Fans caught in rain, wait for buses after Fan Fest ends early ahead of World Cup match
A crowd of FIFA fans wearing signature Dutch orange donned ponchos and waited for buses to let them in after Kansas City’s 2026 FIFA Fan Fest ended early Thursday.
Event organizers halted the celebration due to anticipated severe weather that also threatened to delay the Netherlands-Tunisia match at 6 p.m.
The Fan Fest was scheduled to last through the evening, but people instead scrambled to leave the National WWI Museum and Memorial and took cover however they could from a sudden downpour of rain.
Several people who were at Fan Fest went straight to the stadium bus route line.
Groups of people were left waiting for their scheduled bus to Arrowhead Stadium, renamed Kansas City stadium for FIFA 2026.
“(Now we have to wonder) if they’re sending buses earlier,” said an American Netherlands fan, putting on his rain jacket, preparing to wait for his bus for two hours.
“We were going to sit in Fan Fest, and now we’re sitting out here,” another fan said.
Organizers announced just before 2 p.m. that Fan Fest would be canceled for the rest of the day. While some fans were caught off guard, others were less affected by the change.
Brock Heykoop, an American Netherlands fan, said he was headed to the game and that he wasn’t too upset with the early closure.
Marisol Davlos and Peter Winden said that they were planning on leaving around the time of the closure anyway, so they weren’t necessarily affected.
