Kansas
Browne's Irish Marketplace to celebrate 138th St. Patrick's Day in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Browne’s Irish Marketplace in Kansas City’s Midtown sits less than half a mile from the start of the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. The shop’s celebrations can be traced back 138 years.
Browne’s Irish Marketplace to celebrate 138th St. Patrick’s Day in Kansas City
Ed and Mary Flavin, immigrants of County Kerry, Ireland, first established Flavin’s Market inside their family home at 27th and Jefferson streets in 1887. The Flavins moved the store to its current location at 33rd Street and Pennsylvania in 1901.
“It was outside of town, so it was really brave, and they built the building we’re sitting in,” said Kerry Browne, great-granddaughter of the Flavins and current co-owner.
Jake Weller/KSHB
Now, located in a part of Kansas City that isn’t considered the outside of town, Browne’s offers St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Festivities begin with Irish rolls at 9 a.m. and continue until “at least” 4 p.m.
“You can just walk up the street and watch the parade and then walk back afterwards and have lunch and a pint and keep the day going,” Browne said.
The couple sold eggs, local goods and imports their relatives from Ireland shipped to them.
“I can’t imagine shipping at that time,” Browne said.
Jake Weller/KSHB
When Margaret, daughter of the Flavins, married Jim Browne, they began operating the store in 1915, according to the shop’s website.
“We are so fortunate that they kept going during World Wars and the Depression and all that they went through to get here,” Browne said.
Their eldest son, Bob, and his wife, Marjorie, took on the store’s operations in 1955. Twenty-six years later in 1981, Browne and her husband, John McClain, took over ownership.
“We lost my dad, and it was a way of holding onto him, and it’s so true because he’s here all of the time,” Browne said. “He was a cigar smoker, and we sometimes get a whiff of his cigar, so we know he’s here and keeping an eye on us all the time.”
Jake Weller/KSHB
Continuing the store’s legacy is part of what Browne said makes her proud to be Irish.
“I love how they (the Irish) hang onto their heritage, the people who came before them really matter, they want to pay tribute to them, and that matters to me a lot,” she said.
Browne and her husband have operated the market longer than any of her other family members. They go to Ireland a couple of times a year to source the store’s authentic goods.
She said during COVID, the Irish government reached out and told them Browne’s Irish Marketplace is the oldest Irish business outside of Ireland.
“When you talk about what it means to keep going, that’s a lot of pressure,” she said. “Like, OK, now we really have to keep going.”
Browne said her college-age son, Rory, is all about continuing the story of Browne’s Irish Marketplace.
“It’s all he wants to do,” she said. “So, it’s exciting, there’s a future for Browne’s. He’ll be the fifth generation to run it.”
The business often offers events like live music and bingo in addition to its deli, full bar and Irish goods. The marketplace is looking to expand its operations to include private whiskey tastings and a speakeasy, Browne said.
“When people are here, they, throughout life, want to share their big moments at Browne’s, and that’s so meaningful,” she said.
Jake Weller/KSHB
Jim McEnerney, a regular, brings his family to Browne’s often. He enjoyed a pint with his son, Shea, at the market on Sunday.
“We’re very proud Americans because of our Irish heritage, and when you walk into Browne’s, you feel like you’re in the heart of Ireland,” he said.
McEnerney said it’s easy to make friends at Browne’s. He said his family has started signing traditional Irish music at the store, and the “next thing you know, the whole place is singing while they’re drinking their beers and having conversations.”
“If you’ve been here, no explanation necessary; if you haven’t, no explanation possible,” he said.
Browne said St. Patrick’s Day is a day to celebrate what it means to be Irish with all of Kansas City.
“Obviously, we’re Irish year-round, but we’re proud to share that Irishness with people of every descent,” she said.
Four generations — and one day, five generations — later, the story of Browne’s continues.
“Even my great-grandparents, when they opened this little thing in 1887, they never would have imagined we’d still be here, but I hope we’re doing them proud, I hope they look down and are grateful,” Browne said.
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KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.
The Royals plan to stick with Erceg as their ninth-inning reliever. However, manager Matt Quatraro has noticed that the “swing-and-miss” has been absent from Erceg’s arsenal.
“He’s got good stuff, and we’ve seen him at his best with us,” Quatraro said. “And he’s a competitor, and that one (Saturday’s loss) really hurts.
“When you give him the ball, you like your chances. And the last game was a little odd. There were things that happened, you know, in the game against the (New York) Yankees. And this one, he was unable to put the guys away.”
In the last four years, the University of Arkansas has gotten the better of the Kansas Jayhawks in postseason play.
In 2022, the Razorbacks defeated KU football 55-53 in a triple-overtime thriller in Memphis during the Liberty Bowl. A year later, No. 8 seed Arkansas upset No. 1 seed KU (and reigning college basketball champions) in the NCAA Tournament by a single point (72-71) to end Kansas basketball’s chances of a repeat. In 2025, Arkansas pulled off another upset in the Big Dance when the No. 10 seed Razorbacks defeated No. 7 KU 79-72 to advance to the Sweet 16.
Needless to say, there were plenty of Jayhawk fans hoping for revenge this weekend when Arkansas was announced as the No. 2 seed in the Lawrence Regional – and KU baseball delivered in a big way with a sweep over the Razorbacks to reach the program’s first-ever Super Regionals appearance.
KU came from behind in both games to earn a 5-3 victory on Saturday and a 13-10 win on Sunday night at Hoglund Ballpark.
On Saturday, Arkansas took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second before a Tyson LeBlanc RBI tied things up in the bottom of the third. Each team scored two in the fifth and remained deadlocked until KU pulled away late with a Dairel Osoria run in the seventh and a solo home run by Augusto Mungarrieta in the eighth to seal the win.
After Arkansas beat Northeastern in a narrow 10-9 contest on Sunday afternoon, KU and Arkansas met again on Sunday evening in a highly anticipated matchup that saw a lot of offensive firepower on display.
The Razorbacks jumped out to a 5-0 lead through three innings before KU had a monster performance in the top of the fourth. Osoria led things off with a solo home run before Brady Ballinger hit an RBI single to score Jordan Bach and Max Soliz Jr. had an RBI single to score Dylan Schlotterback. Then LeBlanc showed his All-American talents once again in a big moment by hitting a three-run home run to deep center field to put the Jayhawks ahead 6-5.
From there, KU would never relinquish the lead after scoring two runs in the fifth inning and three in the sixth. The Jayhawks tacked on two more in the top of the eighth to give the team its 13th score of the game.
The Jayhawks are now 45-16 on the season – tied for the most wins in a season in program history with the 1993 team that reached the College World Series.
KU will now move on to the Super Regionals which start Friday, June 5. If Oklahoma beats Georgia Tech tomorrow, KU will get the chance to host as they did this week. If Georgia Tech wins, the Jayhawks will head to Atlanta with a spot in the College World Series on the line.
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KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas, including Olathe and Lenexa. Share your story idea with Olivia.
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If the motto to live by is to get 1 hour of movement a day, the Parkinson’s community in Kansas City is exceeding it.
Bob Zipse has been fighting Parkinson’s for 10 years. He said the diagnosis hit him hard.
Leawood’s Parkinson’s Exercise and Wellness Center expands services as diagnoses climb
“I was super depressed. I mean, I was in a chair. Did you want to move? Look around, just horrible. Because there’s no resources. Where do I go with the time?”
Zipse said the disease can be an isolating experience.
KSHB
“Parkinson’s, I say, is a very lonely, lonely disease. Either people don’t want to deal with you, or you’re embarrassing.”
He found the Parkinson’s Exercise and Wellness Center at his lowest point. Now, he sees people around him pushing past their limits.
“You see people out here, they’re in the mid-70s, they’re doing push-ups, sit-ups, lifting weights. I mean, it’s amazing, really,” Zipse said. “In here, we’re all the same.”
Sarissa Curry founded the center after seeing the power of healing through exercise and recognizing that diagnosis rates were increasing. An aging population and younger diagnoses are among the biggest factors driving that trend.
Kansas consistently ranks as having one of the highest Parkinson’s disease diagnoses and mortality rates in the United States, second only to Nebraska. According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, an estimated 20,000 people in the Kansas City metro alone are living with the disease.
“You see your neurologist once every six months to a year, and you see a physical therapist maybe a couple of months out of the year. Community-based programs are here every day to support this community,” Curry said.
Curry said the warning signs of rising Parkinson’s rates have been visible for years.
“They have been predicting this increase in Parkinson’s for many years. They were able to see the writing on the wall, they were able to see how the population was aging, and they knew that this was coming. We paid attention.”
She expanded the center to serve as an all-encompassing resource for people like Zipse.
KSHB
“I’d hate to wager what I would have been like. Life would have stopped for me, I think. This at least gives me hope, gives me some work towards and see some benefit of it,” Zipse said.
The PEWC will host a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, June 3, at 3:30 p.m. The community is invited to attend to learn more about the center’s services and the disease as incidence rates continue to rise each year.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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