Rockfest aftermath: Penn Valley Park is a muddy wasteland (updated)

Original story (10:55 a.m. May 18): Parks Board Commissioner Aggie Stackhaus is weeping like Iron Eyes Cody after Rockfest destroyed 14 acres of Penn Valley Park. AEG is paying for the repairs, but Stackhaus doesn’t want the annual rock festival to return to the park (The Pitch‘s Berry Anderson filed a dispatch from the scene). I stopped out this morning — and just three days removed from Rockfest — the park is a muddy wasteland (click the photo to see a slideshow of the carnage).

Update (2:25 p.m. May 18): Mayor Mark Funkhouser is courting the Rockfest vote, supporting the annual rock festival remaining in Penn Valley Park.

“I support the young men and women who see Rockfest as an anchor for their community,” The Funk said in a statement issued this afternoon. “Kansas City needs more fun and entertaining events. … The bottom line is that grass will grow again. But residents driven away by overzealous comments may not return.”