Tour of Austrailia @ Gomer's South

Gomer's South will behosting a (Free) wine tasting on Monday, October 19th, from 6-8pm. They will be featuring wines from Old Bridge Cellars Imports, including:

Innocent Bystander Pinot Noir

Chambers Muscat

D'Arenberg Stump Jump Shiraz

D'Arenberg Custodian Grenache

Penley Estate Phoenix Cabernet

Plantagenet Hazard Hill Savignon Black Semillon

Leeuwin Estates Sibling Shiraz

Seating is limited to 32 people, so R.S.V.P. to 816-942-6200 if you are interested.

It's First Friday Again

Head down to the Crossroads. Have a free beer or glass of wine. Check out some art. Be worldly and sophisticated. Give made-up, non-sensical faux-critiques of paintings and sculptures you don't understand.

Cellar Rat Wine Merchants @ 17th & Baltimore will have a tasting tonight, also. It's all about the Malbec from Argentina. They will have cheese and charcuterie plates. (I know, I had to google charcuterie 'cause I'm not as spohisticated as I pretend to be. You were fooled by my impressive art critiques, weren't you? I sure as hell know what a "cheese plate" is, though!)

If you would rather hang with the plebes, there is always the tasting tonight at CVS in Waldo. Gomer's South has the usual wine tasting on Saturday from 12-3pm.

Where's (Free Fun In) Waldo?

Waldo Fall Festival 2009 is this weekend! There will be the usual festival festivities - police cars and firetrucks and clowns and whatnot. You know. Family fun for all! Those of us in the neighborhood can just walk there and then walk and have an afternoon beer at Lews or on the roof at the Well and then walk home! See - it's all in the area and Saturday should be a beautiful day, weather-wise. However, I will be enjoying some free fun at the pool for the last swim Saturday of the season.
Also, this Saturday is the Falldo Waldo Crawldo! Not free. Tix are five bucks in advance, ten at the event, and it's a pub crawl, so you have to buy beers. And, if you are smart, cab fare home. Or just walk home - that would be the free fun portion of the evening, I suppose. This year is bigger and better than ever - fourteen neighborhood drinking esatablishements are participating! Since Kennedy's has re-opened in the last year, and The Well opened recently, that adds two new spots on the roster. And The Well is a pretty sweet addition to the neighborhood, I have to say. Swagger is also a new on the list. I hear they have some pretty serious bar food, and some serious beer on tap. Although the Case Man and I have yet to make it up there for a meal and a brew.

This Weekend in Free Fun

As usual, it's 2nd Saturday up in Weston, MO - Shopping and tastings 'til 8pm, dining and entertainment 'til midnight. And it's a nice late-afternoon or evening drive up to Weston. A lovely little town, it is.

It's 2nd Saturday in KCK, too. They have an Artwalk.

More free fun in KCK - the Strawberry Hill Festival. Click the picture of their poster below for details:
The 30th annual Art Westport is this weekend, as well. Not that exciting to me. But it is all local Kansas City area artists. And it's free - unless you stop for cocktails. Which probably makes it a

LOT more fun, but a lot less free. (This is the problem with a lot of free fun, I am finding. Free stuff is more fun if it involves alcohol, but the alcohol portion of the fun is generally not free.)

Also, there is the usual wine tasting at CVS at 75th & Wornall, in Waldo. Gomer's South has their usual tasting @ 3pm on Saturday, as well as a witbier tasting on Monday evening. Gomer's Lee's Summit has a Friday night wine tasting.

By the way, the Case Man and I drove past the Gomer's in Parkville on our little road trip north. It's really really nice looking. We didn't go in, but it looked pretty cool- like a giant wine barrel and they had grapevines growing outside the building and a nice looking patio, too, I think. They have a beer tasting at the Parkville location this evening from 4-7, and a wine tasting tomorrow afternoon from 12-4.

Free Movies! Parks! And Libraries!

Well, I have to say I'm disappointed that I didn't go down the the Central Library last Friday to watch Donnie Darko on the rooftop terrace. Instead, Casey and I went and spent money at a bar. The Well, specifically, which has a rooftop terrace, but it was too packed to hang out up there. So we sat on the lower patio, off the main dining room. We had fun. We got a hefty bar tab. We should have just gone to the free fun and seen a movie I know I love anyway on a rooftop terrace that I know wouldn't have been too crowded. So, here are some more free movies for your enjoyment.




Rocky Horror screening at dusk, City Market Park at 3rd & Main. Pack a picnic, wear a sweater and enjoy the city skyline!

Some sci-fi movie called Sunshine is showing at the Central Library, Downtown, on Saturday at 1:30. It's part of their Cinema Across the Universe film series, held in the Stanley H. Durwood Film Vault. I have never heard of this movie, but it stars the super creepy Cillian Murphy and the kickass Michelle Yeoh, and involves scientists trying to reignite the sun? Okay.

Grand Hotel will be showing, also at the Central Library, on Saturday, September 5th. I love this movie!

Humphrey Bogart as private detective Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep at First Fridays Film Classics at the Waldo Branch on Friday, September 4th at 2pm.

Movies in the Park 2009 is still going on, too! In addition to tonight's screening of Rocky Horror at City Market Park, you can also see Hotel for Dogs Saturday night at Roanoke Park; Beetlejuice at Tower Park (75th & Holmes) on Friday, September 4th; Ghostbusters at 12th & Paseo on September 6th; Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D (!) at Migliazzo Park, Minor Drive & Pennsylvania; and Wall-E at 26th & Jarboe on September 18th.

Have I mentioned how cool libraries are? And that they are free?

Check out the events claendar for the Kansas Ctiy Public Libraries and I know you will find a good way to spend an afternoon or eveing (or Saturday morning watching classic cartoons.)
So much Free Fun to be had at the library!

P.S. - I apologize for the wonky spacing of this post. I don't know what Blogger's deal is today, but it certainly wasn't cooperating. Humph.

Alrighty...and now, for some Free Fun!

I'm back! Went on vacation, work as been crazy, blah blah blah.

So here's what's goin' on this weekend, kiddo's!

We've got lots of Free Music Fun:

Friday Night Live in the Power & Light - the Zero's are performing. Free admission, but the alcohol will cost if you aren't the DD. And being the DD is not only Free Fun, but DUI's are definitely NOT Free Fun. Far from it, in fact.

Eddie Money is playing at Crown Center for the Free Friday Night Concert Series. I bet he plays this song. And hey - you can even take the Metro to Crown Center. It's especially convenient if you live in my neck of the woods - there's a Park & Ride right near 75th & Wornall. The Metro isn't free, but it is very cheap! And you don't have to drive. And.....Eddie Money plays the saxaphone. Coo-ol!

Parkville Riverfest is back! And it's Free! Bring a lawnchair or blanket, it's gonna be a fabulous weekend for an outdoor event like this. No outside beverages are allowed, but they will have beer & wine vendors in the park.

If you will be at the Overland Park Farmers Market on Saturday morning, a band called The Brew will be playing there at 10:30. I have never heard of them / cannot vouch for their quality, but you can watch this video and judge for yourself. Hmmm. Should be pretty kid-friendly, I think.

The CaseMan and I, however, will be at the Farmers Market in the River Market Downtown. I doubt it will be Free Fun, because I know we will buy stuff, but it's stuff I won't have to purchase at the grocery store. And maybe I'll happen past the Shatto Milk booth!

Also, it's Ford Free Fridays at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. I can't find anything on their website, and I haven't ever attended, so I don't know what this is, exactly, since the museum is always free. So if anyone knows anything about this, feel free to leave a comment.

One more - Gomers Lee's Summit has a wine tasting this evening. There is also the usual Friday night wine tasting at CVS, 75th & Wornall.

Free Tastings...Yum!

Check out CVS in Waldo at 75th & Wornall on Friday evenings. They have free wine tastings in their liquor department! Plus, if you purchase a "six-pack" of wine, you get a nice discount - 10% I think.

Gomer's also has free wine tastings and events at their stores. I'll try to keep up with them on my blog, but you should call and check your favorite location each week. In my neck of the woods, at the South Kansas City location, tonight there is a meet & greet with Left Hand Brewery (and their brewmaster) from 4-6pm. I have not tried their beer yet - I will as soon as I get out of the office this afternoon - but I already like them. They dig chicks who dig beer. They even have a girls-only club. Cool! Too bad I'd have to go all the way to Colorado to attend a meeting. Also, on Saturday from 12-3pm, SoKC Gomer's is having a wine tasting.

Welcome to Free Fun!

Okay. So times are tough. Money is tight. I think most of my friends and family know that I am all about FREE FUN in 2009. And there was a lot of free fun to be had this past weekend! It was First Friday's in the Crossroads, there was the Gay Pride Festival, the Nathan's regional hot dog eating contest, and "Kansas City's Premier U2 Cover Band" played at the Power & Light District. All things a person could potentially do with out spending any money at all. I don't want anyone missing out any free fun. So this weekend, while I was buzzin' on wine (free!) at the galleries down in the Crossroads (free!) I decided to start a blog. 'Cause blogging is free fun, too! And who doesn't like free fun, right? It's free. It's fun. It's free fun!

Hence, I will be compiling all of the free, fun (or at least super super cheap) stuff I find to do in Kansas City here on my new blog. I'll probably throw in some good happy hour deals and cheap eats or whatever. I prefer free, but as long as it's easy on the pocketbook, that's cool.

Here is some free fun for those if us who live in the Waldo area - Movie Night at Tower Park!
Sponsored by the Tower Homes Association and South-Broadland Presbyterian Church.
June 13th at sundown they will be screening Ghostbusters (and if that ain't a fun movie, I don't know what is!) and it's FREE! (I hope people are catching on to exactly what this blog is about by now.) Bring your own chair or blanket, and your own refreshments. I believe (according to the sign on the register at Soil Service, but not posted on the THA website) there will be some concessions for sale, too, if you want to splurge.
http://www.towerhomesassociation.org/news/1-latest-news/131-movie-night.html

Another note about the P&L District - I generally don't hang out there very often unless I am looking for some fun that is not so free (and generally that means drinking beer that costs money at the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, which is only the best selection of yummy yummy beer in the whole city, so I'm willing to pay for that kind of fun from time to time), but they do have free concerts every Friday at KC Live. Some I don't care/know so much about, but The Zero's are a pretty cool 80's cover band, and Rattle & Hum is the aforementioned U2 cover band. Admission is free, but if you're drinkin', that's not free. So it's kinda free fun, especially if you are the designated driver. Depending on your perspective. Here's a link to the concert calendar:
http://www.powerandlightdistrict.com/index.cfm?page=events-calendar&date=06/12/2009&event=358