More than 100 food vendors are setting up shop at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas, this weekend as Panda Fest makes its first stop in the metro area, bringing international street food, cultural performances and a giant inflatable panda to Village West. The touring festival runs Friday through Sunday, with organizers billing it as the region's largest Asian food and cultural festival to date.
Panda Fest Kansas City is scheduled to run from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at Legends Field, according to Visit Kansas City KS. Every ticket comes with a free Kansas City panda enamel pin and panda headband, and general admission is $14, while VIP passes cost $35. Outside food and drink are prohibited except for infant formula and one factory-sealed water bottle per guest, and tickets are non-refundable.
The event marks Panda Fest's debut in the Kansas City area as part of a rapid national expansion. Launched in 2023, the touring festival drew over 500,000 attendees across 11 U.S. cities in its first full year, and organizers planned to expand to 25 cities in 2026, with Chicago, Boston and Dallas among the listed tour cities, per the same Hoodline report on the tour's Salt Lake City stop.
A Local Hibachi Vendor Gets Its Shot
Among the vendors is My Hibachi Hut, an Overland Park-based business co-owned by Taylen Kemp, who works in law enforcement, and his wife, who works in the medical field and has Vietnamese heritage. My Hibachi Hut began participating in festivals in 2025 before expanding into private hibachi experiences that bring chefs, cooking equipment and full dining setups directly to customers' homes, according to The Kansas City Star.
The business incorporates Vietnamese influences into its hibachi-style cooking, and it connected with Panda Fest organizers through previous festival relationships after the organizers said they wanted a local hibachi vendor in the Kansas City lineup, the Star reports. At Panda Fest, My Hibachi Hut will serve chicken teriyaki, fried rice, egg rolls and Vietnamese-fusion loaded fries, along with a panda-themed churro and a dessert resembling bamboo stalks made of ice cream.
Kemp told the Star the festival is a major opportunity for his family and small business. He and his wife prepare meals in a 10-by-10-foot space and generally handle operations themselves to keep staffing costs down, but they still face licensing requirements and unpredictable sales as they scale up for a national touring event. Kemp said he hopes Kansas City will create more opportunities for emerging food entrepreneurs, and he sees Panda Fest as complementary to the region's established culinary calendar, noting the city can offer barbecue one weekend, courtesy of the American Royal World Series of Barbecue, and Asian food the next. Kemp described the festival's appeal as “Bringing all these cultures together is going to be like fireworks and such a great time,” per the Star.
A Food Reviewer's Take, and the City's Existing Asian Food Scene
Glenn Robinson, known online as Hood Dude Food Reviews, discovered Panda Fest through Instagram and told the Star that a squid-on-a-stick dish caught his attention among the festival's offerings. Robinson, who started his food-review work in 2023 and has spent three years exploring Kansas City restaurants, festivals and culinary experiences, plans to sample at least 10 dishes at the festival and publish reviews before it concludes Sunday. He said he hopes his coverage will encourage followers to explore Kansas City's increasingly diverse restaurant scene.
Panda Fest arrives in a metro area where Asian food culture has deep, if lower-profile, local roots. Kansas City already hosts the annual Taste of AAPI Food & Cultural Festival in the West Bottoms, which celebrated its fifth annual event in May 2026. The city has also hosted Lunar New Year festivities, and Cafe Cà Phê, the city's first Vietnamese coffee shop, has helped organize cultural celebrations and increased awareness of Asian communities in the area.
Jackie Nguyen is associated with Cafe Cà Phê, the city's first Vietnamese coffee shop. That local groundwork has coincided with broader demographic shifts across the region: residents of color accounted for 92% of overall population growth across the nine-county Kansas City metro between 2010 and 2020, per Mid-America Regional Council data drawn from the 2020 U.S. Census.
My Hibachi Hut's Overland Park Base
My Hibachi Hut is based in Overland Park, a Johnson County suburb.
The festival will feature food vendors and a range of dishes. Beyond food, the festival includes more than 40 merchandise vendors, Asian cultural performances and family-friendly interactive attractions alongside its signature giant inflatable panda, the Star reports.
