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.