- Doughboyz Pizzeria has begun hosting Kids Jam, an event featuring children with a multitude of talents, every Sunday.
- The event naturally draws parents to Doughboyz for pizza and beverages while their kids perform for the crowd.
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Pint-sized performers with a multitude of talents will take the stage—or, at least, the patio—at Doughboyz Pizzeria in Topeka this summer as part of a weekly event called Kids Jam.
Doughboyz co-owner Trevor Burdett wanted to give the 10-year-old event a new home as the city rebounds from the pandemic. Kids Jam will take place each Sunday throughout the summer.
Kids Jam builds confidence in children who have been bitten by the show biz bug, organizer Kyle Carpenter, a local musician, told WIBW. “Kids can juggle, they can do magic tricks, they can sing and play the bongos,” he said. “It’s fun to invite the kids up and keep a beat with me, and that just opens a little bit of something, too. It kind of slides them on the stage. Next thing you know, they don’t want to get off the stage, and then they want to sing a song. ”
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The event naturally draws parents to Doughboyz for pizza and beverages, making it a perfect summer promotion for the restaurant and the community. Kids are also provided with sidewalk chalk, bubble blowers and hula hoops.
“It’s hard to find a family-friendly activity that, one, doesn’t cost anything, and, two, is outside [so kids] get some playing time as opposed to [sitting] in front of a tablet, so we wanted to bring it here,” Burdett said.
For several years, Kids Jam was hosted by Speck’s Bar & Grill in Topeka.
“What I love most about the jam is watching the kids grow,” Carpenter told the Topeka Capital-Journal in 2015. “When something grows, you never know how it’s going to grow. So you just kind of get on for the ride and hope that people keep coming out and young musicians continue to discover this place as a place they can get behind the microphone and just share their talents.”
Doughboyz opened in 2020 under the ownership of Burdett and Eli Campbell.
