The flag of Kansas City, Missouri features a horizontally divided field: white on top, blue below, with a large red heart at the center containing the municipal seal. The heart symbolizes Kansas City's position as the "Heart of America."
This is THE Kansas City, the one with the jazz, the barbecue, the fountains. Kansas City is the city of fountains: more than 200 public fountains, more than Rome. The most famous, the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain, is a neoclassical masterpiece with bronze horses leaping from the water.
Kansas City jazz has a legendary history. In the 1920s and '30s, under the corrupt political machine of boss Tom Pendergast, Kansas City was wide open: liquor, gambling, jazz all night long. Charlie Parker was born here. Count Basie led his orchestra from Kansas City. Kansas City jazz, blues, swing, improvisation, influenced all of American jazz.
Burnt ends, ribs, thick sweet tomato sauce. Arthur Bryant's, Joe's Kansas City, Gates Bar-B-Q, the temples of barbecue. Anthony Bourdain called Arthur Bryant's "the single best restaurant in the world."
Kansas City is also a major transportation hub: railroads, highways, rivers (the Missouri and the Kansas meet here). Hallmark Cards is headquartered here.
The flag with its red heart captures Kansas City's identity: passionate, central, beating to the rhythm of jazz and barbecue.