ARD SU / NEXTGENRADIO
What is the meaning of
home?
Xiao daCunha speaks with Monarch Room owner Megan Hedden about how the Kansas City Royals’ proposed baseball stadium could cause her event venue to lose the community it has called home. The Monarch Room has become irreplaceable for Hedden and her family. Now, they wonder what the future holds for their livelihood and their neighborhood.
A local business owner created a ‘home’ in the Crossroads. What does her future look like?
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Megan Hedden:
When they first started looking at this location, which I’ve heard that they were looking at two years ago, we should have known, we should have been told, that way we could have had time to actually wrap our minds around.
We’re gonna have to completely change our way of business.
I am Megan Hedden. I am the owner and operator of The Monarch Room.
We got into the wedding industry about 10 years ago. And so because we had been in the wedding industry for so long, we always were like, I want this for my own.
So we purchased the venue in October of 2021. This year we’re actually set to have 75 events.
Since the announcement, I have only booked two this month, and none of them are in 2025.
People are rightfully so concerned about the traffic, and the influx of people, and what’s the construction gonna look like, and answers that I honestly don’t have.
I would describe the Crossroads as a community full of art, music, friendly vibes and great restaurants and bars.
Everyone that comes to this location comes to it because of who we are, because they love the Crossroads.
You go outside, you see the view of the city.
The neighborhood is full of historical industrial buildings and just so much character is still in the area.
And I don’t want that to go away. And I don’t want the Crossroads atmosphere to go away.
This has been such a contentious thing for us because we were not made aware of it before they announced.
If you look at it on our side, you look at a business owner, you look at people that live here that they’re gonna have to be displaced from their businesses and their homes, and no one told them until they told everyone else.
So the protests to me have looked generally pretty respectful. People are trying to get their voice out there.
(sound of the Davis Park protest)
There is Rural Grit, which happens on a couple days a week. It’s the open mic for whoever wants to sing and perform.
They have had big turnouts lately because of this: because obviously you’re gonna take away their home where they’ve been going for 20 years, because there’s no way that they can continue that on.
And there’s just so many questions that are just, they rushed it too much.
They need to have clear cut answers on what they’re doing. Not just for the business owners, but for the Crossroads community, for everyone that goes to the games, they wanna know what it’s gonna look like.
Sending them back to giving us better answers and giving Kansas City better answers. That’s really what we need.
To be able to have a home for your own business, it takes a lot of sacrifice.
You lose sleep, you lose money at first, you lose family time because we also do this as a family. So even my 10-year-old and my 13-year-old are nervous about this.
Some people say, oh, you can just open up somewhere else. That’s not necessarily the case.
I had a person come to me that their husband had passed away. They had been sick for a long time and she came and wanted to have a celebration of life in the space.
They were so appreciative and that family brings me a little to, to tears a little bit, because they were so thankful and I’m still friends with them today. She still emails me.
But she said this was one of the happiest times in such a dark time.
This place provided happiness for friends to get together, to share memories of her husband when everything else was so dark.
And especially weddings. They will always say, oh, I got married at the Monarch Room and that will be forever their place.
I have had many couples that have been previous couples text me and call me in support of us because they’re worried of what, what’s gonna happen.
And they tell me I love the Monarch Room. I don’t want anything to ever happen to it, it’s such a special place for me.
So that is one thing that — it kind of brings a tear to your eye when people give you that feedback that you did have that part of their life. That’s something special.
One of Megan Hedden’s most unforgettable memories as the owner of the Monarch Room KC, an event venue in a hundred-year-old historic building in the Crossroads, is a celebration of life.
A previous client asked to hold a celebration of life for her husband when he passed away after a long illness. “That family brings me to tears a little bit because they were so thankful, and I’m still friends with them today,” Hedden said. “She still emails me. She said this was one of the happiest times in such a dark time.”
Hedden and her husband entered the wedding and events industry when they started a venue-cleaning business 10 years ago. They had dreamed of their own event space since.
Megan Hedden owns the Monarch Room, a wedding venue in the Crossroads neighborhood of Kansas City. Hedden is in the bridal suite where the bride and bridesmaids get ready on Monday, April 1, 2024.
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Opportunity knocked on their door in 2021 when the space inside a building off 17th and McGee Street became available. Today, the Monarch Room is home to many precious moments for hundreds of people.
“Those people got married here, or had their birthday party here, or whatever the case may be, you were a part of their life at that time,” Hedden said. “And especially weddings — they will always say, ‘Oh, I got married at the Monarch Room,’ and that will be forever their place.”
However, the proposed new baseball stadium for the Kansas City Royals has cast a shadow over the Monarch Room’s future.
Announced in mid-February, the project could close down major streets in the Crossroads and demolish a handful of small businesses and residential buildings — including the lots right across the street from the Monarch Room. Hedden said it’s already affecting business, with clients reluctant to book events with a construction zone as a backdrop for their memories.
“[My past clients] tell me: ‘I love the Monarch Room. I don’t want anything to ever happen to it. It’s such a special place for me,’” said Hedden.
Those people got married here, or had their birthday party here, or whatever the case may be, you were a part of their life at that time.
The event hall of The Monarch Room is set up for an upcoming wedding. Because it’s a family business, Hedden’s children sometimes help arrange tables and chairs.
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The Monarch Room has become irreplaceable for Hedden and her family. Not only did Hedden self-fund the business, but she and her family also physically shaped the space into the venue it is today: preserved historic floors, a large banquet hall with glass windows facing the city’s skyline, large stringed lights dangling off the exposed ceiling, and a cozy bridal suite in the back. Her two children often help set up tables and chairs, giving the Monarch Room much care and adoration.
“Even my 10-year-old and 13-year-old are nervous about this. They see what’s gonna happen to their family, to what they enjoy. They love to come in here. This is part of their life,” Hedden said.
For Hedden, the Crossroads is the vibrant home for her wedding venue, and the memorable neighborhood where she has helped many happy couples take a monumental step toward building their new lives. She’s grown fond of her business, her customers, the community and her neighbors.
Even my 10-year-old and 13-year-old are nervous about this. They see what’s gonna happen to their family, to what they enjoy. They love to come in here. This is part of their life.
The historic building at 17th and McGee is where The Monarch Room and a few other businesses call home. Hedden and her husband self-funded their space in 2021.
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The plans for the stadium caught the community off guard at first, and their feelings of surprise soon turned into disapproval. Many business owners felt that the Royals did not communicate and were not transparent throughout the process.
“We were not made aware of it before they announced.” Hedden said. “If you would have approached us earlier, two years ago, or even a year ago, when you knew ‘Okay, this is a possible site,’ that would have been so much better.”
While the Royals have claimed the development would benefit the local economy, Hedden’s phone has gone near-silent since the announcement.
Many couples getting married at The Monarch Room have pictures taken as they walk down McGee Street after the wedding. Hedden’s business is directly across the street from the proposed construction zone.
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Local business owners and community groups have also questioned the Royals’ claim that the ballpark would benefit the neighborhood. Groups like the Crossroads Community Association (CCA) and Rural Grit have also protested the stadium, concerned about devastating impacts on one of the city’s most vibrant and diverse arts districts, insufficient compensation to the people and businesses impacted, and lack of clarity and transparency in the process.
On April 2, Jackson County voters rejected the extension of a sales tax that would have raised approximately $1.7 billion over 40 years to fund the proposed Crossroads ballpark. As a result, the plans for a potential stadium are even less clear. The next morning, Hedden said she started receiving emails inquiring about booking for 2025. Up until that point, she’d had zero. She typically has 10 to 12 events for the following year booked by March.
“To be able to have a home for your own business, it takes a lot of sacrifice. You lose sleep. You lose money at first … you lose family time,” Hedden said. “Some people say, ‘Oh, you can just open up somewhere else.’ That’s not necessarily the case.”
The Monarch Room is irreplaceable. “Everyone comes to this location because of who we are,” Hedden said, “because they love the Crossroads.”
Protestors gather at Davis Park to rally for a NO vote on the Stadium Tax on Monday, April 1, 2024. Richard Eiker (left), a Crossroads community member, marches with his sign citing the local poverty rate. Bill Drummond (right) of Billionaire Ballpark, a street theater project, walks in an inflatable stadium.
XIAO FARIA DACUNHANEXTGENRADIO
Some people say, ‘Oh, you can just open up somewhere else.’ That’s not necessarily the case. Everyone comes to this location because of who we are…because they love the Crossroads.