LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. (KCTV) – People packed downtown Lee’s Summit Friday night for the grand opening of Green Street, an outdoor event space and indoor farmers market that has been years in the making.
The nearly three-acre space sits on Green Street surrounding the city hall. Friday night’s ribbon cutting came immediately after Mayor Bill Baird’s State of the City address inside the air-conditioned farmers’ market hall. He’d been so busy with all the formalities that he didn’t get take in what people were celebrating until 45 minutes later.
“There’s all these people still here,” said Baird as he looked out from a high vantage. “That was the whole point was to have everybody want to be here, just want to just hang out.”
It was a big deal. What looked like a giant school band performing was actually all three high school bands. Racheal Messner, co-owner of Messner Bee Farm, was tickled by the display.
“We’ve been walking down the street pretty often, looking over the fences, watching them build this for months,” she said.
Her kids, in particular, had been trying to get a peek at the playground.
Her 11-year-old, Zealand, was buzzing with enthusiasm.
“I really like how big it is,” he said. “It’s like, from the street I felt like one of those kiddie playgrounds, but like here it looks really big.”
He’s right about that. It’s nearly three acres of space transformed.
The centerpiece is a 50-stall indoor farmer’s market that’s temperature-controlled. Every stall is rented with more vendors on the wait list. A list of vendors is available here. It will serve as an event space on non-market days.
The ten garage bays open onto what they call The Lawn. Artificial turf with a clear overhead canopy is encircled by Adirondack chairs. That space will be programmed with live performances, exercise classes, and family-friendly entertainment.
Zealand was a fan of that space, too.
“I really like the way they made it so that there a nice playground here, but at the same time there’s an old-fashioned pavilion so that my parents will really want to go here,” he mused.
His dad, Erik Messner, likes that it’s a place where people can connect.
“My favorite thing is how it brings the community together,” he said.
YEARS IN THE MAKING
Making it happen was a long haul. The city first started talking about the need for an open-air, year-round community space back in 2007. In 2013, voters approved a general obligation bond with $600,000 intended for just that. It took years of input, negotiating to buy the private homes on the property, and financial juggling before construction finally began in 2024.
The final cost far exceeded what the bonds provided, but Baird made it clear that it was not by accident or cost overrun.
“The more time went by, the more we decided, you know, we’re going to do this right,” said Baird. “We’re going to build something that’s going to be for generations and generations to come.”
A FULL WEEKEND OF CELEBRATION
Saturday is the grand opening of the farmer’s market. They’ll have kids’ activities, street performers, and food trucks food trucks from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday will be a fitness-themed day with classes like yoga on the lawn.
The full schedule of events can be found on the Green Street website.
Farmer’s market hours going forward are below:
Saturday Market:April 5 – October 258 a.m. – noon
Wednesday Market:May 7 – October 228 a.m. – noon
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