June 1, 2024
By Fred Liggett
sports.lstribune08@gmail.com
Area sports fans may not feel blue but will see plenty of blue when they visit the Sports Booth as part of the Lee’s Summit Downtown Days Festival June 7, 8 and 9. The reason for this is due to Sporting KC soccer team sponsoring the Sports Booth this year. Sporting KC will have their own booth showcasing all things MLS Soccer all three days of the event.
The Downtown Days Sports Booth will be located on SE Main Street just south of the event’s main stage. The color blue will be seen when the booth opens at 4 p.m. on Friday with a three-hour KC Royals podcast called KC Chase to the Pennant live from the booth. In addition to hearing the latest news about the Royals and catching a preview of the Royals home series vs Seattle the hosts of the podcast, Kevin Christopher and Christian Martinez, will take questions about the team from the crowd. Sports fans of all ages are welcome to play Sports Trivia at 6 p.m. and win prizes from local restaurants. From 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday night the Kansas City Rugby Club will appear at the booth. Rugby Club board president Mark Dunning, a Lee’s Summit city manager, will be on hand to answer fans questions about the sport.
The fun on Saturday starts off with Kansas City Monarchs baseball at 10 a.m. See Monarchs mascot Monty and visit with team members who won the 2023 American Association Championship. More baseball talk at 1 p.m. when FOX4 Morning News personality Matt Stewart stops by to sell his latest best-selling book about the Kansas City Royals. Then stick around for more Royal blue time as former KC Royals pitcher Dennis Leonard will visit the booth from 3 to 5 p.m. From 5 to 7 p.m. the Kansas City Comets will be on hand to visit with area Aarena soccer fans. Then football fans can talk about the back to back Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs with former KC Chiefs wide receiver Danan Hughes. Appearing with Hughes is local celebrity Almost Andy.
Sunday begins with a softball theme as Monica Abbott an ESPN reporter and a USA softball pitcher visits the booth to sell copies of her current book. Abbott is an Olympic pitcher for Team USA and the most decorated player in college softball, throwing 23 no-hitters while at the University of Tennessee. The 38 year old recently relocated to Lee’s Summit to make it her permanent home. The last visitor to the Sports Booth from 1 to 3 p.m. is the Kansas City Mavericks hockey team. As of press time the Mavericks were still playing and in the hunt for the franchise’s first Kelly Cup championship. Whether you’re looking for a new book or just wanting to hear about an excellent pitch the Downtown Days Sports Booth sponsored by Sporting KC is the place to be at the three-day festival in Downtown Lee’s Summit.
