Museum of BBQ to Open this Spring in Kansas City
Ardie A. Davis previews this exciting new entertainment destination inside Crown Center.
This week’s guest article is by Ardie A. Davis, aka Remus Powers, a legend in the barbecue world. Davis is a well-respected barbecue writer, judge, and the founder of the American Royal International BBQ Sauce, Rub, & Baste Contest. He was inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame in 2016. If you would like to write a guest article for The Smoke Sheet, please get in touch.
When people on this planet—especially in America—hear the words “Kansas City,” “BARBECUE!” immediately comes to mind.
Kansas City is home to more than 100 barbecue restaurants, as well as the world’s largest organization of competition and wanna-be-great barbecuers, and the world’s largest barbecue contest: the American Royal World Series of Barbecue.
Vegetarian, vegan, omnivore, or carnivore: if you’re from Kansas City or the USA, you’re expected to know a thing or two about barbecue. “What is it?” “Why is it such a big deal?” “What’s your favorite?” “Where can I get some?” Until now, people were on their own to respond to those questions.
Now, thanks to food editor, writer, video documentarian, and barbecue expert Jonathan Bender, partnering with butcher, chef, entrepreneur, and restauranteur, Alex Pope, a big dream of America’s barbecue faithful will soon take a giant leap forward. The new Museum of BBQ will open this spring in Kansas City’s famous midtown shopping, convention, tourist, and entertainment mecca, Crown Center.
When will it open?
The Museum of Barbecue’s springtime 2025 Grand Opening date will be announced soon.
What’s the Admission Cost?
Admission will be in line with current prices at movie theaters.
What’s it all about?
The Museum of Barbecue’s interactive learning environment will reach a wide range of individuals, from novices to experts, with barbecue history, regional styles, smells, tastes, and interactive learning. Pitmasters, authors, and celebrities will make scheduled and pop-up appearances.
A place where the story of barbecue unfolds has been a dream of many individuals in various cities. For example, the late Dr. Rich Davis of KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce fame envisioned a place where the story of barbecue would be told in a historical and agri-business context. Others have dreamed of a similar place on a Barbecue University campus with dorms, hotels, restaurants and a convention center.
The fictional Pete Pigg, Mayor of Memphis, in Blake Fontenay’s engaging novel, The Politics of Barbecue, says: “This town’s built on barbecue. And having a museum—no, having the Smithsonian of barbecue—is just what we need.”
Mayor Pigg’s dream hasn’t materialized in Memphis, nor has the Smithsonian built a barbecue museum. Kansas City’s Museum of Barbecue may be a launch pad for the realization of such dreams.
Kansas City, where the Missouri and Kansas Rivers converge, has been a Native American hunting, trapping, lodging, and fur trading center, a gateway to pioneers heading west, a rowdy “Cowtown,” a mobster haven, and a major rivers/rails/highways transportation hub. The city’s indisputable reputation today is “Barbecue Central.” Real Barbecue co-authors Vince Staten and Greg Johnson put it this way:
“Kansas City – Barbecue Central: This is it: Ground Zero, America’s premier melting pot of smoke and sauce, the headquarters of hickory, Cow Town Central, the Capital of Que…a one-city crash course in American barbecue.”
Now, at last, America’s new Museum of BBQ delivers an authoritative introduction to barbecue history, barbecue methods, regional styles, flavors, and excellence. Visit the Museum of BBQ website to sign up for alerts by email and watch for more news in future editions of The Smoke Sheet.
Ardie A. Davis
Barbecue Writer, Judge, and Founder
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