What to Know: Lee's Summit Downtown Days Festival canceled after teen violence | Porter

The Downtown Lee’s Summit Main Street board announced the 37-year-old Downtown Days Festival will end after a weekend of fights, property damage and viral video clips of unruly teens. Police later clarified that one widely shared video showing an officer on the ground was misleading.

Here are key takeaways:

• The business association announced late Tuesday that the 2026 Downtown Days festival will be the last, citing safety concerns for the community, businesses, volunteers and attendees.
• A viral video that appeared to show teens swarming a police officer was misleading, Sgt. Chris Depue of the Lee’s Summit Police Department said. The officer was actually shielding a teenage girl from further assault.
• Two officers on foot patrol intervened in a fight between two juvenile females, with one officer bracing himself in a push-up position to avoid landing his full weight on the girl he was detaining.
• Lee’s Summit Police responded Saturday evening to multiple fights, assaults, property damage and large groups refusing to disperse, requiring backup from the Jackson County sheriff’s office and Missouri State Highway Patrol.
• In separate incidents, a juvenile unleashed bear spray in a crowd, and officers recovered an untraceable ghost gun after chasing another teen.
• Started in 1989 as Old Tyme Days, the festival helped revitalize downtown Lee’s Summit, which was named one of the best business districts in America by the National Trust Main Street Center in 2010.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.