We have a winner in our poll to name the KCI Airport terminal. And, well, it’s weird | Opinion
We asked the public how to name Kansas City’s fabulous new airport terminal, and the public has spoken: Soon, travelers will be flying in and out of Pork Butt International.
OK, maybe not, but “Kansas City barbecue” was the runaway winner of our highly unscientific poll asking readers who or what deserves the honor. Smoked meat got 31% of the vote, with Negro Leagues great Buck O’Neil and “The City of Fountains” trailing behind more than 10 percentage points apiece.
Other contenders — Charlie “Bird” Parker, Walt Disney, former Mayor Sly James — all came in with totals in the single digits. We won’t name the local celeb who garnered only seven votes, a statistical goose egg.
The whole thing was in good fun, and we can’t help but crack a smile that the winner echoed a recent Star guest commentary by local blogger Devan Dignan, who suggested giving the nod to Kansas City “Barbecue King” Henry Perry, the Black pitmaster entrepreneur whose pushcart paved the way for the institutions of Arthur Bryant’s and Gates Bar-B-Q.
Whatever name eventually graces the new KCI, it won’t likely be meaty. But we hope the powers that be conduct their own much more comprehensive study of what Kansas Citians want, and choose a moniker befitting the airport it graces.
