KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne reports on stories in Overland Park, Johnson County and topics about government accountability. Share your story idea with Isabella.
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The World Cup officially kicked off Thursday with Mexico winning the opening match against South Africa 2-0. With that, Kansas City's FIFA Fan Fest welcomed thousands of fans.
20 local vendors from around the Kansas City metro are ready to serve the local and global fans who visit Fan Fest this summer.
The businesses span from downtown Kansas City to Johnson County. All had to go through a weekslong application process to get selected to serve at the festival.
From burgers to coffee to donuts, local restaurants are ready to serve, and visitors are just as ready to try what Kansas City is best known for.
"They got some of the best barbecue in the world," visitor Hoallis Smith said. "I'm from down south, so that's saying a lot."
The mac and cheese is loaded with burnt ends and the smokers are running all summer.
Larry Fennell started Blended Vibes Catering in Olathe a few years ago, when he and his wife were laid off from the corporate world. He never thought he would be serving the world stage.
"This is the biggest I've ever done," Fennell said. "The smiles on the faces when people eat our food, that is the ultimate thank you to have that smile."
Fennell explained he is one of the smaller businesses serving Fan Fest, but is waking up at 2:30 a.m. to get his briskets ready.
"Smoke meats, smoke meats, smoke meats," Fennell said. "Instead of saying, 'I got to feed the masses,' I do my seasoning and say, 'This is my seasoning, this is what I do and I think you're going to enjoy it.'"
Overland Park's Mocha Point Coffee only opened up in March and is diving right in.
"We hit it big, World Cup, straight up," Founder and CEO Ali Othman said. "Applying and getting here is a lot harder than most expect."
Their biggest hurdle may be from their most popular item this summer — keeping the ice ready to go for lattes.
"It's melting so fast, but we're keeping it in the cooler until we need it," Taqwa Bahra, a barista, said. "This is just an amazing opportunity to be here — meeting all the cool people coming in, where they're from and getting to know everybody."
For the JoCo vendors and other local businesses, the real treat is getting to share their culture while serving fans from around the world.
"We got some French fans that were here, the Netherlands fans, some of the South African fans, so it's just really neat to be a part of this cultural mix that we have going on here," said Dan McCall, The Good Part food truck owner. "I've grown up my whole life playing soccer, so it's kind of a culmination of everything for me to be able to bring our food here and be in this kind of atmosphere."
Kansas City's FIFA Fan Fest runs until July 11.
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