Kansas City Brought the World to Our Doorstep
The booth is packed up. The Grand Exhibition Hall is quiet again. And we are still a little overwhelmed by everything that happened.
For several unforgettable weeks, The Happiness of Art™ was part of the City of Entrepreneurs marketplace at Union Station, surrounded by soccer fans, local businesses, families, travelers, flags, jerseys and an energy unlike anything Kansas City had felt before.
People came from across town, across the country and across the world. Some arrived looking specifically for our booth. Others found us while wandering through Union Station. They bought artwork, they shared stories, and many simply stopped to say hello.
We noticed every single one of them.
A Summer of Soccer, Art and Kansas City
We created a special collection of artwork to commemorate Kansas City's remarkable summer of international soccer.
Our booth featured Kansas City prints, greeting cards, stickers and collectible match postcards, all with original, full-color illustrations celebrating every match played in Kansas City. There were hand-drawn flags, stadium illustrations, match dates, scores and artwork inspired by some of the tournament's most memorable moments.
One of our most popular pieces came together immediately after Lionel Messi's unforgettable hat trick against Algeria. The design featured three suns shining over Kansas City, a simple tribute to an extraordinary performance, and it quickly became one of our best-selling prints.
The match postcards became meaningful keepsakes for fans who wanted to take home a small piece of their experience. Some had traveled thousands of miles to support their country. Others came to a match with a child, a spouse or a lifelong friend. Many Kansas Citians simply wanted to remember the summer their hometown welcomed the world.
The artwork was small. The memories attached to it were enormous.
The People Behind the Flags
The best part of the whole experience was watching people recognize themselves in the artwork.
Visitors would spot the flag of their home country and immediately wave over a friend or a family member. Travelers told us about the matches they had been to. Fans compared predictions, celebrated victories and commiserated over losses.
They came wearing the colors of Argentina, Switzerland, Algeria, Ghana, Colombia, the Netherlands, Tunisia and many other nations. For a few remarkable weeks, the hall felt like a gathering place for the entire world.
Soccer brought everyone together, but the experience became about far more than soccer. It was about pride, memory, family and the simple joy of connecting with someone from another place.
A Family Experience
The booth was very much a family undertaking, and my daughter was the heart of it.
She ran the booth day after day, greeting customers, organizing the artwork and handling the constant flow of visitors. I was there some of the time, but she did most of the work out front. As she put it, our division of labor was simple: I made the prints, and she sold them.
Watching her connect with people from around the world became one of the most meaningful parts of the entire experience.
Then an Argentine television crew arrived.
C5N stopped at our booth, looked through the artwork and interviewed my daughter for its YouTube channel, which has more than three million subscribers. She was poised, funny and completely at ease.
Suddenly, The Happiness of Art™ had made the news in Argentina.
Seeing our little Kansas City art booth reach an audience thousands of miles away was surreal. We had created the work to welcome international visitors to our city, and now that work was traveling back around the world with them.
As we joked afterward:
¡La Felicidad del Arte es un fenómeno mundial!
The Final Days
The last weekend at Union Station was bittersweet.
Argentina was preparing to play Switzerland in a major match at Kansas City Stadium, fans were filling the city one more time, and we knew our remarkable run was nearly over.
We invited people to visit for one last look at the match postcards, Kansas City artwork, greeting cards and stickers. When we packed everything away that Sunday evening, the booth closed for good.
There was pride in what we had accomplished, and a little sadness in seeing it end.
For weeks, we had watched the hall come alive each morning. We met people from every corner of the world, worked side by side as a family, and saw our artwork become part of other people's memories.
I would not trade a minute of it.
Thank You, Kansas City
To our friends, our family, everyone who reads The Happiness of Art™ newsletter, and all the soccer fans who traveled here: thank you.
You took time out of your busy schedules to come find us. You did not have to do that. You did it anyway.
Some of you drove across town. Some flew across an ocean. Some took home several pieces of artwork, and some stopped just to talk. Every visit mattered, and your support meant the world to us.
Kansas City brought the world to our doorstep, and the world was extraordinarily kind to us.
The booth may be gone, but this is not the end of the story. Some of our best-selling prints, postcards and stickers are now making their way online, where the artwork, and the memories behind it, can keep traveling far beyond Union Station.
What a summer, Kansas City.
We are just getting started.
Explore the collection and take home a piece of the summer at The Happiness of Art™.
Christmas is coming!
I've been busy creating products for an actual brick and mortar store! Check back soon for details!
Valentine's Day is right around the corner, but you've still got a few days to come up with a card and/or gift for that special someone in your life.
