KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Organizers expect more than 60,000 people to watch fireworks on the banks of the Missouri River as part of KC RiverFest.
The Independence Day celebration runs from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday at Berkley Riverfront Park in Kansas City, Missouri.
This year, the fireworks show will be longer, and cover a wider section of the river bank. Plus, teams from this weekend’s KC Airshow, including the Blue Angels, will perform along the river. KC RiverFest board member Stefan White is excited to see the Aeroshell Aerobatic team he helped bring to Kansas City.
“They're the giant planes with the big propellers. They are so noisy, they spew all the smoke in the air and do the flips and the loops and the crazy stuff. It's awesome,” he said.
But he said fireworks are still the showstopper. The show will take place over 21 minutes Thursday. White said all the hard work organizing the event is worth it when he sees how happy the crowd is watching the fireworks.
“It’s pure awe, but it's this moment where everyone forgets who they are, where they're from, what part of town they live in, whether they're from Missouri or Kansas, or whether they're white or black, or whether they're rich or they're poor. It just doesn't matter. You're just there in the moment as a city together doing a shared thing. It's just significant, it's special,” White said.
Organizers want to remind people not to park on the bridges over the Missouri River to watch the fireworks. It is both illegal and dangerous.
KC RiverFest is a fundraiser for Friends of the River. The organization protects the Missouri River through clean-up efforts and by planting trees in parks along the river.
Tickets to KC RiverFest cost $5 and are available online by clicking here.
