OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Artists have completed painting 154 oversized hearts with the letters “KC” to be displayed across the Kansas City metropolitan area for the first-ever Parade of Hearts.
Beginning this Valentine’s Day, the hearts will get a protective coating so they can stand up to the outdoors while on display this spring and early summer.
Organizers of this “parade” chose 123 artists to design 154 hearts. The hearts will be stationed in neighborhoods all over town from roughly March to June to promote tourism and encourage people to venture out to new neighborhoods and patronize businesses near each heart.
Later this summer, organizers will auction each heart to raise money for four organizations: AltCap, which will fund grants for minority-owned businesses; the Visit KC Foundation to fund local grants in hospitality and tourism; the University of Kansas Health System to support patients suffering from long-term effects of COVID-19 on their heart; and the Mid-America Regional Council to support child care facilities.
CARSTAR and Dimensional Innovations are applying to protective coating this month.
Organizers anticipate the hearts will be on display in early March.
Hearts have long been connected to Kansas City.
Railroad workers from the area wore a heart patch in the early 1900s to signify they were from the heartland. A marketing campaign in the 1940s featured hearts. The KC Monarchs baseball team wore hearts on their uniforms in the 1940s.
In recent history, the Charlie Hustle-brand t-shirt put the KC heart on the chests of several Kansas Citians and tourists.
