This World Cup giveaway has drawn huge lines at Kansas City’s Fan Fest

Kansas City’s FIFA Fan Festival gives fans an experience to support their favorite teams with others while watching games, performances and more. Among all the activities, one in particular has grabbed a lot of attention

With a line winding for rows and rows of the National WWI Memorial lawn, the Bank of America Fan Bands have been coveted items in the first weeks of Fan Fest.

“I’ve been seeing the charm bracelets on social media and on TikTok, and I really just want to remember the World Cup and how all the countries are coming together and coming to my home,” Jenna Dooley said.

She just got in line to wait for her bracelet behind a line longer than the entire width of the lawn.

The custom bracelets honor the World Cup coming to the U.S. and the different host cities with unique charms. The band size and color can be selected as well as the choice of up to five charms.

The charms for Kansas City include a trumpet, a fountain, barbecue sauce, and a KC heart. Other charms like Team USA, Canada and Mexico mascots and more are available to mix and match.

Because of the long lines, Bank of America added a time-slot process to make it more efficient for fans to enjoy the Fan Fest experience and not miss out on getting a bracelet. Patrons get wristbands for their dedicated time slot on a first-come, first served basis.

The announcement was shared on Wednesday, June 24, on the Kansas City Fan Festival Facebook, in collaboration with Bank of America.

“We got in line at about 12 p.m., and then we got bracelets and then we went and explored and came back at the assigned time at 1 p.m., and then got right in,” said Wendy Keating, who was in line in front of the fan band-making station.

Keating did find that the communication could be better, as some people lining up didn’t have wristbands since they didn’t sign up for the specific time slot, she said.

“I feel bad for them,” Keating said.

Regina Tanujaya skipped the iconic Netherlands fan walk on June 25 to make sure to be early enough to avoid the line to get a fan band, she said. She’s a pianist from Indonesia with family in the Netherlands, so missing the fan walk was disappointing.

“Today is kind of like my day off, so I’m like, I’m going to go early,” said Tanujaya. “And even when I’m early, I’m still not the front of the line.”

She got to Fan Fest at 11 a.m., and once inside, she went straight to get in line. She was waiting close to an hour to get her bracelet.

“Even a lot of my friends came here, but they couldn’t get into this line,” she said.

Now that she has the bracelet, she plans to wear it only one day. Then save it as memorabilia.

The bracelets represent the World Cup in the U.S.; each of the 11 host cities got custom charms for their bracelets. With a total of 13 charm set designs, one set was dedicated to Team USA and the other set celebrates the event with the bold silver numbers “2026” and a trophy charm.

The bands symbolize the memories created during the time of the World Cup in KC, Dooley said.

“I think it has a different memory for everyone when they come with their friends and their family,” Dooley said. “So, it’s just a great memory, whether you’re going back home across the world or you’re going to see your friends in Kansas City.”

The bracelets aren’t only available in KC at Fan Fest; Kansas City Stadium has fan band stations, too. The only difference is that at Fan Fest, patrons can customize their charms and bands. At the stadium, they are pre-made.

The bracelets were an initiative by Bank of America as the official bank of this year’s World Cup.

Eight of the 16 host cities have fan band stations at their FIFA Fan Festivals. In select cities, there’s a Fan Band Mobile, taking the experience to fans. Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey are some of the cities where the mobile is touring.

The Bank of America station will be making custom fan bands for the duration of Fan Fest, which will be open June 26, 27 and July 3, 4, 5, 9, 10 and 11.

“If you’re debating coming to Fan Fest, do it, but come early,” advised Keating.