Plaza Acknowledges 816 Day’s Roots After Community Pushback

It took nearly a decade for Kansas City’s 816 Day celebration to become one of the city’s signature annual events. It took only a few hours for social media to remind everyone who started it.

When Country Club Plaza announced its own inaugural “816 Day” celebration last week, many Kansas Citians weren’t upset that another organization wanted to celebrate the city. They were upset because the announcement failed to acknowledge Brian “Bizzy” Benton, the party promoter who transformed an idea spawned from Hip Hop, into a citywide tradition.

The backlash wasn’t really about a festival. It was about recognition, cultural ownership and remembering where ideas begin.

More Than Just Three Numbers
Long before cities began turning telephone area codes into annual celebrations, those three digits had become symbols of hometown pride in hip-hop culture.

Artists regularly referenced their area codes as shorthand for where they came from and who they represented. Ludacris’ 2001 hit Area Codes helped push that idea into mainstream America, turning a telephone routing number into a badge of identity.

Eventually communities began matching their area codes with dates on the calendar.

St. Louis celebrates 314 Day on March 14. Atlanta has 404 Day. Detroit celebrates 313 Day. Chicago embraces 312 Day. Miami has 305 Day, and Kansas City, Kansas, now celebrates 913 Day.

Kansas City, Missouri’s 816 Day joined that growing tradition in 2017 and has since become one of the country’s largest area code celebrations.

An Idea Born on Facebook
The idea to create an area code event for Kansas City began in 2015 explains Benton.

“It was an idea born from a social media post,” he says. “I saw people on Facebook talking about 816 Day. I knew I wanted to do something. I just wasn’t sure what or how I was going to do it. So it took a couple of years of planning.”

The first event started small and at the Juke House, a popular bar in the 18th and Vine Historic Jazz District. It was basically a two-stepping event, “Two Step Wednesday,” that Benton piggybacked on and helped attract a couple of hundred people.

The next year Benton moved his idea downtown, utilizing a six story event center as 816 Day’s home.

The event that people know today began to take shape in 2019. For the first time Benton maximized an entire neighbor by going back to the 18th and Vine District and utilizing multiple locations.

Not even Covid in 2020 and 2021 could stop the growth of the event. Each year, the crowds grew.  

Growing Beyond One Neighborhood 
In 2024 Benton struck a deal with the Power and Light Entertainment District to relocate the event downtown. A minor controversy erupted as his loyal following cried foul about taking the event out of a perceived Black neighborhood to a White establishment.

Benton said the decision was practical, not cultural. 

“Relocating to the Power and Light District made it easier to produce the event,” explains Benton.

Power & Light already had stages, lighting, security, parking and other infrastructure in place, dramatically reducing production costs while making it easier to attract corporate sponsors and accommodate larger crowds.

Plus, he has repeatedly emphasized,  816 Day was never intended to be exclusively a Black event.

While not positioned as a Black event it has skewed mostly in that direction. However, like many things created under the umbrella of Black culture, it eventually becomes embraced and often copied by the mainstream. 

A Question of Credit  
The recent controversy began on July 31 when the Country Club Plaza announced what it described as its inaugural 816 Day event.

The shopping district’s announcement wasn’t met with resistance due to race, although the area’s past includes a long era of racism and segregation. Instead, the community was vocal about the lack of acknowledgement of Benton as the creator and curator of “816 Day.”

Many commenters on social media described the move as cultural appropriation.    

Benton responded with only a mild amount of frustration stating that he had trademarked the name 816 Day earlier this year.  That trademark covers entertainment and celebration services associated with the event and protects the event’s branding.

So another organization could hold an 816 Festival or Celebrate the 816″

“816 Festival but not an *816 Day entertainment and celebration type event.  
For Benton,with trademark in hand, his concern centered on the word “inaugural,” which suggested the Plaza was creating something new rather than joining an existing tradition.

With help from former Kansas City Mayor Sly James, Benton met with Plaza officials.

“The general manager and operations manager aren’t from Kansas City,” Benton said. “Once the history of the event was explained, they were excited about teaming up with me.”

The planned 816 activities on The Plaza, which will primarily feature music and art, will now be marketed as an official part of Benton’s overall 816 Day experience. The Plaza also agreed to sponsor and cross promote Benton’s event.

Building Something Without Major Sponsors
For years he has produced the celebration without the level of corporate backing many festivals enjoy, relying instead on partnerships and community support to continue expanding.  Benton says bringing in partners from other parts of the city, like the Plaza,  was always his plan.

This year’s event was already expanded. It’s bigger than it’s ever been. It’s now a four day event running Thursday, August 13 through Sunday, August 16 at multiple locations including In Good Company, Rock Island Bridge, The Distrkct, Vine Street Brewery and Power and Light District.

He’s most proud of the educational component of the event and donating money to the Kansas City Public Schools Foundation through the event’s Generation 816 youth program which provides scholarships to students with help of the Kauffman Foundation. 

The future is to turn 816 Day into a full fledged non-profit serving the community year-round.  

A Kansas City Tradition
What began as a dance night inside one bar has become a citywide celebration embraced by businesses, artists, neighborhoods and civic leaders.

Perhaps, the recent controversy may have become the clearest measure of the event’s success. Nearly a decade after Benton first imagined bringing people together under Kansas City’s area code, organizations across the city now want to be part of 816 Day.