SATURDAY AT ENGLISH LANDING PARK
Parkville will host its first annual Juneteenth Jazz and Blues Festival from 3 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 8, at English Landing Park.
This free and open to the public event will raise funds for the Banneker School Restoration Foundation (BSRF) Project. BSRF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to restore the school.
For years, scores of local jazz and blues musicians would gather annually to perform in English Landing Park, adjacent to a picturesque bend in the Missouri River, with the Quindaro neighborhood of Kansas City, Kan. on one side and Parkville on the other.
Park University’s campus meanders up a hill on the other side of Hwy. 9 and a south or northbound train occasionally chugs through. This is the setting for the BSRF Project’s Juneteenth Jazz and Blues Festival on Saturday, June 8.
Parkville’s annual Jazz and Blues Festival in the park morphed into a street festival years ago.
“Reviving the Jazz and Blues Festival in the park would be great for the city,” said BSRF board member Ann Noland.
The free and open to the public festival has now become a reality, and it is set to raise funds for a new $150,000 capital campaign for the BSRF project.
The BSRF and Historic Site in Parkville is restoring a one-room schoolhouse where African American children were educated from 1885 to 1905. They have been using the Brick Capital Campaign, offering a purchase of a brick of the school to support their efforts.
“There are descendants of former students who attended the school still living in Parkville,” said BSRF board member Lucille H, Douglass. “We want to see the school preserved for future generations to be able to remember our heritage.”
Parkville Mayor Dean Katerndahl says he is grateful that the board of Banneker School is reviving the annual festival.
“The Jazz and Blues Festival brought folks from all over Kansas City up here,” said Katerndahl. “We are ready and willing to make this an exciting annual event with local food and spirits, and Kansas City music echoing across the river and throughout the city.”
Four bands will perform at the Saturday, June 8, Juneteenth Jazz and Blues Festival.
The times and groups are:
3 p.m. Kansas City Area Youth Jazz.
4:45 p.m. Alex Ambramovitz & His Swingin’ Kansas City Jazz Band.
6:45 p.m. David Basse & Band.
8:45 p.m. Earnest James Zydeco.
The event will take place rain or shine.
The foundation requests that attendees bring their own chairs and purchase food and spirits from local vendors, in support of restoration of the Banneker School. The purchase of a brick, T-shirt or a donation to help with the project would be welcome.
For information about the BSRF project, go to httpsbannekerschoolparkvillemo.org/
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