Roanoke Park Conservancy

04/23/2026

KC Parks and Rec. supplied gloves, trash bags and litter grabbers for our cleanup Saturday. Thanks Kelly!

04/10/2026

Come to Roanoke Park’s Spring Cleanup 4/18, 9-Noon! We always have fun making the park look nicer!!
Meet at the community center then help with cleaning up native gardens/slopes, litter pickup, or cutting/treating bush honeysuckle.

Check the event page on Facebook for updates: tinyurl.com/rp-spring-clean-26
(Link in profile.)

Free coffee station outside the community center thanks to  and roasting !

We’ll direct you from the check-in table to 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. We will provide trash bags for litter.

The parks department would love it if you registered for the cleanup to get safety tips. (Click “register here” at kcparks.org/volunteering-with-kc-parks/ )

RSVP to us with “Going” here, or email [email protected]. THANKS! And return for the Volker-led cleanup in May.

     

02/27/2026

Roanoke Park Cave Bio-Inventory RESULTS, part 2 TEASER video. (Link to the full video in the comments.) Check it out!

02/21/2026

Roanoke Park Cave Bio-Inventory, part 1, TEASER video. (Link to the full video in the comments.) The results will be in a part 2 video, posted in one week, maybe sooner.

01/14/2026

Do something SUPER on SATURDAY, 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟭𝟳𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟭𝟬:𝟬𝟬 𝘁𝗼 ~𝗡𝗼𝗼𝗻 and help with the ReBuilding of Roanoke Park’s woods. Broadcast some native grass seed all along the Coleman Highlands slope! Meet at the Tree Sculpture by the Karnes playground. Dress for the conditions and bring your own water and gloves.

Almost all of the bush honeysuckle has been removed from the middle of this slope the past few years by our ReBuild KC funded contractors and neighborhood volunteers. Now you can see through them, up to the cliffs topped with historic stone walls! It’s again time to add some native grasses and wildflowers!

We’ll just be broadcasting seed evenly and skipping any use of rakes since we have lots of ground to cover. Native grass and wildflower seeds are blended and divided into labeled bags. Ready to go!

Plan to help? LET ME KNOW PLEASE. Only ~4 helpers needed.
Message this account, or RSVP on our Facebook event:
facebook.com/events/1713500383388630/

Thanks!

   

12/16/2025

Deserved recognition for Diane Euston, a great local historian we’ve been reading for years. But she turns your attention to the restoration fund for the Harris-Kearney House in Westport.

12/09/2025

Help in Valentine’s fight against advancing demolitions. Meeting today (Tuesday), in person or zoom.

10/23/2025

09/30/2025

A bat-friendly gate on the 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗸𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗖𝗮𝘃𝗲 is being constructed now!

It had been covered with stone for decades, and been an intriguing park element for even longer. After the wall was partially broken in early 2020, discussions began about the possibility of adding bat habitat and education. COVID intervened but now we’re back on track. With parks department approval, donated labor from Kissick Construction, and cost share from Missouri Department of Conservation, it’s finally happening!

A specially designed gate will be constructed within the mouth of the cave to allow visibility and bat access but still keep people out. The cave’s pool of water will be retained and for now directed to the existing drain, with the large limestone slabs re-placed as stepping stones over an outer pool. Future plans are being refined to direct the water under a new bridge and direct it overland to a new pollinator wetland planting surrounding the lower drain inlet.

An MDC bat ecologist reviewed our plans and commented, “I have a feeling with a bat friendly gate, it will bring the bats to it.” Hopefully a "build it and they will come" situation. Signage will be installed next year to educate the public on bat and fern habitat, ground water and Karst geology, and discourage careless rock climbing.

References to this cave and the spring water flowing from it have been found in Kansas City Star articles in 1941, 1913, and even a 1915 recollection that in about 𝟭𝟴𝟰𝟰, Westport vintner August Horning stored wine in the cave and made beer from the spring water. (We do NOT recommend that today. Given the likely cracks in sewer pipes nearby, the water should be considered non-potable.)

09/10/2025

THIS SAT.: Morning Volker-led Park Cleanup / Evening Symphony Concert! September 13th.

Join Volker Neighborhood Association’s 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗽 @ 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗸𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸. Meet at the Westport-Roanoke Community Center at 9:00 am for water, coffee, pastries and cleanup supplies. Look out trash! We’re coming for you!

Return at 6 pm to enjoy a FREE 𝗠𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗕𝗼𝘅 concert, again in Roanoke Park! 🎻

Bring a chair or blanket, a picnic and some friends to enjoy live music on a beautiful evening! 🎶

Concert north of the community center, 3601 Roanoke Rd, Kansas City, MO 64111.
Sponsored by Kissick Construction.