘Okay. I can keep going. I can live a life.’”

“If I didn’t have the Internet, I would still have something like Bot Roast, but I wouldn’t have people telling me it was cool,” PRM says. Travis Young

Trap it Up

HOW KC’S DOG AND CAT TRAPPERS FIND THE METRO’S LOST AND STRAY PETS

By AJ Stutzer

Every day solo catchers and group trappers work tirelessly to locate, humanely capture, “fix,” and safely return Kansas City’s loose dogs and cats to proper shelters.

Most of the city’s wily trappers donate their time to ensnaring scared, lost pets, and they do it for their love of animals—and the game.

Catching Karma

KC Dog Trappers is a volunteer-run group working to crack lost and stray dog cases.

Sandi Jones, the founding trapper, fell into the work in 2016 after coming across a lost dog post on a metro lost and found Facebook page. Jones set out to catch the dog and dubbed the sneaky pooch “Swartz.”

Jones experienced a series of setbacks throughout her first trapping excursion, which included the theft of a trap. After several months, Jones successfully trapped Swartz and was hooked on the process.

I got the call to watch Jones and fellow volunteer Crystal Carney work their magic on a weekday afternoon. I was at work, but this is what PTO is for, right? So, I dropped everything and headed out to Raytown, Mo.

As Jones, Carney, and I drove to the trapping site, Jones filled me in on Karma’s story.

Karma, a tall, sinewy Italian greyhound, got loose from her owners in early April. Although the trappers know Karma is nearby—they’ve caught her on their heat-sensing cameras—she keeps evading the group’s traps because she’s so slight. To solve this unconventional problem, the trappers have placed a rock on the trap’s trip plate to make the trigger more sensitive.

Jones explains this is the perfect location for a lost dog to hide. Canines tend to camp near areas with several water sources and cleared, mowed pathways. This spot has both these features thanks to recent rains, ponds, streams, and the nearby towering utility lines, what Jones refers to as “dog superhighways.”

“Through our experience and good samaritans, we can generally locate a loose

dog,” Jones says. “Once located, we’re fairly successful at luring the dog to our equipment. If we get a dog on camera, it is rare that we fail to safely capture the dog.”

There are two humane traps at the trapping site—one 5 feet, the other 6 feet. Each trap is baited with enticing food. The trappers also have heavily sprayed the area with a liquid they call “chum.” It smells like barbecue and is irrespirable to hungry hounds.

Jones says they are most successful when working with invested owners and when everyone involved in the trapping process listens to their tried-and-true instructions.

Jones notes that it’s common to work with owners who are, understandably, emotional and, at first, unwilling to listen to a trapper’s invaluable direction. Jones firmly explains to owners that this is an analytical process, not an emotional one. After all, these women do this work because they’ve been in the owners’ shoes.

How to TNR a Cat

Generally, TNR is a 24 to 48-hour process.

1. A caregiver sets a humane trap, lines it with cardboard and newspaper to protect the cat’s paws, covers it with a tarp or blanket, and baits it with stinky food (Lawton recommends the small cans of Fancy Feast fish and shrimp).

“If cats are fed only inside the trap and nowhere else, they tend to get hungry enough to give it a try,” Lawton says. “It can help to prop the trap door open for a few days to get the cats used to eating inside. Then you can set it for real when you’re ready.”

Interested trappers can buy traps online (Tru-Catch is a great option) or rent one from a local animal welfare organization.

After the cat is trapped, transport them in the secured trap to the clinic performing the surgery and vetting. Do not touch the cat! They are likely angry and scared, and you should avoid getting bitten or scratched.

2. Pick up the cat from the clinic and keep them inside, in the trap, for 12 to 24 hours while they recover. Ask the clinic staff what they recommend.

3. Release the cat where you found them or help them find a forever home if they are social.

Never hesitate to contact an animal welfare organization for trapping help, tips, and advice.

Although that may rub some people the wrong way, Jones is OK with that. “I’ll be that bitch who gets your dog home,” Jones says while praising her army of trappers doing whatever it takes to get their clients a successful outcome.

Caring for KC’s Cat Colonies

When it comes to trapping, KC’s cats aren’t left out.

While some solo and organization-based trappers work to catch and transport single strays and help cat parents find their lost kitties, most cat trapping work focuses on controlling the metro’s stray cat population.

If you’ve ever seen an outdoor cat with an ear tip—the surgical removal of a small portion of the cat’s ear—you can confidently assume the cat’s received vetting and is fixed, and likely, others are nearby.

The Rescue Project, a volunteer and foster-based organization, is just one of the many groups providing animal welfare outreach throughout the city. One way The Rescue Project does this is through TNR (trap, neuter/spay, return).

Holly Lawton, the organization’s TNR coordinator, works to trap community and stray cats to get them altered and vaccinated.

“I’m a cat person and have always been painfully aware of all the stray cats in the world,” Lawton says. “Years ago, I noticed some cats living in the storm drain near a busy Chipotle and found some help in learning how to trap and find a safer place for them to go. After I caught my first cat on my own, I was addicted.”

Lawton notes that although cat overpopulation is an overwhelming problem, it’s heartening that altering one cat prevents dozens of other cats from being born.

“It really does matter, and we have to take what seem like small steps to make a measurable impact,” Lawton says.

Fixing for Feeders

Vona Rothfusz, the founder of The Real Fix, operates a little differently. While her organization is equally committed to TNR, Rothfusz specifically works with “feeders,” also known as those who regularly care for specific cat colonies.

Rothfusz’s organization works to trap colony cats and helps caregivers pay and prepare for the TNR process through video

calls and group chats. Currently, Rothfusz does most of the organization’s trapping and teaches interested trappers how the equipment works.

While Rothfusz uses different humane traps, her favorite is a large, custom-made trap that can catch up to seven cats at a time.

“This trap was made by a veteran trapper who retired, gave it to someone else who no longer does trapping, who gave it to me,” Rothfusz says. “If they cluster feed, where they all come around the bowl, that’s the best way to do it.”

The city’s trappers and TNR advocates couldn’t do it all without the help of supportive veterinarians, clinics, and shelters.

Thankfully, Great Plains SPCA, an area shelter providing community outreach services, noticed the need for TNR clinics and started providing services in 2019.

The organization’s TNR clinics currently serve approximately 60 to 70 cats four times a year. The clinic also accepts TNR appointments on a weekly, appointment-based basis.

Shelter Life isn’t for Everyone

Although cat lovers, shelter workers, and rescues wish all community cats could end up in homes, most aren’t cut out for shelter life or adoption.

“They haven’t had any prior social interactions between humans, especially during their prime socialization window as a young kitten,” Montle says. “Most community cats won’t allow handling or attention and are happier living alongside humans without interactions.”

While KC’s dog and cat trappers work separately to trap different species, they all strive to capture companion and community animals who need help and to—as Bob Barker likely said when off-mic—control the fucking bonkers animal population for the love of all that’s good

Do you have a lost pet or know a stray who needs trapping?

For dogs:

Message KC Dog Trappers on Facebook (for lost or stray dogs)

For cats:

The Real Fix facebook.com/therealfix (for colonies only)

The Rescue Project therescueproject.net (for community cats)

Deep Blue KC

EXPANSIVE NEW AQUARIUM COMING TO KC ZOO AFTER 10 YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT

By Amanda Hadlock

a new aquarium is opening soon as part of the Kansas City Zoo experience, a project which has been 10 years in the making, according to KC Zoo Executive Director and CEO Sean Putney. Starting September 1, zoo visitors will be able to walk through the immersive sea life habitat at no additional charge.

“There are 34 exhibits in the entire aquarium, and we think it hits on quite a few different aspects of the ocean,” says Putney. “And, of course, we will have all sorts of conservation and educational messages, too.”

The zoo prioritizes ethically sourcing and caring for the wildlife that will be living in the aquarium, with their ultimate goals being education and conservation.

“We think, number one, it’s important to be able to talk about another niche out there,” Putney says. “We don’t have a lot of aquatic places here at the Zoo, so we felt like being able to talk about the oceans was a very im-

portant part of what we could do for the public. Because, let’s face it, there are some folks who may never get to see an ocean. And we feel it’s our responsibility to give them that message. And why—even though we’re about as far away from an ocean as you could get here in the United States—it’s still important to us here in Kansas City.

“The animals are sourced several different ways,” Putney says. “We’re providing a rehab place for animals that are actually

owned by the government. For example, our sea otters and our sea turtles are owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and they’ve had injuries or stranding events, and they were deemed non-releasable.

“There are really only a couple of options [for these animals],” Putney continues. “They could stay at the rehab facility, which takes up space for animals that they might be able to rehab and return to the wild, or the sad part would be for them to be euthanized. Or they can come here and be spokes-animals for their species.”

The wildlife in the aquarium will be cared for by a team of scientists who will spend their days testing water chemistry, feeding the fish and sea creatures, and cleaning tanks, according to Putney. He also says the aquarium will be implementing a volunteer dive program, which has proven popular at other aquariums across the country.

“It’s beneficial to both sides of things,” Putney says of the volunteer dive program. “People will be able to dive with animals that they might not get to dive with on a regular basis, but also help us out with keeping the tanks clean for the guests to be able to see.”

The aquarium is strategically built in the KC Zoo’s “valley,” between the penguin and elephant exhibits. Putney says this location was chosen for the aquarium because it required the least amount of digging. The team knew they wanted the aquarium to be an immersive “downhill” experience as visitors proceed through it, with immersion beginning before visitors even walk inside.

“We feel like the experience starts on the outside,” says Putney. “There’s a small courtyard that we hope people will utilize to rest their bodies.”

Then, visitors enter the aquarium through a vestibule displaying plaques that thank the donors who made the project possible.

“The upper portion of the aquarium is dedicated to animals that live around the shoreline, so very shallow waters where ocean and land interface,” says Putney.

“We’ve got five tanks in that area. One is what we call a ‘crash tank.’ It’s a wave generator. So, it feels like you’re right amongst the rocks on a beach. You go through some mangrove swamps, and we have a couple of beach exhibits. And then as you continue to go on this journey, you should physically feel like you’re getting deeper [in the waters] as you’re going downhill.”

The architects of the aquarium made sure this journey into the deep blue is accessible for all.

“There is no tank in this aquarium that is more than 24 inches off the ground, so kids who are in strollers or wagons or wheelchairs are able to get the same view as anybody else,”

says Putney. “We also have adult changing tables for parents who have children who are older but still need some help,” Putney continues. “That’s the second place in the zoo now addressing that. We have a mothering room in the aquarium too, which is the third place in the zoo where moms can privately breastfeed their kids if they so choose.”

It was also important to the designers

“...let’s face it,

who

an artistic rendering of the Kansas City Zoo’s new aquarium. Courtesy image

behind the aquarium that many different habitats from around the world were represented with the wildlife featured. Putney describes some of the critters that will be available for viewing:

“You’ll go by the lagoon tank, which will feature many animals from the Caribbean, which are very brightly colored,” says Putney. “We also have some jewel tanks— smaller tanks that are less than a few hundred gallons, and that allows us to have some animals that might not do well in a bigger environment or where people will be able to see them better. We have things like garden eels and flat fish and pipe fish, and sea horses in smaller tanks along that journey. We also have a 10,000-gallon living reef which will have live coral in there, and right about that same time, you’ll be walking underneath a schooling fish tank that is over your head. Then you get to our 350,000-gallon shark tank. I say shark tank, but the reality is a reef tank with sharks as the main characters, with plenty of supporting cast in there as well.”

The conclusion of the experience leads visitors back up and out after their deep-sea dive. Putney lights up about the details of the final exhibit in the aquarium.

“You work your way back up to the shoreline again, and you’ll see animals like moray eels, giant Pacific octopuses, lobsters, and cuttlefish,” says Putney.

Good news: Fish called monkeyface pricklebacks can also be found.

“And then, as you hit the cold-water reef at the very end, you’ll see sea otters,” Putney says. “And we have a touch tank at the end, which will allow you to see animals up close and feel them.”

Putney says the aquarium project is the most expensive that the KC Zoo has ever undertaken at $77 million, with $62 million in construction costs, but he believes the development costs will be worth it not only financially but also because of the education and joy that the aquarium will bring to the metro.

Putney also hopes that Kansas Citians will enjoy renting out the aquarium for private events such as weddings, bar mitzvahs, family reunions, or corporate outings.

“Even though this is the most expensive thing we’ve ever done, to me, it is just one more step to make the best zoo we can for the folks here in Kansas City and the surrounding areas,” Putney says. “We hope that this will allow us to continue to create more and more habitats for people to explore, have fun, and also educate themselves about conservation of animals and the spaces they live in around the world.”

The KC Zoo expects the lines for the aquarium to be quite long on their opening weekend and asks for patrons to kindly be patient when waiting for their turns to observe the sea life as the doors finally open.

Good Grief

PROCESSING PET GRIEF SANS PET SEMATARY

By Lauren Textor

If the idea of your pet’s inevitable death makes you want to be sedated, you’re not alone. Even long-time deathcare professionals have difficulty navigating end-of-life decisions for beloved animal companions. Deciding on how to memorialize your pet—no matter how long they’ve been with you—is an intense and emotional process that can leave a residual impact for weeks, months, or years.

Parker Amos is a fourth-generation mortician and the president and funeral director of Amos Family Funeral Home & Crematory. Two years ago, his family had to euthanize their chocolate lab.

“Thinking about having to tell my boys— it’s hard being in this industry and still not knowing what to say to them,” Amos says. “A lot of times, a pet is someone’s first loss.”

Kansas Citians have been memorializing their pets at Wayside Waifs since the 1940s. The animal shelter provides a full range of services from adoption to burial, with multiple options for tributes.

Pet Memorial Services Manager Rachael Trader happened upon her job after a stint in food service.

“I had actually never worked at an animal shelter before or done anything like this in my life, but it had a lot of the qualities I looked for in a job,” she says. “It’s a lot of independent work. I get to make a lot of decisions on my own for my department. I’ve experienced a lot of pet loss in my life, so when I had the chance to make that a little bit easier for other people, I thought that sounded like a good fit.”

Wayside averages 60 burials per year in the pet cemetery, and it also offers communal or individual cremation services. The shelter serves pets of all sizes, from giant tortoises to doves.

“When someone chooses a burial, we have a full service,” Trader says. “We set the pet up in our memorial room and have an open casket viewing where the owner can invite their friends and family. Sometimes, they’ll have music playing. There have been slideshows. Some families bring party favors, like little bags of dog treats. We do a procession out to the cemetery where we lower the casket into the grave. We allow the family to place ceremonial dirt on the casket before we cover the gravesite. There are a lot of similarities to the way we do people burials.”

Wayside is relaunching its pet loss support group, which meets on the first Wednesday of every month from 6-7 p.m. in the campus’s Education and Training Center. The session is facilitated by licensed counselor Kimberly Exten. Meetings are free to attend and no RSVP is required.

If you prefer to mourn individually and non-traditionally, Oracle KC has you covered. Owner and lead taxidermist Alessandra Dzuba started her taxidermy career with bone articulation. Soon after, people began reaching out to her and asking her to preserve the remains of their pets.

“I felt connected to that, but it wasn’t until the loss of my own pet that I felt completely drawn to memorial work,” Dzuba says. “People didn’t understand the grief that came along with the loss of my tarantula. Tarantulas are lifelong pets. Some species live from 15 to 40 years. It’s a commitment.”

Dzuba says that she’s drawn to her work because every living creature has the ability to show personality and emotion. While she’s well aware that liquid preservation or skeleton articulation is not for everyone, she connects her practices to historical remembrances of those who have passed on.

“It wasn’t that long ago that we were bathing our dead or doing hair memorials,” she says. “Mourning is a part of life. Bones in the Western world are seen as macabre, but they’re definitely not macabre worldwide.”

Dzuba also finds it helpful to view death as a transitional phase rather than an ending.

“Why I’m drawn to the bones particularly is that it’s like accepting our pets’ new stage in life,” she says. “Their memories and their personalities are still with us. In having a skull or a paw or a full skeleton, you’re creating a memento mori or an altar to them.”

Traditions for honoring the dead are continually evolving, and more than ever before, there is an emphasis on climate-friendly practices while returning the departed to the earth.

Aquamation is a relatively new alternative to in-ground burial. The water-based process uses warm water and alkaline salts to accelerate the breakdown of organic tissue. It produces the same results as flame cremation without using fossil fuels or producing greenhouse gas.

Jarrod Hammond learned about aquamation from the YouTube channel Ask A Mortician. When laid off from Cerner in late 2019, he pivoted to the mortuary field to provide greener burials through Heartland Pet Aquamation.

“Pet grief is a marginalized grief,” Hammond explains. “People seem to apologize for being bereaved. There are times when I almost feel like they are asking permission to process their sorrow. I try to be as explicit as I can that loss is difficult no matter what. Everybody’s version of grief is going to be different. The best thing they can do is to be honest with themselves about how they’re feeling and communicate that.”

Some people have more difficulty in preparing for and processing loss than others. Death doula AJ Stutzer created Familiar Pet Care to guide families through their pets’ life cycles. Like a birthing doula, they ensure everyone’s emotional needs are met during a turbulent time.

“I took my death doula certification in 2018,” Stutzer says. “I started with human hospice care. In 2019, when my husband and I moved from Lawrence to KC, our dog was dying. I’ve been through lots of pet deaths before, but this felt new. I wondered if there was a way that I could help other people work through the emotions that I was feeling.”

Stutzer says that their services are more of a passion project than a full-time job, as most people are fully capable of caring for their pets in their last days.

“Be confident in your love for the animal. Know that you know them the best,” they say. “If you have a vet that you trust, ask those hard questions. Don’t try to go in alone. That tech or receptionist that you’ve been close with for that pet’s entire life— they’re here for you, too. Everyone knows how hard this is.”

Stutzer adds, “My relationship with my animals who have died is not over by any means. I still talk to them. Am I crazy? Who knows. It gives me comfort.”

a good boi sits forever at the Wayside Waifs pet cemetery. Lauren Textor

Chef Roman Raya has always been driven to bring his nostalgic favorites to life on the plate and then to share those tastes with others. He believes he now has the vehicle to do just that with his newly-opened restaurant Barbacoa, located on the corner of 55th and Troost.

After trying a few of Barbacoa’s drinks and dishes, we’re inclined to agree.

Raya and his brother, Phillip, are co-owners, and they run the kitchen at Barbacoa as executive chef and sous chef. Mixing up a devilishly delicious drink menu is another co-owner, Madeline Buechter. The menu is inspired by the Mexican flavors and dishes that the Raya brothers grew up enjoying at backyard family gatherings. That said, Raya wants to clarify the style of cooking the restaurant is doing.

“Barbecue means a lot of things to a lot of people, especially in Kansas City,” he says. “Our dishes are inspired by the flavors of tra-

Roman’s Holiday

BARBACOA BRINGS BACKYARD BBQ TO CENTER STAGE

By Jordan Baranowski

ditional Mexican food, told through the cooking style of barbecue. You’re going to get a lot of smoky, tender meats. You’re going to get a huge depth of flavor. There are a lot of spices and a lot of big, bold tastes. This is the type of food I remember from my childhood, but elevated and adapted for a new audience.”

The three have long looked forward to this day. While planning their first business endeavor together (Taco Tank, a former food pop-up at breweries before finding a home in Parlor, then moving to Iron District, where it still operates), Roman wrote the word “Barbacoa” off to the side of his notebook where he was brainstorming restaurant concepts.

“We always knew this was the target,” he says. “We’re so excited to be able to introduce it to Kansas City.”

Barbacoa is an inviting space, with giant windows, table seating for about 40, and eight bar seats. As soon as you walk in, you’ll immediately get hit with mouth-watering aromas from the slow-cooked meats that are incorporated into a number of dishes. It’s also the type of place where you’ll repeatedly crane your neck as servers walk past, trying to catch a glimpse of every dish to hopefully help you make up your mind of what to order.

During their soft opening, Barbacoa had a slightly reduced food menu on offer, but the decision-making was still not easy. As a starter plate, I gravitated toward the brisket taquitos. I have nostalgic memories of my own: popping some José Olé taquitos into the oven between rounds of Mario Kart. As you might guess, Barbacoa’s version of the dish had a little more going for them. The brisket itself was extremely punchy, with a deep, smoky flavor and that perfect “can’t wait to take another bite” quality. The duo of dips served alongside the taquitos—a garlicky crema and a slow-heat chipotle salsa—made each bite a

little different, and the pickled onions were to die for.

My main course was a turkey molé: smoked turkey breast in a thick barbecue sauce sprinkled with sesame seeds, served with sides of grilled spring onions and Yoli tortillas. I’m not typically a “barbecue turkey” kind of person, but this dish may have won me over.

For dessert, I went with Chef Raya’s recommendation of one of the restaurant’s standout dishes: arroz con leche. It’s sweet rice pudding, mixed with raisins and cinnamon, then deep fried. It’s topped with crushed pistachios and ice cream from High Hopes (located just a few doors south of Barbacoa).

Would. Order. Again. The drinks were equally inventive, with

some nice riffs on classic cocktails. Plenty of Buechter’s inventions use agave spirits like tequila and mezcal, and several rums also make an appearance. If you like a funky drink, try the agave martini. Not only does it use local distillery Mean Mule’s agave gin, but it also features an agave wine. Another standout was the 104 Fortaleza Street, made with a unique rum that’s aged in French oak casks.

Good food, good drinks, and a friendly, engaging staff—those are all the elements of a backyard barbecue that we want to keep getting invited to.

For the team at Barbacoa, they’re happy to have found such a perfect spot to launch their restaurant. Buechter loves being within shouting distance of other great locations like Gael’s, Blackhole Bakery (who they’re working with to make rolls for their tortas), and High Hopes. And the Rayas can’t wait to keep experimenting on elevating their childhood favorites.

“Food is a huge part of some of our favorite childhood memories,” he says. “And we’re thrilled to be able to share those memories with everyone in a unique way.” With flavors like this, it’s no wonder why they couldn’t keep it to themselves.

Courtesy photo

Pad Key Maw at Baramee Thai Bistro

BY SARAH SIPPLE

Baramee Thai Bistro

1810 Baltimore Ave. Kansas City, MO 64108

Baramee Thai Bistro, across from Raygun in Crossroads, is a local favor ite for dine-in and carry-out Thai cui sine. The menu is consistent from visit to visit, so most guests have favorite dishes they return for. Service is fast, so if there’s a wait at the door, it won’t be long. Chef Nutnisa Hoffman is also an owner of Mali Thai Bistro in Lee’s Summit and Phikul Thai Bistro in River Market.

Pad Key Maw is sometimes referred to as Pad Kee Mao or Drunken Noodles. This noodle dish at Baramee includes stir-fried flat noodles with fresh chili, garlic, egg, broccoli, bell pepper, and gai lan. Choices for protein include chicken, pork, tofu, beef, shrimp, or seafood. The spice level is also customizable, but medium or higher is recommended.

Compared to other restaurants’ Pad Key Maw dishes, Baramee has perfected the texture of the noodles so they remain fresh and firm while still collecting savory, umami-forward sauce. Crisp bell peppers bring sweetness, and the gai lan leaves bring a bitter taste to the balance. Count on it for a satisfying meal.

For a cocktail pairing, try the Thai Trifecta made with tequila, pineapple and lime juice, Big O ginger reduction, Ancho Reyes, and a hint of basil. The gentle sweetness is a welcome antidote to the dish’s spice.

Stone Fruit Kombucha from Lucky Elixir

BY SARAH SIPPLE

The Brewkery brewkery.com

(816) 873-1355

Canned with a happy yellow label, Stone Fruit Lucky Elixir kombucha is a pleasant sip that is gently sweet and devoid of the vinegar taste commonly present in kombuchas. The combination of mango and passion fruit evokes tropical sunshine. A 12-pack retails for $32.

Kombucha is a sweet tea that has been fermented and then blended with herbs, fruit, and spices. The result is a bubbly, tangy tonic full of antioxidants and active bacteria cultures that are generally known to do the body good.

Lucky Elixir creators Amy and Sean Galloway began selling at the Merriam Farmers’ Market in 2015. After three years of brewing, they opened The Brewkery kombucha taproom in North Kansas City, and in 2022 were voted Best Local Kombucha in The Pitch’s Best of KC. What started as a non-alcoholic drink alternative for the Galloways now includes a diverse range of beverages, including Lucky Booch hard kombucha, a non-alcoholic IPA-style kombucha, refillable growlers, limited-release flavors, and canned seasonal variety packs.

Lucky Elixir kombucha can be found at Big Rip Brewing in NKC, Fetterman’s Deli in Platte City, PT’s Coffee, Made in KC, The MERC Co-Op in KCK and Lawrence, Hen House Markets, and more.

Sarah Sipple

Sarah Sipple

Crust Punks

DISPATCH PIZZA CATERS WOOD-FIRED THEATRICS AND TUSCAN ETHOS

By Amanda Hadlock

Jeremy Long has been in the restaurant business his whole life, and he has a long-running love for the service industry. He and his partner have dreamed of opening a restaurant for years, but their idea for a catering business was more compatible with their busy family life, which hatched their idea for Dispatch Pizza, a mobile pizza catering business available for private parties and events. They will bring a fully-functioning pizza bus equipped with wood-fired pizza ovens right to you.

“We sure look like a food truck, albeit not a typical food truck, but we operate as a catering company,” says Long. “We don’t do public events or transactional service. We do pre-booked parties, usually at private venues or residences. People are asking us to do food truck-style events, but we don’t see ourselves as a food truck. We offer a level of service that a typical food truck simply isn’t equipped for. Of course, food is our primary offering, but the theatrics of our operation are part of the sell. Guests get to see a pizzeria in action as we make pizzas from scratch. It’s really dinner and a show.”

Long and his partner specialize in Ne-

apolitan-style pizza, which Long learned how to make while living in the basement of a restaurant in Tuscany 10 years ago.

“A buddy put me in touch with his family’s restaurant in Barga, Tuscany,” Long says. “I lived in the basement of the restaurant next to the wine cellar, cooked every day, and learned the beautiful ways of the Italian speed of life.”

Long is proud to bring Italian culture and cooking methods back to his hometown of KC.

“It’s a four-day process to make our dough,” says Long. “If we were a typical restaurant, we just wouldn’t have the space and the time to ferment it as long as we do, and I think it makes all the difference in the world. We get flour from Naples, pure Italian flour, and then our process involves fermenting for three days. Then on the fourth day, we’re ready to cook pizzas fresh on-site.”

Long made sure to develop unique and authentic Italian flavors when working on the menu. These aren’t toppings you could find at a typical pizza place.

“My favorite pizza we make is called the Bella Vita—the good life—and it’s got all the good stuff on it,” says Long. “We make brown butter and whip it together with ricotta, and that’s the base of the pizza. You could really stop there and eat that, but then we have prosciutto on top, and we finish it with burrata, hot honey, and truffle oil.”

The team at Dispatch Pizza hopes to expand in the future, as they’re loving the reception they’ve received from the KC community so far.

“I think there’s a capacity for another

pizza truck, for sure,” says Long. “I think we might get into the event space world. I’d love to have a place where we could have our own prep kitchen to do all of our dough making and sauces and everything we need to do at our commissary. We’d love to have room to do that ourselves. And then, if we could parlay that into an event space, that’d be great.”

With Long’s passion for family-owned eateries, he is ecstatic to bring his own catering company on wheels back to his old stomping grounds.

“We’re excited to be home in Kansas City and bring something new,” says Long. “I’ve traveled all over and lived abroad and always envisioned coming back home with something special.”

The pizza bus in action. Zach Bauman

MISE EN PLACE

WHISKERS CAT CAFÉ’S AUDREY BOESE POURS LATTES, LOVE, AND LOTS OF HOURS INTO FOSTERING CATS

By Kate Frick

Audrey Boese loves animals. During the pandemic, she took a risk, changed careers, learned to operate an espresso machine, and started Whiskers Cat Café & Coffeehouse with the intention of giving shelter cats a playful outlet for adoption. She quickly discovered that while she was helping her feline friends, she was also cultivating a sacred space for customers to process their feelings whilst getting their daily cuppa joe.

The Pitch: Tell us about your journey as a pet owner and lover and how you came to be a steward.

Audrey Boese: When I had this idea, it was focused on the cats: “How can we provide a cool environment for cats, get them out of the shelter, get them out of kennels, and into a free-roaming space?” In the back of my mind, I was like, “People will love it too.” As we have been growing, the business is way more geared towards mental health and people in moments of crisis. We support mourning and celebrating way more than I imagined. It’s a great surprise because we have many customers that have lost a family member, or they’ve lost a pet, or they are going through really tough times. One of our regulars got laid off first thing in the morning, and immediately drove here, and just wanted to talk to somebody and hang out. It can be really emotional (which is really hard to match somebody’s energy, you know, for our staff), but I think we are all very emotional. You know, it’s cheaper than therapy—but still go to therapy; we can make a recommendation. For some reason, when you get in the room with cats, you kind of forget about everything else. I mean, that’s what I do anyway. You’re not thinking about the layoff or the loss, so it just kind of frees you up for mental stillness.

Does fostering break your heart? Yes. And no. We get attached to every cat that comes through. Some of us get more attached to particular cats, spend more time with them, or care for them a little bit more than others. But the people that adopt from us are the best people in the world. We send them to the best homes. We sent a kitty, Figaro, home yesterday at 1:30 p.m., and by, like, 4 or 5 p.m., they sent us pictures of their son and Figaro snuggling.

Mise En Place is a series of questions, answers, recommendations, and culinary wisdom from the food and drink masters that push KC flavor further. The following answers have been edited for length and clarity.

What was your first pet? I was chasing everything around the neighborhood all the time, any cat or dog, but I never brought them home. Baby birds—I would try to save baby birds. Looking back, I should have left those baby birds alone. I’ve always had an infatuation with animals, and when I’m on vacation, I’m naming the ducks in the pond. My first pet was a dog named Callie.

Do you identify as a cat or a dog person?

I am both, honestly. I would love to do something with dogs, but cats are kind of underrated. At a lot of shelters, dogs are their number one pet, so it’s kind of cool to spotlight cats. A lot of people think I’m a crazy cat lady. I’m just a crazy animal person.

a Midtown farm? Yes.

a rescue petting zoo? Yeah, who knows what the future holds?

Do you rename your foster cats? The shelter does a pretty good job, but sometimes, they’re pre-owned pets and keep their name. I let my staff name my foster kittens, and they come up with the most off-the-wall shit—like Waffle Maker. The last batch of kittens included Keurig, Waffle Maker, Spatula, and Toaster-Oven.

audrey Boese and one of the café’s many feline fosters. Kate Frick and Courtesy photo

Migration Pattern

AND THE WORLD STILL SPINS LAUNCHES THE SWALLOWTAILS INTO ORBIT

By Nick Spacek

This June, Kansas City trio The Swallowtails will release And the World Still Spins, the follow-up to the group’s 2020 debut full-length, Right Where We Are. While The Swallowtails’ trademark blend of rock, pop, folk, classical, and jazz still defies generic labels, this album—recorded by Joel Nanos at Element Recording—is a louder and more rocking collection of songs. Those expecting a repeat of Right Where We Are will still thrill to the trio’s baroque instrumentation and tripartite vocal harmonies, of course, but the way in which guitarist and singer Miki P takes to the drum kit makes And the World Still Spins something that hits a little harder.

We sat down one Sunday afternoon to speak with Miki P (guitar/vocals), Adee Dancy (cello/vocals), and Rachel Lovelace (bassoon/vocals) to discuss the new album and where the Swallowtails go from here.

The Pitch: And the World Still Spins sounds bigger than Right Where We Are Did you go into recording with that in mind, or was it something that happened as you were putting it together?

Rachel Lovelace: I think it kind of just happened with the songs, really. The process of writing involved Miki bringing up songs and then Adee and I arranging, but we listened back to things and were just like, “Oh, this can be very rock and roll.”

Miki P: Yeah, the last song that we wrote for Right Where We Are was “Like The Spider.” I think I wrote it two weeks before we got into the studio, and Adee was like, “That has to be on the album,” and I was like, “Are you sure? We’re cutting it close,” but it was the direction we wanted to go in. I wrote “Take It Slow,” probably not long after, and we were like, “That has to be big—lots of electric guitar.”

I didn’t play drums on Right Where We Are, but I played drums on this album. That might have had something to do with the foundation of it just already being really extra and having to add all the layers on top of it to fill it out.

Adee Dancy: It’s really cool because Miki creates from so many instruments, but I feel like this album really is so creative with the drumming. It’s almost drum-centric in that way. That’s the first thing that was recorded, too. It’s cool to hear not just what a drummer does on our songs but what Miki’s drum brain does to her own songs.

Right Where We Are has this baroque aspect to it, whereas this is something very different. are you excited for folks to hear the changes?

Rachel: I think it’ll still be a little shocking just ‘cause we primarily perform right now as the trio, so we don’t have bass and drums with us all the time.

Miki: We hadn’t heard the songs like that before. The response to “Who’s Gonna Be There” is pretty awesome. People seem to like it. They have been hearing these songs for three years now. I honestly think our audience is really eager to hear these because we’ve been talking about finishing our album for a year and a half.

What’s the process of bringing songs to life in the studio versus the ones you’d been playing, in some cases, for the last three years?

Adee: Miki brought “The Spider” in, and Rachel and I were like, “We have to have this; it’s not an option.” At that time, we were still kind of ironing out our sound and figuring out how we can make a bassoon and cello do things together that are not orchestral but also have a little bit of an orchestral flare.

Rachel: —and in ways that we don’t cover up each other too, ‘cause we have a very similar range, as far as both of our voices.

Adee: There are a lot of really cute videos of us sitting at the piano and figuring out what we wanna play together. It’s a creative process when you bring in a new song, and you have only a little bit of time in the studio to get it done. It’s definitely a different kind of songwriting and arranging, and it’s special. We don’t do it very often ‘cause we’re all big planners around here.

Rachel: I think that process is sometimes good for us, though. Adee and I get very, very into the creative brain, and then it is almost too much, so the fact that we’ve had this little chunk of time to create something—we’re like, “Okay, this, this, and this. All right. That’s it.”

It sounds like it’s flexing different creative muscles. If you only have a couple of weeks to work on a song as opposed to three years, the decisions have to be made much more quickly.

Rachel: Yeah, and I think this time, recording And the World Still Spins, was different for us because we wanted to be more efficient with our time in the studio. With Right Where We Are, we were arranging while we were in the studio. We laid down drums and guitar and bass, and while that was happening, Adee and I were also arranging.

Miki: We worked on demos for a couple of years. We walked in more prepared than ever.

We understand that, along with putting out this album, Miki is also moving.

Miki: Yeah. I don’t really know what I’m doing with my life, but I am actually gonna go back and forth between here and Connecticut and just try to network out there and become a person that plays music on the East Coast, similar to how it’s been in Kansas City. I’ll be

coming back pretty often, every six or seven weeks, to play and write and do all that. I’m hoping that we get on the road more this next year.

Adee: It was a little scary at first just ‘cause we’re like, “What are we gonna do?” But we had a lot of Zoom meetings during COVID. We have a lot of experience recording in our own homes, and we just kind of realized that for the times that Miki’s here, we’re gonna be on it. When Miki is not here, we’re gonna be on it, you know? We’re just going about it in different ways. When Miki’s in Connecticut, we’ll have weekly meetings. We’ll get a lot of business stuff done. And then when Miki’s here, we’re gonna play.

Rachel: It’s definitely changed the dynamic a little bit. But I think it’s made us way more productive than we’ve ever been.

Miki: Oh my God, we’re so productive right now.

Rachel: We’re getting so much more done because we know that the time that we have together is so limited. I do miss the hangouts, though.

Miki: We only have a little hang time. But we’ll get it on the road. It’s coming.

Rachel: We’re hopeful that Adee and I can make it out to Connecticut and potentially just have time away from playing and gigging

and we can just sit in a room together and just write music. That’s kind of what we’re planning for the next album—the three of us collaborating and writing songs together.

SW

And the World Still Spins

mikipandtheswallowtails. bandcamp.com

Casual Animal Brewing

Thursday, June 15

Replay Lounge

Thursday, June 29

a LLOWTa ILS

May 9

Tenacious D: The Spicy Meatball Tour Starlight

Dynamic duo Jack Black and Kyle Gass are bringing their spicy meatballs on tour this spring, and we’re lucky enough that they are making a stop in Kansas City. Tenacious D is known for silly musical narratives and the epic comedy film The Pick of Destiny, but paired with Gass and Black’s serious guitar skills, plus Black’s incredible vocal range and control, the band shouldn’t be dismissed as pure comedy. Their devoted fans know this well enough—there’s even a change.org petition circulating that calls for Tenacious D’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As the band says in their hit song “Tribute,” it’s just a matter of opinion. We agree they belong among those hallowed halls of talent, though. Tickets start at $35.

May CaLENDaR

By The Pitch Staff

ONGOING/MULTIPLE:

May 4-6

The Fishtank Cabaret: Don’t Tell Mama, The Black Box

May 5-7

Gem & Crystal KC, Stoney Creek Hotel Kansas City

May 5-7

2023 Brookside Art Annual, BrooksideKC

May 12-14

Kansas City Tattoo Arts Festival, Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center

May 26-28

Naka-Kon 2023, Overland Park Convention Center

May 26-29

16th Annual Lawrence Busker Festival presented by Free State Brewery, Downtown Lawrence

May 13 always & Furever Golden Gala Uptown Theater

Hire a pet sitter and put on your best dancing shoes! Always & Furever Midwest Animal Sanctuary presents its annual Golden Gala. Join in for a night of dining, drinking, dancing, and silent and live auctions, all benefitting the animals being cared for at Always & Furever. General Admission tickets start at $75, with 100% of proceeds going to the animal shelter and its fur babies. VIP pre-party tickets are available if you are doggedly determined to dance the night away. The event starts at 6 p.m.

May 7

18th and Vines vs. Midtown Misfits, Skate City Wyandotte

Maria The Mexican, Replay Lounge Benefit Show for Dog Rescue: Sloppy But Lucky, Bar K

EVENTS

May 2, Skinny Puppy, Liberty Hall

May 3 moe., The Truman

May 4

The Moth, The Folly Theater

Brooks & Dunn: REBOOT Tour, T-Mobile Center Battle of the Beats!, Replay Lounge Orianthi, Knuckleheads

May 5

Against The Current, Trophy Eyes, Granada Air Supply, Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City Amythyst Kiah, Knuckleheads

May 6

Knuckle Puck & Real Friends, The Truman The Black Dahlia Murder, Granada Macabre Market: Half-O-Ween, Brewer’s Alley

Un Año Contigo, The Bottleneck

May 8

403 Club Open Mic, 403 Club Jeff Shirley Organ Trio, Green Lady Lounge

Wine 101: Wine Tasting Basics, Pane e Vino Wine Bar & Academy

May 9

The Plot in You, The Bottleneck

May 10

Godsmack, Azura Amphitheater Off!, recordBar

Forests, Ben Quad, The Others Like Us, Virga, Farewell KCMO

May 11

Logan Mize, The Truman Billy Idol, Uptown Theater

May 12

All Sorts Open Mic, PH Coffee

The Whips, The Band That Saved The World, Granada

The Elders, recordBar

Crusty Mustard Improv, The Black Box

May 13

Spring Bazaar 2023, Union Cemetery Historical Society

Adoption Saturday w/ Pawsitive Tails, Bar K

Queer Bar Takeover, Soirée Steak & Oyster House

Deafheaven, The Madrid Theatre

KC Summer Beer Fest, GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium

May 14

Season Finale at the Folly, The Folly Theater

May 15

Ugly Kid Joe, The Truman

May 16

They Might Be Giants, The Truman Man or Astro-Man?, recordBar Unearth, The Bottleneck

May 17

Wednesday, recordBar

Moonspell, Granada

May 18

The Slackers, The Madrid Theatre

NLE Choppa, Uptown Theater

Grade 2, recordBar

The Princess Bride in Concert: Film + Live Orchestra, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

May 14

WatskyLiberty Hall

Watsky has made his career by refusing to stay inside anyone’s box. A product of the San Francisco slam poetry scene, his music is rooted in rap but has expanded to include jazz and orchestral tones. He will be visiting Liberty Hall as part of his Intentions Tour, to promote his recently released album of the same name. His lyrics are riddled with wordplay and “always truthful,” but almost undecipherable in their quick release. In 2020, his rapping skills even earned him the Guinness World Record for the longest rap marathon. He continuously freestyle-rapped for 33 hours and 33 minutes. Don’t miss your chance to see this world record holder and one-of-a-kind musician in person. The concert starts at 8 p.m., and tickets range from $30-$54.

May 19

Atreyu, Granada

GBH, Encore Room

Thomas Rhett, T-Mobile Center

Currents, The Bottleneck

May 20

KC Folk Fest 2023, Washington Square Park

Willie Nelson & Family, Azura Amphitheater

Skating Polly, Lord Friday the 13th, The Cavves, Replay Lounge

May 21

Cook for Courage on Vine, 2000 Vine St. LoveStoned Documentary Premiere, Westport Bowery

May 22

Fountain City Roller Derby: Recruitment Night #1, Olahrama 28

The Aquadolls, Encore Room

Fenne Lily, Christian Lee Hutson, The Bottleneck

Ricardo Arjona, T-Mobile Center

May 23

Trash Panda, Encore Room

National Geographic Live, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

May 24

An Adolescent Cabaret, The Black Box

May 20

Monster Jam GEHa Field at arrowhead Stadium

Get revved up for this year’s Monster Jam, a motorsports show unlike any other featuring aesthetically adventurous monster trucks competing in arenas with spectacles such as a racing competition, a skills challenge, a donut competition, and a freestyle competition. The event begins with a Pit Party, offering attendees the chance to meet the monster truck drivers and see the vehicles up close. An hour before the event begins, there will be driver interviews, giveaways, and more as part of the Trackside pre-show. According to Monster Jam, each featured truck is approximately 10.5 feet tall, 12.5 feet wide, 17 feet long, and 12,000 pounds, with 1,500 horsepower. Talk about heavy metal. Tickets start at $15.

May 25

Cirque Du Soleil Corteo, T-Mobile Center

Ken Lovern’s OJT, Green Lady Lounge

May 26

Les Claypool, Grinders

Needle in a Gay Stack: Queer Craft MeetUp, Kansas City Center for Inclusion

The Queers, The Rino

May 27

Bolinas, Noah Spencer, DJ Michael Motorcycle, miniBar

Tower-Con 2023, Tower Tavern

May 28

Hammerfall, Granada

May 29

Teen Volunteering Drop-In, Kansas City

Public Library: Central Branch

Open Play: Marvel Champions, Cardboard

Corner Cafe

Queer Movie Night, Kansas City Center for Inclusion

May 30

Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, Knuckleheads

The Wailers, The Bottleneck

May 31

Drain, The Bottleneck

May 25-27 Sean Patton The Comedy Club Kansas City

Los Angeles and New York-based comedian Sean Patton will be gracing the Comedy Club stage May 25-27. Patton began doing standup in California but has performed in comedy clubs across the U.S. and Canada. He has also made multiple television appearances, including performances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Conan. His most recent special, Number One, takes audiences on an exploration of what makes Patton, Patton, and includes stories that hit almost too close to home but have you laughing out loud. Tickets for his Kansas City shows range from $18-$198 depending on the show night and seat selection.

ADHD can also affect relationship quality by causing impulsivity, inattentiveness, and forgetfulness. It can seriously impact self-regulation, which can lead to misunderstandings and relationship conflict.

Sensory processing issues (aka “icks”) can definitely interfere with sexual connection. For instance, individuals with ASD may be more sensitive to touch, textures, or sounds from the textures, which can make sexual activity uncomfortable or overwhelming, and it can stop them from trying a sex act.

Many late-diagnosis ND folks start connecting the dots about why previous relationships didn’t work or why sex was never good for them, as well as why they might be currently unhappy in their marriage.

“So for people who are late diagnosed— whether you find out on TikTok, which a lot of people did—it was like, ‘Wait a minute. What is this?’ And then it shakes your entire world,” says Chelsia Potts, Ed.D., a Kansas City native and social media creator who specializes in neurodivergence. “What if you realize that the person you’re married to is not a good match?”

Faraone says, “When my colleagues and I studied 1,001 adults in the community, we found that adults with ADHD endorsed less stability in their love relationships, felt less able to provide emotional support to their loved ones, experienced more sexual dysfunction, and had higher divorce rates.”

NEURODIVERGENCE AND SEXUAL CONNECTION

you may have noticed that the term “neurodivergent” is gaining traction across social media platforms. Neurodivergence includes conditions such as ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) that affect the way people process information and interact with the world. This is a complex topic with wide-ranging impacts on life, including sexual activity and relationships.

Having coached people who are neurodivergent (ND) and their often neurotypical partners, I think that the issues faced in their relationships are not exclusive to being ND, nor are they unique, but the issues may be dialed up in some regards. For instance, plenty of couples may have challenges around communication, but folks that are neurodivergent may experience miscommunications of epic proportions. People with sensory issues may feel discouraged from acting out a fantasy because they aren’t sure if the sensation will trigger them.

Let’s explore the intersection of neurodivergence and sexuality, how to level up the communication when one or both of you is ND, and ways to adapt your relationship to

Kristen

allow for shameless sexual expression.

Social media has created a shift in our ability to access information, especially content about how our brains work. While obviously a diagnosis can’t happen by watching some videos, there’s a growing contingency of adults who have been able to identify behaviors in themselves because of TikTok, leading them to see a medical provider and get an official ASD or ADHD diagnosis. Figuring out you are neurodivergent as an adult can provide self-awareness, give you clarity via hindsight, and also be a total fucking mindfuck.

There is an abysmal lack of research about ND adults and their interpersonal relationships. Most studies about ASD and ADHD have been conducted on toddlers and adolescents.

“The research literature about love, sex, and ADHD is small, but it is consistent,” says Stephen Faraone, Ph.D., in a 2020 blog.

Individuals with ASD may experience challenges in social communication, especially non-verbal cues such as eye contact, which postulates that it will be more difficult to later navigate romantic relationships.

Masking, which is a process many neurodivergent people use, is a combination of using a persona that is palatable for others’ consumption and using techniques such as forcing eye contact to hide or fit in with neurotypical people.

Potts says, “It’s not good to live your life in a masked state for other people because that’s— not to me—what life is about. And I think sometimes, as neurodivergent people, we can get so stuck in our head—what we’re not doing right, never feeling like we’re catching up.”

It’s understandable why some people take no action despite intense discomfort or unhappiness with their sex lives and relationships.

“You can ‘remask’—I think a lot of people do it in relationships if they want to keep it. They may say, ‘I’m just going to keep on acting like things are normal so I won’t disrupt,’” says Potts.

Communication: This doesn’t mean one partner gets to suck ass at it and the other has to grin and bear it. Couples, where one or both are neurodivergent, have to learn to draw their own map—you are unique individuals, and the way others navigate their relationship may not be the path for you. Find the workarounds. Create safeguards, such as check-ins or weekly conversations to connect. Attend couples therapy. Put systems in place to make up for time blindness.

For couples, addressing sensory pro-

cessing issues can be an important step in improving sexual experiences together. Find ways to accommodate sensory needs during sexy time. For example, do a Pleasure Mapping session.

In this activity, start with setting a comfortable mood: lighting, music, scents, and textures on the bed. Next, get naked together. Use your hands, mouths, and alternative forms of touch (such as feathers or vibrators), play with temperature, and use soft to harder touch. Explore each other’s bodies.

Guide each other as though you were creating a new map of your bodies. You’re learning the lay of the land together. Gently and directly say things like, “Harder… softer… slower… yes… not doing much but try this instead… mmmhmmm…” to get the sensations you want and avoid the rest. You can even place your hand over theirs to show them what you want and where you want it. Consider adding noise-canceling headphones or an eye mask. Some people think those things are a little kinky, while others use them as tools to help reduce sensory overload.

Learn to be authentically you.

“Unmasking—for some people—may be coming out and realizing what their true sexuality is or accepting it,” says Potts. “I’ve known people with recent diagnoses who came out as asexual, who came out as ethically non-monogamous, and who came out as gay.”

By openly discussing preferences and concerns, couples can work together to create a comfortable and enjoyable sexual experience. Shaming your partner’s behaviors that are a product of their neurodivergence won’t move your relationship forward. Check your judgements at the door.

Remember that neurodivergent individuals may process information differently, and it may take time for them to express themselves or respond. Being patient and compassionate can create a supportive and inclusive communication environment. If a partner needs time to walk away and process, give it to them. Not all issues need to be solved in one conversation. They may also need to use mediums such as writing letters to express themselves.

Be collaborative and curious. Practice active listening with one another. This is not just for the ND partner. You can both benefit from listening to understand what the other person is saying rather than listening to respond. Be supportive of establishing systems together that make your household and your relationship function more smoothly. When you have more time and mental reserves not being utilized on executive functioning, you have more space for intimacy and eroticism.

You can find Kristen @OpenTheDoorsKC on Twitter or openthedoorscoaching com. Check out her podcast Keep Them Coming.

Photo by Nicole Bissey. Illustrations by Shelby Phelps

You can find

@OpenTheDoorsKC on Twitter or openthedoorscoaching com. Check out her podcast Keep Them Coming

Search for 90.9 The Bridge

Bridging the Gap

By Beth Lipoff

as the spring weather gets warmer, folks around the metro are thinking of gardens and plants. For Bridging the Gap, though, making Kansas City greener isn’t a seasonal affair.

What started as a community-building exercise through volunteerism and recycling has blossomed over several decades into a slate of environmentally-focused endeavors. Though you might know them best for the numerous recycling centers they’ve established, Bridging the Gap is involved in much more, from the Heartland Tree Alliance to their Kansas City WildLands project.

“We’re best known as probably the largest and perhaps most diverse—in terms of programming—of any environmental group in this part of the country,” says Bridging the Gap Executive Director Kristin Riott.

The work is a mixture of environmental education, best practices, and hands-on improvement. Many people like that the volunteer work with Bridging the Gap takes them outside.

“We hope we inspire people when they come out and work on one of our prairies, for example, with the beauty of those prairies. We’re connecting them to original ecosystems that were here 200 years ago,” Riott says.

Bridging the Gap has restored and maintained 450 acres of remnant glades and prairies in the area. If you want to take a look at their work, visit Jerry Smith Park at 139th Street and Holmes Road.

“We had an entomologist do an inventory of the bees that were on it four or five years ago, and he pronounced it one of most biologically-diverse pieces of land in this part of the country,” Riott says. “It takes a good 15 years to really fully restore a prairie, remove all the invasive [species], get plants to grow, and keep digging out the stuff that doesn’t belong there.”

She estimates that over the last 15 years, Bridging the Gap has planted approximately 40,000 trees in the metro area, with a twoyear mortality rate of just 4%.

Prairie Village resident Tim Ackerman got involved as a volunteer when he contacted the organization for advice on planting trees in his yard. That interaction led him to become involved, first with the Heartland Tree Alliance and then with the Kansas City WildLands programs.

With the latter group, he collected seeds from prairies, sorted them, and then sowed them for what he calls a “full circle” experience helping to repopulate native plants.

The knowledge he’s gained with Bridging the Gap is something he’s been able to apply in his personal life too.

“You can be surprised about what you learn when you choose to volunteer. I thought I knew how to plant a tree, for example. Yeah, you know how to put a tree in the ground, but do you know how to prepare a tree so it has the best chance of survival? I didn’t know that. I just thought, ‘Yeah, it’ll be fine. Just give it some water.’ But no, there’s a lot more to it,” Ackerman says.

The outdoor landscape isn’t the only place where Bridging the Gap has had an impact. Low-income residents have seen the results of the group’s goals inside their own homes with their energy efficiency programs.

Between 2012 and 2014, they gave away water-efficient kits to 7,000 households with help from federal grants. Another big part of the program was replacing old toilets.

“People were so happy to learn how they could reduce their bills even a little bit, even $20-$30 a month,” says Riott. “There’s a lot of people that have struggled in Kansas City for a long time, and sometimes we’re able to help them, and that’s

deeply gratifying.”

Some stories stick out among the many people she and her team have encountered.

“We had a gentleman about a year and a half ago who had not had hot water in his home for more than a year. He was boiling water over a stove to bathe in, to wash,” Riott says.

Working with Kansas City’s Office of Environmental Quality, they were able to use funds from the U.S. Department of Energy to buy him an energy-efficient hot water heater.

“So for the first time in a year and a half or so, he had hot water, and he told one our team leaders, ‘Miss Kechia, I feel like I want to clean my whole house now because I’ve got clean clothes, and I can take a shower, and I just want a fresh start for me,’ Riott says. “We have those moments, and not infrequently, actually.”

Bridging the Gap has a variety of different volunteer opportunities. For more information on how to get involved, go to bridgingthegap. org/volunteer

Volunteers work in various KC neighborhoods as part of the Free the Street project and Water & Energy Savers program. Courtesy Bridging the Gap