This summer, Kansas City will become the second city in Missouri to have a FlowRider surfing simulator in a municipal water park. The FlowRider – aka BayRider— is scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend at The Bay Water Park in south Kansas City.
Flowriding is not just a ride, it’s a sport that has the look of surfing, the ride of snowboarding, the tricks of skateboarding, and boards derived from wakeboarding. Since the early ’90s, the world’s best board riders have cross pollinated into flowboarding. This new alternative board sport is taken seriously all across the U.S.
The FlowRider generates a thin sheet of water that flows over a stationary wave form. The resulting “wave-like” shape permits rider to slide down, carve a turn, and ride the wave surface, emulating the maneuvers of other board sports.
Boardsports such as surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding and flowboarding are skill-based activities that challenge riders to develop new tricks and techniques. From beginners to advanced riders, the adrenaline rush of successful challenges met inspires riders to new levels of achievement.
The FlowRider Single Specs:
Size~22′ wide x 49′ long
Capacity~160-240 riders per hour
Weight~350,000 lbs
Tank Volume~40,000 gallons
Be among the first to experience the FlowRider in Kansas City, Missouri by purchasing a season pass to The Bay today!
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) recently stocked rainbow trout in KC Parks Chaumiere Lake. Rainbow trout require cool water year round and are not native to the metro area. But in winter, water temperatures drop and stocking trout provides a close-to-home opportunity for anglers.
MDC stocked 875 rainbows in Chaumiere Lake in Chaumiere Woods Park, near Interstate 35 and the intersection of North Cleveland Avenue and Northeast 43rd Terrace in Kansas City, North.
Anglers can catch rainbow trout with spinning, spin casting or fly fishing tackle. Small spinners, flies or scented baits are all effective lures for catching trout. But if a large fish breaks your line, don’t be surprised. A few lunker-sized trout were also stocked along with the pan-sized fish. The trout were raised at the MDC hatchery at Bennett Springs State Park.
Statewide trout fishing regulations apply. All Missouri residents under age 15 and over 65 must have a valid fishing permit, and all non-residents over age 15 must have a fishing permit. The daily limit is four trout. To keep trout, anglers must have a Missouri trout permit.
Lakes in Liberty and Lee’s Summit were also stocked. Some lakes may be restocked with trout at future dates during winter.
A winter trout fishing hotline for the Kansas City metro area with updates on stocking is available at 816-525-0300, ext. 4001.
The $15 million, 19,060 square foot Helzberg Penguin Plaza opened last month at the Kansas City Zoo in Swope Park. Here are some facts about the Zoo’s newest attraction:
Funded by a private donation from the Helzberg Family; a $1 million lead gift from the Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri in honor of their 100th anniversary; contributions from the Zoological District consisting of Jackson and Clay Counties in Missouri; and the diligent efforts of Zoo fans young and old, who gave up birthday gifts, collected pennies and wrote letters to bring penguins to Kansas City.
Helzberg Penguin Plaza houses four different species of penguins from the South America and Antarctic environments: King, Southern Rockhopper and Gentoo along with the temperate penguins, Humboldt.
All penguins are banded and micro-chipped to give each penguin a distinct identification that will be used to make sure each bird is receiving enough food and nutrients each day.
Each penguin will eat three times per day which amounts to more than 50 pounds of fish each day.
Breeding of the penguins will be controlled by the Species Survival Plan (SSP).
The Junior League of Kansas City MissouriPenguin Ice Paradise is a 2,853 square foot exhibit with a 45 degrees air temperature. More than 30 birds live in Penguin Ice Paradise: King, Gentoo and Southern Rockhopper penguins. These cold weather birds eat 50 pounds of herring and of capelin each day.
Special filtration has been provided for the cold penguin exhibit to control airborne pathogens and provide odor control. Their swimming area holds over 100,000 gallons of salt water. This saltwater is made in batches of 15,000 gallons at a time. It cycles through a Life Support System (LLS) every 27 minutes at 945 gallons per minute. The used saltwater is recycled to conserve fresh water and salt. This used water is routed to holding basins that clean, disinfect store and then pump the refreshed water back to the exhibit. It took 12 tons of salt to make the water.
Despite the state-of-the-art filtration system, Zoo Keepers must still manually scrub the exhibit surfaces and windows daily and must all be SCUBA certified for the underwater portion of the cleaning. An above catwalk supports 28 metal halide and 22 LED flood lights programmed to simulate the Southern Hemisphere light cycle and providing necessary UV for penguin health.
Two ice flake machines located on the catwalk will produce 3” of snowflakes per day. A gift from the Dixon Family Foundation, these machines will create 4,000 pounds of snow every 24 hours. Each day, Zoo Keepers will remove the dirty snow and spread the new snow spread throughout the exhibit.
Delicately designed ice formations provide a variety of above- and below- water features including an ice bridge, tunnels and pop ups for penguins to torpedo through and over. Their antics will mesmerize guests for hours. This Penguin UnderWater Adventure was funded by The Sunderland Foundation.
The Sea Ice Vista funded by UMB Bank and the Affiliated Trusts, Carter Community Trust, Geraldine & RA Barrows Foundation and the Wornall Foundation, allows an education moment about the importance of sea ice.
A stroll down the Sea Ice Vista lands families at the Penguin Chase, a gift from the Dixon Family Foundation. This interactive adventure has guests flying through the icy ocean waters chasing Southern Rockhopper penguins out of view. Projected from the ceiling, images of rockhoppers move across the “ocean” floor while children wave their arms scattering the penguins away.
The entire cold water penguin flock will coexist until breeding season when they will want more privacy. For this, nest boxes are provided in the exhibit for privacy.
Penguin Coast, Funded by Wagner Family Foundation, is home to temperate penguins. The Humboldt penguins live in a 1,852 square foot warm exhibit environment at a temperature of 50 to 80 degrees. More than a dozen Humboldt’s can be found waddling on a sandy beach and resting on the rocks. As a group they eat 20 pounds of smelt, capelin and herring each day.
During warm months the temperate penguin exhibit is open to the outdoors via a folding window wall.
Two underwater doors will open to allow these black and white birds to swim from indoors to outdoors.
Eight nesting boxes are partially concealed in the rockwork and will provide cozy burrows for the temperate penguins.
Cool School, Funded by the Courtney S. Turner Charitable Trust,is a 1400 gallon schooling fish aquarium with silver False Herring.
Ocean Garden holds 3,200 gallons of water and is home to over 26 varieties of exotic tropical fish. Here you can find the bright orange clown fish (Nemo) and the stunning blue tang fish (Dory).
Coming SOON: Magical Moon Jellies, funded by JE Dunn Construction Company.
Polar Ice Stationis a 530 square footclassroom funded by The Edward G. and Kathryn E. Mader Foundation.
Aurora Australis is displayed via lighting effects in the entry way rotunda. Aurora Australis are the southern lights which are caused by the passing solar wind in the atmosphere of the southern polar region and then captured by the earth’s magnetic field. These solar winds interact with the gases in the southern atmosphere producing dazzling display of lights in the form if wisps, pillars, streaks and halos.
A large LED display board dubbed PenguinTron located above the entry provides a variety of exciting visual images, live-feeds of the exhibit and educational videos.
The City of Kansas City, Mo., is notifying motorists that the Buck O’Neil 2.2 Mile Run/Walk will temporarily affect traffic in the 18th and Vine Historic District on Saturday, Nov. 9 in the morning.
The race begins at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, located at 1616 E. 18th St. The road closures will take place from about 8:45-10 a.m. on the following race route: west on 17th Terrace; north on The Paseo Boulevard; east on Truman Road; south on Woodland Avenue; east on 19th Street; south on Brooklyn Avenue; west on 22nd Street; and north on The Paseo Boulevard to finish at the museum. For more information about this race, please visit http://www.active.com/kansas-city-mo/running/buck-o-neil-2-2-mile-run-walk-2013.
Please observe caution and obey all posted detours and barricades.
On November 5, local dignitaries–including Mayor Sly James, Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Circo, 5th District Councilman Michael Brooks, Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders, KC Parks Commissioners,Sporting Club CEO Robb Heineman, and Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby–hosted a ceremony for the opening of the Championship Field in Swope Park Soccer Village and the kick-off of the Big 12 Women’s Soccer Championship Tournament which runs through November 10. The Village is located at 63rd and Lewis Road in Swope Park.
The event marked the first phase of a $13.4 million project that by next fall will have five more youth soccer fields and other amenities in the Village. Here are some fun facts about the construction of the Championship Field:
12,560,000 pounds of crushed limestone rock (the weight of 1,745 pickup trucks
9,484,000 pounds of concrete
9,240,000 pounds of asphalt
8,080,000 pounds of a special sand blend (85% sand & 15% peat)
5,000 linear feet of field drainage pipe ranging from 4” to 24” in diameter
7,300 linear feet of PVC irrigation pipe
99,500 square feet of sand-based sod shipped from Colorado in refrigerated trucks
Used laser guided bulldozers able to grade earth to a ¼” tolerance and special tractors to an 1/8” tolerance (about the same as two quarters stacked together)
15,600 square feet of PVC coated chain link fence with over 2,560 linear feet of fence posts and 6,240 linear feet of fence rails
All designed, permitted, and constructed in under 120 calendar days
As part of the effort to provide healthier, safer, environments for area residents, the City of Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation recently implemented a smoke-free parks policy in all city owned parks where people, especially where children and youth play and congregate, including, but not limited to the playgrounds, athletic fields, pools, and community centers.
The Parks and Recreation Department’s Smoke-free Policy development was part of a two-year process of collaborating with the City’s Health Department, as part of a county wide Community Transformation Grant effort funded from the Centers for Disease Control through the Mid America Regional Council (MARC). Data were reviewed on cigarette butts deposits at varied park sites, and 13 parks were piloted as smoke-free prior to the implementation of the smoke-free policy.
Implementation of the new policy included placement of 210 signs in 130 parks, providing “smoke-free” zones for over 437 area park locations that are most frequented by children and families. “Healthy Lungs at Play” signs are now posted in each area park.
Designating parks as smoke-free just makes sense because it:
Promotes Healthy Communities;
Builds healthier social norms;
Creates a healthier environment for children and families;
Promotes more positive role models for children by parents or others;
Decreases chronic health conditions due to exposure to tobacco smoke;
Decreases ER and medical visits due to allergy and asthma attacks from exposure; Second hand smoke can trigger asthma attacks, increase risks for blood clots, and harm blood vessels. Decreases second hand smoke exposure to non-smokers; decreases exposure to the toxins in cigarettes;
Is green and helps maintain our environments. Cigarettes butts are the most littered item in the world, and they create fire hazards.
Helps break the connection between sports and tobacco, and recreational leaders become tobacco free role models;
Supports healthier behaviors among youth;
Helps smokers to quit, reducing the number of cigarettes smoked; it helps former smokers remain smoke-free; it reduces costs to smokers;
Reduces maintenance costs;
Helps reduce deaths caused by smoking.
According to the American Lung Association, cigarette smoking is the number one cause of preventable disease in the United States. The elderly and young populations, as well as people with chronic illnesses, are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of smoking. The 2006 Surgeon General’s report notes that secondhand smoke causes an estimated 50,000 deaths in adult non-smokers in the United States each year. Involuntarily inhaled smoke (second hand smoke) also causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke.
This summer, Kansas City will become the second city in Missouri to have a FlowRider surfing simulator in a municipal water park. The FlowRider – aka BayRider— is scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend at The Bay Water Park in south Kansas City.
The FlowRider Single Specs:
