Liberty Chamber of Commerce, Community, and Business Information

Community Profile

On behalf of our members and board of directors, Welcome to Liberty! Liberty is a warm and Gayle Potter charming town serving a community of more than 29,000. We are a town rich in history, filled with civic pride and community spirit. We have a thriving business community, an excellent quality of life with many opportunities for recreation, and friendly, welcoming neighbors.

For more information about Liberty or the surrounding area, feel free to drop by the Liberty Area Chamber of Commerce office at 9 South Leonard. We are located two blocks east of the historic downtown square. Or you can call us at (816) 781-5200. If you would like access to us from your home, contact us at info@libertychamber.com or visit www.libertychamber.com

We are here to serve community citizens like you. Thank you for choosing the Liberty area as your home.

Sincerely,
Gayle Potter
President, Liberty Area Chamber of Commerce

Liberty Has It All!

Liberty is alive with the sound of the future under construction. What began as a frontier trading post on the Missouri River in 1822 has blossomed into a thriving center of commerce and cultural activity. Take a drive along Liberty’s major thoroughfares and you’ll see progress – new businesses and houses at every turn. The city is equally proud of its rich heritage, which dates back to the legendary Jesse James Gang riding through the historic downtown square. This unique combination of a burgeoning business community with quiet neighborhoods makes Liberty an excellent place to raise a family and locate a business.

Major interstates, both north to south and east to west, connect Liberty to the state as well as the rest of the country. Nearby Kansas City International Airport offers transport to major national cities. Liberty’s easy access places the entire nation within easy reach.

Within its borders, Liberty attracts residents of all ages. Liberty’s highly recognized school district contains nine elementary schools, five secondary schools, and a pre-school.

As for cultural life, Liberty has it all. Residents enjoy many attractions – a symphony orchestra; civic theater; annual spring and fall festivals; three historical museums; the Clay County Archives; William Jewell College’s Fine Arts Program; an extensive public library; 100 civic, fraternal, social, professional, veterans and youth organizations; and a 50,000-square-foot multi-purpose community center offering year-round swimming, physical activity areas, community meeting rooms, and a performing arts theater.

Four distinct seasons, although none too severe, refresh the community. The warmest month is July with an average temperature of 80 degrees. January records the coldest temperatures with an average of 28 degrees. Liberty averages 36 inches of rain annually.

Religious life in Liberty reflects the diverse population. More than 30 different congregations representing numerous religious denominations offer services and activities for children, adults and seniors. For a complete listing of Liberty area churches, contact the Liberty Area Chamber at (816) 781-5200.

The historic Liberty square serves as the heart of the city. A major renovation effort has preserved this active center of shops, restaurants and businesses. Five local historic districts surround the square, as do many buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Liberty’s close proximity to Kansas City offers residents quick access to such diverse attractions as The Country Club Plaza shopping district; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun theme parks; Science City and Union Station; Kansas City Zoo; Kansas City sports teams – Chiefs, Royals, Outlaws, Wizards, T-Bones, Comets, and our new arena league football team, The Brigade; and the Kansas Speedway.

As you see, Liberty provides small-town charm with quick access to big-city events. As the county seat for Clay County, Liberty keeps a pulse on county and state government. Liberty continues to celebrate its past while looking eagerly toward the future.

Annual Community Events

Liberty Heritage Festival

Each May, thousands of tourists flock to Liberty for the Liberty Heritage Festival. Presenting old-fashioned sights and sounds, the festival includes a farmers’ market, a reenactment of America’s first daylight bank robbery, crafts, art and antique booths and exhibits, entertainment, food and children’s activities.

Golf Tournament

Also in May, the Liberty Area Chamber of Commerce hosts its annual golf tournament. This fundraiser is a four-person scramble played at a local
course. More than 140 golfers turn out for the tournament, which offers a variety of on-course games including several hole-in-one opportunities and a putting contest.

Not only does the tournament offer a day of enjoyable golf, it also offers on-course prizes, cash awards in three flights, lunch, a gift item, and a goody bag.

The golf tournament is the second-largest fundraiser for the Chamber and provides several opportunities for members to participate by playing, volunteering or by offering a financial/promotional contribution.

Liberty Fall Festival

Every year on the fourth full weekend in September, Liberty comes alive with the sights and sounds of the area’s largest Fall Festival. Entertainment, a parade, carnival, music, car show, barbecue and beer garden, dancing and boundless fun – all this and more make up the annual Liberty Fall Festival.
Hosted mainly on the Liberty Square amid historical buildings dating to the 1800s, the Fall Festival is unique in all of the Kansas City area. Nowhere else can you step back in time to a family-oriented, small town celebration of fall.

There is so much entertainment you’ll be hard-pressed to catch it all. The Living History Street transports you to the early 1900s where you can find a cider press, dueling guns, and a traveling period store. The carnival is an annual favorite for the whole family. As the kids whirl about on the rides to flashing lights and lively music, the parents can sample light-as-air cotton candy or cooling snow cones.

The festival is a shopper’s delight with everything from handmade crafts to homegrown fruits and vegetables.

The event can be traced back to 1934 and has been set up in area shopping centers. It has ties to the Clay County 4-H and William Jewell Colleges’ Homecoming. Many class reunions and get-togethers are centered around the festival.

Smokin’ Chambers Barbecue

This annual event is held in conjunction with the Liberty Fall Festival. The KCBS-sanctioned Smokin’ Chambers Barbecue Contest is hosted by the Chamber. Barbecue teams and their families from both sides of the state line converge on Liberty with their smokers, each hoping to win the title of Grand Champion.

No barbecue contest is complete without a big party. Live entertainment and a beer garden bring the community out to share in the excitement. Teams spend hours perfecting their specialties and by morning the competition is in full swing.

The Smokin’ Chambers Barbecue Contest is an event looked forward to by dozens of barbecue teams and thousands of people who simply love the wonderful tastes, smells and sounds of a barbecue.

.....Back