Welcome to the Lowdown! I am so glad you’re here!
Happy Mother’s Day weekend! I hope you’re getting brunch, sleeping in, or at minimum someone is handing you coffee before you have to ask for it. (You deserve it.)
This week had some genuinely great local stories – a state championship, a hometown kid who made it to NASCAR’s Victory Lane, some wild city council drama, and more live music than should technically be legal for one town. Let’s get into it!
🏆 FLAG FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPS
The LSHS Girls Flag Football team is the best in Missouri – and it’s official.
The Tigers took home the Missouri High School Girls Flag Football State Championship last weekend in an event hosted by the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead. The team, which has been building for three years, beat out schools from across the state to claim the top spot.
What makes this extra special… flag football is on track to become a full MSHSAA sanctioned sport in the next couple of years. These girls aren’t just winning championships – they’re helping build something. Coaches and players put in real work all season long, and it showed.
Hall-of-fame week. #Champions!
🏎️ LS NORTH GRAD MAKES IT TO VICTORY LANE
A Lee’s Summit North grad had a pretty incredible Sunday.
T.J. Semke – class of 2012, wide receiver and linebacker for the Broncos – was on Chase Elliott’s pit crew at the Wurth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend. Elliott’s team posted its three fastest pit stops of the season, and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports car drove away with a Cup Series win. See T.J. this afternoon on the crew for car #9 at the Watkins Glen, NY race.
From the football field at LS North to NASCAR’s Victory Lane. Not a bad Sunday, T.J.!
🎬 LSR7 STUDENTS CLEAN UP AT FILM FESTIVAL
Students from all three Lee’s Summit high schools brought home multiple awards at the University of Central Missouri World Language Film Festival, competing with original short films in Chinese, French, German, and Spanish.
The highlights:
-
LS North: The Ghost Groom (Chinese, Level 1) – 1st place, best super short. Plus Quaken-Gerechtigkeit: Ein Gerichtsdrama picked up eight awards including best German picture, best ensemble acting, best original film, best script, and best advanced film.
-
LS West: El Rey del Español – 1st place, best comedy. Kontrollverlust – 1st place, technical achievements. The Colors of Kindness – best super short, advanced level.
-
LSHS: Multiple second-place finishes in French and German categories.
Three schools. One film festival. Total domination. Lee’s Summit kids are doing big things!
⏪ The LS Loop
What happened while you were living your life last week.
Welcome to the Taylor Swift “New Era” of the Lee’s Summit City Council.
Mayor Beto Lopez officially kicked off his first meeting – he came in wearing a pink tie for the new chapter, alongside newly appointed Mayor Pro Tem Hillary Shields. The council powered through seven proclamations, and the undisputed MVPs of the night were the Water Utilities team, who showed up with so many people for the group photo that the photographer had to tell them to hold their breath just to fit in the frame.
On the business side: the city is aggressively attacking a $13 million budget deficit with an immediate hiring freeze – the goal is to shrink that gap to around $400,000. They also approved a preliminary plan for John Knox Village’s new 55+ “hybrid villas,” which comes with a genuinely funny detail: the redesigned par-3 golf course is specifically angled inward so seniors will stop launching errant golf balls into Pryor Road traffic. (Safety first, people.)
Public comments were, as always, the real entertainment. A resident demanded a forensic state audit and threatened to collect 5,000 signatures to force it. A man presented a handful of shredded metal utility flags he’d collected from the street as lawnmower shrapnel evidence. And just when you thought it couldn’t get weirder, a resident started reading a Ring doorbell transcript involving someone named “Dr. Bean,” a dog, and a driveway dispute – before the council cut her off citing pending litigation.
Forget Netflix. Local government is where the drama lives.
Council Member Prier closed the night with one final urgent demand for this new era: fixing the council’s camera angles.
No LSR-7 School Board meeting this week – their next regular session is May 21.
🎸 Live & Local
Where to find the best tunes this week.
So much music happening this week. Here’s your full lineup:
Tuesday, May 12
-
Karaoke: 8:00 PM | The Pink Elephant
Wednesday, May 13
-
Nick Schnebelen — The 1909 Club | 7–10pm | Blues/Rock
-
Karaoke : 8:00 PM | Brick’s Pub & Grub
Thursday, May 14
-
Thomas Pender — The Fillmore Café | 5–8pm | Jazz & Blues
-
Bluzboyz Thursday Night Jam — Jack Ray Post 5789, VFW | 7–10pm
-
Soul Fundamentals — The 1909 Club | 7–10pm | Funk, R&B & Soul
-
Mike Murphy — Iron Horse Bar & Grill | 7:30pm | Country, Pop, Rock
Friday, May 15
-
Paganova — The 1909 Club | 7–10pm | KC-based jazz quintet
-
Noah Austin — Konrad’s Kitchen and Tap House | 8–11pm
-
Butter and Honey KC — Llywelyn’s Pub LS | 8pm
-
Double Take Band — Jazzy B’s | 7–10pm | $10 wine special night
Saturday, May 16
-
Secondhand Smoke Band — The Goat Brewing Co | 7–10pm | Acoustic classic rock
-
Mike Bourne and KC Boogie — The 1909 Club | 7pm–10pm | Kansas City & Electric Chicago Blues
-
Double Take — Iron Horse Bar & Grill | 8pm | Blues, Funky Country, Rock ‘n Roll
-
The Vincents — Konrad’s Kitchen and Tap House | 8pm | 50s rockabilly to modern hits (“musical shenanigans”)
-
The Cowardly Lions — Llywelyn’s Pub LS | 8pm
-
KC Guitar Trio — The Canoe Club | 6:30–9:30pm
-
Grindstone — Captain’s Sports Lounge | 8–11pm | Rock on the pontoon 🎸
📝 The Weekly Lineup
Put these on your radar so you don’t miss out.
Monday, May 11
-
🎲 Crafter’s Bunco – LS Scrapbook Boutique | 6pm doors, 6:30pm game start | Light refreshments provided, feel free to bring a snack to share
Wednesday, May 13
-
📚 Silent Book Club at Green Street – Green St (on the “porch” of City Hall) | 6–8pm | No assigned reading, no pressure. Bring what you’re reading, find your people. Outdoors!
Thursday, May 14
-
🚚 Food Truck Thursday: Culinerdy –The Goat Brewing Co | 4–8pm | Smash burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, weekly specials. Grab food, grab a beer inside.
-
🏙️ CCC of KC: Gathering at Green Street – Downtown LS Farmers Market | 5–8pm | Panel discussion on the future of commercial real estate in Lee’s Summit – why developers keep choosing LS, what the next 10 years look like. For builders, investors, and anyone who wants to understand where this city is headed.
Friday, May 15
-
🍸 Adult Night Out: Prohibition Era History + Mocktail Mixology – Green Street | 7–9pm | FREE, ages 18+ | Learn the stories behind Prohibition while crafting mocktails with Libations & Company. This is a really fun one.
Saturday, May 16
-
🚴 Tour de Lakes 2026 — 25th Anniversary — Longview Community Center | Starts 7am | Choose from 10, 32, 56, or 64-mile routes around Longview Lake, Raintree, Lakewood, Blue Springs Lakes, and Lake Jacomo.
-
📖 Books & Brews Book Swap — The Goat Brewing Co, 817 NE Rice Rd | 12–2pm | FREE. Bring books, take books. Bring 3, take 3. Grab a beer. Honor system. No pressure. Pure joy.
🐾 One Last Thing
Today is Mother’s Day, and I’ve been thinking about all the moms in Lee’s Summit who do the invisible work – the permission slips, the 6am drop-offs, the cheering from the bleachers, the keeping-it-all-together even when it doesn’t feel like it.
This week’s newsletter is full of Lee’s Summit kids doing incredible things. State championships. Film festival wins. Making it to NASCAR Victory Lane. None of that happens without a lot of people showing up, including the moms.
Happy Mother’s Day, LS. You’re doing great.
Hit reply and tell me – what’s your favorite thing happening in Lee’s Summit this week?
Thanks for being part of the Lowdown crew!
– Jen
Editor, Lee’s Summit Lowdown
P.S. First the ticks, now the deer. I almost took out Bambi this week, which is not how I planned to “get closer to nature.” Watch your pets in the yard and watch your bumpers on the road – Lee’s Summit wildlife is officially feeling bold this May.
How did we do in this edition?
|
|
|
Was this email forwarded to you? We’re glad you’re here! If you want to get these local events delivered straight to your own inbox every week, you can click here to subscribe. |
