Why Taylor Swift is a touchdown for Kansas City's tourism industry
Since the singer started dating local football star Travis Kelce, Kansas City has officially entered its Taylor Swift era. Here’s why clients should consider a visit
“She’s a nice, sweet, low-key girl. And she’s taller than I thought she’d be!” laughs Kim, who’s showing me around Arrowhead Stadium, hallowed home ground to the KC Chiefs. She’s describing Taylor Swift, who’s spent a fair bit of time here recently cheering on her boyfriend, tight end Travis Kelce.
I’m just as thrilled at this slice of Swiftian insight as Kim is about sharing it with me; she confides that since the pair became an item last September, Kansas City locals have pretty much adopted the Nashville resident as one of their own.
In fairness, Taylor’s presence here has helped shine a dazzling spotlight on this otherwise unassuming, mid-sized, Midwestern town. Located in not just one flyover state, but, like Cincinnati, two – Missouri and Kansas – it’s not the kind of place you’d normally find clients clamouring to visit, but recently that’s been changing.
“At this stage, Taylor Swift is doing 90% of my job for me,” laughs Jenny Wilson from Visit KC, who promotes Kansas City to international markets, when I meet her for coffee in the hip, former industrial area of Crossroads, where I’m staying.
“We’ve noticed a growth in interest and bookings since she started dating Travis last September, and again after their Superbowl win in February, but we also attract visitors on their third or fourth visit to the USA who’re looking for something different. It’s a low-key, friendly place; I describe it as a cosmopolitan city with a small-town feel, with all the museums, galleries, shopping and eating you could want.”
But apart from KC’s headline-heavy celebrity union, what are the city’s main draws? “We have a fascinating jazz history, a great food scene, and an interesting frontier past,” explains my friendly guide Derek Byrne the next day.
I find out more about the former exploring the historic 18th and Vine district, where jazz bars and clubs sprang up in the 1920s and 30s and played host to greats such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and KC-born Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker. “They all flocked here from New Orleans during Prohibition because Kansas City refused to obey the laws banning alcohol,” explains Derek, with a certain amount of pride. Clients can learn more at the American Jazz Museum.
From here, we head to West Bottoms – located, like the city’s downtown, on the eastern, Missouri side – where, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, vast stockyards held herds of cattle before they were traded via the region’s newly-developing railroads. The ready availability of beef led to the evolution of some America’s finest barbecue, “cooked low and slow, up to 18 hours,” enthuses Derek, “and served with KC’s distinctive sweet, spicy and molasses-based sauces.”
Carnivorous clients should head to the likes of Jack Stack, Arthur Bryant’s, or Q39, and order the city’s BBQ USP: burnt ends, the crispy, juicy bits left over when cooking brisket. I try these in the form of burnt end hash at Rye, a KC institution. Taylor has dined at their branch in Leawood, a Kansas-side suburb where Travis lives, but Derek wants to show me one of the city’s more unexpected neighbourhoods, where there’s another.
Country Club Plaza is just 10 minutes from downtown, but its architecture is completely unexpected. An upmarket retail area, it was designed in the 1920s after developer J C Nichols visited Seville. I stroll around, staring in awe at the colourful ceramic tiles, decorative ironwork, domed roofs, and stucco facades which house boutiques, cafes, and restaurants.
To add to this cod-European effect, there’s also a half-scale replica of Seville Cathedral’s Moorish Giralda bell tower, and a range of beautiful, classical fountains which Derek explains give KC its nickname, City of Fountains. It’s the only city outside Rome to have over two hundred (originally most were drinking fountains for horses).
In all honesty, I don’t think I’d have been inspired to visit this quirky, surprising and compelling little city if it hadn’t been for Taylor Swift. But as the woman herself might say, don’t leave a Blank Space in your clients’ diary; book their trip here now...
Book it: America As You Like It has a city break to Kansas City from £1,075 per person, including return flights from London via Chicago with American Airlines and four nights room-only at the Crossroads Hotel; americaasyoulikeit.com.
Arrowhead Stadium tours cost from $38pp; chiefs.com
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