Kansas City, KS….The Kansas City Kansas Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc (KCK CVB) celebrated another successful year at its annual Tourism Celebration on Wednesday, May 2, 2018. The luncheon was held at Memorial Hall, 600 North 7th Street, in Kansas City, KS. Approximately 175 people attended, including elected officials and tourism industry professionals. The program included an overview of the history of Memorial Hall, an awards presentation and ended with kicking off the Kansas City, KS Summer of Oz campaign. The four awards were presented to the following tourism advocates and organizations:

The Excellence in Hospitality Award was awarded to Selena Corpuz, Senior Manager, Sporting Club Events at Sporting KC. The award, chosen by the KCK CVB staff, recognizes Selena for her support and partnership with the CVB, as well as her professionalism, hospitality and exceptional customer service to all visitors. Corpuz has been with Sporting KC since May of 2016. She is a Kansas native, born in Wichita and a graduate of University of Kansas.

The Tourism Event of the Year Award was presented to the Midwest Sports Productions USSSA Elite Select World Fastpitch Championship that was held on July 10-16, 2017. Opening ceremonies are held at T-Bones Stadium. The championship series hosts 256 Premier 12U-18U Girls Fastpitch Teams from all over the country as well as Mexico. An estimated 7,000 total room nights were generated from the event. The award was accepted by Jeremy McDowell, owner of Midwest Sports Productions, and Executive Vice President of USSSA.

The Tourism Organization of the Year Award was presented to Slap’s BBQ. Slap’s BBQ is the evolution of Squeal like a Pig BBQ’s competition cooking team. Slap’s BBQ restaurant opened in June of 2014 by brothers Mike and Joe Pearce, and was built on their desire to create a product and customer experience with passion, perfection, and tradition. Slap’s BBQ is one of very few restaurants in the city that is actively competing on the KCBS circuit throughout the year. The award was accepted by Slap’s BBQ owners, Mike and Joe Pearce.

The Tourism Advocate of the Year Award was presented to Greg Jackson for his leadership and contributions to Kansas City, KS tourism. In January of 2013, while Jackson was the General Manager at Dave & Buster’s at Legends Outlets Kansas City, he joined the Kansas City Kansas Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors and recently served as board chair in 2016 and 2017. Jackson brought his skills as a general manager to help guide and develop the bureau in its mission as well as staff development.