Roanoke Park Spring Cleanup!
Saturday April 18, 9:00 – Noon

Come to Roanoke Park’s Spring Cleanup! We always have fun making the park look nicer!!

Meet at the community center then go on litter patrol or help cleanup native gardens / slopes.

Chris D. will lead the garden cleanups, swinging by Karen and Jaminda's Prairie Pod south of Karnes before heading north to trim back Coleman Highlands Spring. Rachel will be cleaning up around the big Karnes playground. Kelly will lead litter patrol. Adam will be cutting/treatind honeysuckle - location TBD.

Enjoy free coffee outside the community center thanks to Broadway Cafe and Roasting! (We'll decide hot or iced based on the weather.)

We'll direct you from the check-in table to the particular areas people are focusing on. It’s a great way to celebrate Earth Day (week) and show your love to the park!

Bring gloves and a water bottle.

• Register for the cleanup event with KCMO Parks to be official and get safety tips. They love that!
• Enjoy some coffee at the Westport Roanoke Community Center and check in before choosing a work destination.
• RSVP to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
• Or RSVP by clicking "Going" on the Facebook Event. Invite your friends so we can generate interest online: facebook.com/events/948967154395377

Hope to see you there!

Beginning Soon: Water Play, Hill Slide, New Paths and Erosion Repair. EXCITING!

Projects we’ve requested in past PIAC submissions are reaching the construction phase! Please be careful and patient around “South Meadow” construction this spring and summer. It’ll be worth it. Coming soon:

South Meadow 2026 improvements. Click for a zoomed in gallery.

The contract was awarded to the team of landscape design firm Vireo and construction firm MegaKC, who consulted with the Conservancy and the parks department as plans were developed over the past year. The PIAC-funded project will include:

1: Fixing erosion issues will be a new path made of buff colored concrete. The new direct path and steps will connect the lobes of the existing very long and winding ADA sidewalk and will replace the social path / erosion gully that has developed there. The existing ADA sidewalk will remain, and remain popular with slower walkers, small bikers, and strollers. (And skate boarders, who call it "The Snake.") Above the new path will be an apron of small rubble to prevent future erosion from extreme rain stormwater coming off of Valentine Road. 

2: A Big Hill Slide will come down from the stairs north of the tennis court. This will be a metal tube slide made by the same manufacturer as the very popular slide at the Karnes playground. Whee! The playscape designers promise “thilling but safe.”

3: A hand-pump Goric ‘Meander’ water play feature will be installed on the north corner of the tennis courts, over a colored concrete waterplay deck. This returns a water play element to the park for the first time in decades, an identified desire in the 2011 Master Plan. From the 1920’s thru the 1950’s a wading pool existed just southwest of the cave entrance, within view of where this will be installed. That pool was filled and drained on a daily basis while this one will use much less water just to play with, on a hand-pump basis.

4: The water play feature will be accessible from the east and north via a new path between the low bluff rocks and the existing playground, connecting the water play and hill slide features. Providing access from the south will be a new path around the tennis courts. This path will go between the tennis courts and the cliffs, then curve around to meet the winding ADA sidewalk. This new sidewalk will have a new park bench placed mid way, slightly overlooking the courts.

5: A new bridge will go over the spring water draining from the cave, fixing the torn up asphalt and water-soaked ground at this location. 

Pending final budgetary issues new path lighting (or electrical conduit at least) should be installed along the ADA sidewalk. This is “finishing the job” in the style of lights installed between the tennis courts and the community center, and on the south side of Karnes and has been an ask since 2019.

These major play and functional improvements will maximize enjoyment of this part of the park.

Because of the unique natural setting (bluffs, cave, and spring) these improvements will provide a unique and inclusive play opportunity for all ages and abilities, especially younger children in Kansas City’s urban core. More fun, and more ways to enjoy Roanoke Park!

See our 2022 PIAC Request article for another summary of most of these items. The 2021 video presentation at the top of that page includes explanation of the South Meadow elements. The Roanoke Park Conservancy's 2020 PIAC request also included them but was only partially funded. Our 2021 request repeated and refined some elements, and added exciting new components. 2022 and 2023 repeated requests until full funding was achieved.

The Conservancy works toward the Master Plan with PIAC Funding.

Since it was founded the Roanoke Park Conservancy has worked with the parks department to seek PIAC funding for improvements throughout the park with great success. These requests have aligned with the 2011 Master Plan, and benefited from the strong support of nearby neighborhoods. The focus of the past few years has been improving the "south meadow," the lobe of the park southwest of the community center. These improvements have included: resurfacing the tennis courts, new sidewalks, additional lighting, and entry pillars and signage. The tennis courts were resurfaced a few years ago but are needing it again. Parks staff advises in 2026 that it is time for a complete rebuilding of the tennis courts so we will request future PIAC funding for that. Amazingly, those courts seem to date to 1908. A 1909 newspaper article said a women’s Missouri Valley tennis championship was held on them. 

Click for the Roanoke Park Trees and Trails Google MapExplore Roanoke Park’s trails and help find the biggest trees in the park!

Roanoke Park's volunteer naturalist Chris DeLong has combined data from the 2012 tree inventory with lots of on-the-ground scouting to produce a custom Google Map you can use to explore the park. The trail paths on this map are more accurate and complete than can be found anywhere else. Markers for the park’s largest trees and others have been added to the map with each containing ID and info in a popup. Links to Missouri Botanical Garden pages are included (but are only clickable on desktop browsers).

Enjoy the trails and go find those trees!
Roanoke Park Trees and Trails
https://maps.app.goo.gl/h3p9QqMunanr4CVq5?g_st=ic

You can help improve this map by finding the trees and emailing Chris at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with discrepancies. Some of the 2012 champions may have fallen down, or were misidentified initially. While the 2012 Tree Inventory was a snapshot in time, we’ll try to continually update this map with your help.

Click for a video explaining Roanoke Park Trees and TrailsEven in just the process of rolling out this map several corrections and discoveries have been made. The 2012 second place chinkapin oak is now the park champion, after the former champ apparently got hit by lightning. Yikes! (It looks like it is trying to survive, despite dead stripes down two sides.) The old champ is west of Karnes, and the new champ is by the paw paw patch above the brick road, right above the lower trail. Also it looks like we have a kind of Hickory tree we didn't know about. The champion "hickory" in 2012 appears to be a Shellbark Hickory, Carya laciniosa. That species is also called Kingnut, for having the largest of all hickory nuts. We'll try to beat the critters to some to help confirm the identification.

You could also add tree observations to iNaturalist if good ID pictures can be taken, adding to our Roanoke Park Biodiversity Project: inaturalist.org/projects/roanoke-park-biodiversity What are good ID pictures? More than one, clear and hopefully focussing on distinguising characteristics: the "key things" that separate a tree species from close relatives. If you don't know and are learning, take a variety! iNaturalist lets you upload four photos initially, but then you can keep hitting the + icon and adding more. Bark, leaves, flowers, fruit or seeds, twigs, winter buds - all can show useful ID characters.