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Kansas City's most unusual Super Bowl tradition, an organ concert, began by accident

A woman smiles in a headshot, superimposed over an auditorium with an organ.
Jan Kraybill
Jan Kraybill performs her Super Bowl concerts at Community of Christ Auditorium in Independence, Missouri.

A scheduling snafu for organist Jan Kraybill started a Kansas City tradition — a Super Bowl Sunday organ concert — that's lasted 26 years.

The Kansas City Chiefs have made AFC Championship games and going to the Super Bowl a more recent tradition of theirs. But there's a Super Bowl Sunday tradition that's been going on much longer — 26 years to be exact.

Jan Kraybill's annual Super Bowl Sunday organ concert wasn't intentional. In fact, she picked the date completely by accident.

"I was looking for a date where I could do an annual performance ... a date where I wasn't competing with a lot of other things," Kraybill says.

There wasn't competition from other ensembles that day because it was the Super Bowl. She didn't expect a crowd to attend — maybe just some family and friends — but Kansas City music fans showed up big time.

"I walked out and saw the crowd, it was definitely more than 100 (people). And their encouragement of me through their applause meant so much," Kraybill says of that first concert. "I was just on cloud nine."

"And so I've been doing it ever since," she says.

Whether you're a football fan or not, all are welcome at this musical celebration. In addition to honoring the Super Bowl-bound Chiefs, Jan will play a diverse mix of organ repertoire.

"I just want us all to celebrate being together and be moved by all 6,334 pipes of this organ singing together," says Kraybill.

"I just can't wait."

Learn more about Jan Kraybill's annual Super Bowl Sunday organ concert by listening to our interview above.

You can learn more about Jan at jankraybill.com. More information about her Super Bowl Sunday concert can be found here.

Updated: January 31, 2025 at 12:47 PM CST
A version of this story was originally published in 2023.
Sam Wisman is a Senior Producer for 91.9 Classical KC and a backup announcer for KCUR 89.3. Email him at samwisman@classicalkc.org.
Brooke Knoll is the Digital Audience Specialist and On-Air Host for Classical KC.