For the second time in five years, Kansas City is having a parade for a sports championship run.
On Wednesday, Feb. 5, the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs will be celebrated with a parade that starts at 11:30 a.m. at Sixth Street and Grand Boulevard and will ultimately end at Union Station — the exact route the Kansas City Royals took in 2015.
The parade is expected to last 1 ½ hours and the rally, which will start at 1:30 p.m. outside Union Station, will take an hour, according to a press release issued from the city and the Kansas City Sports Commission.
The city warns of cold temperatures and possible inclement weather but the parade will go on as planned. An email from the city arrived less than five minutes after the clock hit zeros at Hard Rock Stadium after the Chiefs beat the 49ers, 31-20, announced the parade would be on Wednesday.
By Tuesday, Feb. 4, all but one of the local school districts — West Platte — had called off school. North Platte, Park Hill and Platte County announced on Monday they wouldn’t have school, with Park Hill noting there wouldn’t be enough substitute teachers available to fill all the expected vacancies. North Platte canceled due to the forecasted weather, which led the National Weather Service to issue another winter weather advisory. Last week, Superintendent Karl Matt noted on social media the district had a lot of absent students during the Royals’ parade and a small district like North Platte felt the economic impact of the absences in its state funding.
Park University, an official partner with the Chiefs, announced they would close its local offices in Parkville, Independence, Kansas City and Lenexa, Kan., on Wednesday. However, classes aren’t canceled and evening classes on those campuses will start at 5 p.m.
Local law enforcement departments will provide assistance to the Kansas City Police Department during the parade route. After starting on Sixth and Grand, the parade will head south on Grand Boulevard, west on Pershing Road, north on Main Street and end at Union Station, which already changed over the AFC Championship signs to Super Bowl Champion signs outside.
“For the first time in 50 years, our Kansas City Chiefs are bringing home the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and we’re all excited to celebrate with our players and fans,” said Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas. “We will cheer the World Champion Kansas City Chiefs Wednesday morning during our victory parade through downtown Kansas City. Thanks, Kansas City, for being such a great city and having such amazing fans.”
The city announced a number of transportation-related issues for the parade. Service for the KC Streetcar was suspended Tuesday night at 11:59 p.m. and will not resume until the parade route is safely cleared. The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority will offer free bus rides. There will be park and ride locations at Worlds of Fun, HyVee Arena and Swope Park Zoo starting at 7 a.m. The city stresses parking will be extremely limited near the parade and rally.
There will be street closures at:
• Grand Boulevard from the Missouri River to Pershing Road, starting Tuesday at 2 p.m.
• All east-west streets between Walnut and McGee from the Missouri River to Pershing Road, starting Tuesday 2 p.m. Some vehicle crossings will remain open until Wednesday 5 a.m.
• Main Street from 20th Street to Pershing Road will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians.
• Main Street from Pershing Road to 31st Street will be closed to vehicles, but open to pedestrians.
• Kessler Road from Pershing to the west side of the National WWI Museum and Memorial.
Despite the road closures and celebratory nature of the event, the city noted public alcohol beverage consumption will not be allowed.