On weekends–Saturday morning, especially–Kansas City’s City Market, close by the muddy Missouri River, is crowded with farmers, buyers of all stripes, discerning chefs in search of the freshest vegetables, and with cars, sounds, smells and color. I love it, but finding a place to park is often a challenge! On weekdays, though, it’s pretty quiet and I have a chance to draw the buildings that are so filled with echoes of life.
My eye was caught by the strong sunlight reflecting off those arched roofs, but I didn’t quite capture the contrast.
There are a number of the long open sheds like you see at left, and the old brick buildings on two sides sport newer curved roofs and permanent shops and stalls. To the far left, invisible in this sketch, is the Blue Nile, a terrific Ethiopian restaurant, and Winslow’s City Market BBQ, as well as a few other permanent restaurants and shops I haven’t gotten to explore yet. (Hard to pass up the Nile!)
This image is from a visit from last January…yum. You can click on it to see more detail…
Behind me and also not visible in this sketch is the Steamboat Arabia Museum, a truly fascinating place. If you’re in the area and you are interested in history at all, don’t MISS it. A single family organized the dig, spend days and months in the cold mud, and years lovingly cleaning the artifacts and presenting them at the museum. I’ve been there many times and I’m STILL blown out of the water!