Downtown Days is a carnival that occurs every year in Lee Summit filled with many attractions. There are vendors, carnival rides, and live entertainment. It is a very large environment; it takes up multiple roads in the area, and they are all packed and closed off. People from all over the city were there interacting and socializing; it was a great place to meet new people. The food/drinks they had consisted of funnel cakes, turkey legs, nachos, bbq, lemonades, snow cones, and any typical carnival food you can think of. I have mixed feelings about the carnival considering how expensive everything is, and they only take cash. It was also chaotic considering the drunk adults fighting, and the few fights that occurred with teenagers. A lot of other carnivals that I’ve attended or heard of had shootings occur or lots of running from who knows what. I was paranoid with how many people there were. I had a fear that something similar would happen, but thankfully it didn’t. There were lots of police and security surrounding the area trying to ensure that everyone was kept safe. Although they were there trying to give us the idea that we were “safe” the police were very annoying, and were bothering people who were not doing anything. When my friend and I were waiting to leave they made us move from the area, but they were picking and choosing. They expected people to leave right at 10:00, but I think they failed to understand that some people have ubers or other rides that they have to wait on. Other than that I met new people and even ran into old people that I had not seen in a while, so it was great catching up with them.

The environment felt like you were in a movie because of how happy, loud, and the amount of people that were there. Overall I believe that the carnival was a great teen friendly place to go if you are okay with being in packed environments and enjoy interacting with new people!

– Camila, Summer Intern 2024

Photo courtesy of Lee’s Summit Downtown Days website.