Step Up for Seconds, Kansas City!

A Feast of More Local Legends and Legacies

The Long-Awaited Sequel to Step Up to the Plate, Kansas City! Delivers More Tasty Stories and Sweet Inspiration

TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN—Author Mary Don Beachy refers to Step Up to the Plate, Kansas City! A Feast of Local Legends and Legacies (Mission Point Press, 2022) as her “dream project.” With the highly acclaimed title now in its third printing and readers routinely asking for a sequel, Beachy and Mission Point Press have published Step Up for Seconds, Kansas City! (November 1, 2025). Nearly eighty entries profile Kansas City-connected individuals from the worlds of arts and entertainment, community organizations, dining, education and medicine, and sports. Each profile blends a short biography with their favorite recipe before wrapping up with the fan-favorite “key ingredients for success in life” message.  

“I surprised myself by deciding to write a sequel, but I had many suggestions that I write another book. It was easier to approach new contributors when I could ‘show and tell’ the first book and talk about its success,” Beachy shared. “So it was back to the computer, the phone, personal conversations, and the store to buy more printer ink!”

As in the first book, recipes are but a supporting player in Step Up for Seconds, Kansas City! with Beachy cautioning that her titles are definitely not cookbooks. Instead, a seamless blend of memoir, anecdotes, and inspiration are served up alongside a recipe.

The Tastemakers and Gamechangers

The profiled individuals are a diverse group unified by a central focus: each was either born in Kansas City or has made a positive impact on the community. Among the entries, Beachy believes readers will find these individuals especially interesting:

• Ollie Gates—Kansas City is known the world over for its barbecue, and Gates Barbecue—started by Ollie’s family in 1946—is one reason why. Beachy calls Ollie’s community service “exemplary.”

• Gary Neal Johnson—After playing Ebenezer Scrooge for twenty-four years in the Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s production of A Christmas Carol, the beloved actor recently announced that the 2025 performances will be his last.

• Dorothy Vaughan—Born in 1920 in Kansas City, Vaughn served as the first Black female manager at NASA and collaborated with Katherine G. Johnson and Mary Jackson to help calculate astronaut John Glenn’s launch into orbit, a historical achievement captured in the movie Hidden Figures.

For entries on contributors that Beachy couldn’t contact or who are deceased, she used her own recipes or created playful recipe titles, such as Burt Bacharach’s recipe “Promises, Promises,” and Ginger Roger’s recipe “Starring Rolls.”

A Heartwarming Cause

As with her first book, Beachy is donating net proceeds from Step Up for Seconds, Kansas City! sales to the Community Baby Shower program at Children’s Mercy in Kansas City. Beachy shared how rewarding it is to know the contributions make a significant impact. “From 2012 to 2023, the average total number of families celebrated annually was around 150. In 2024, it had grown to over 500 families. For January–June 2025, the number is already at 650 with a goal of 1,000.”

The Author

Mary Don Beachy was born and raised in Kansas City. She attended the University of Missouri (BS in Education) and received her master's degree from Baker University. For thirty-four years, she taught elementary students in the Shawnee Mission School District. She has been published in magazines and the Kansas City Star. She has published three children’s books and her Step Up to the Plate, Kansas City! (Mission Point Press, 2022) was a great success. She loves to read, garden, cook, and walk, but most of all she loves being with her three children and three grandchildren. As a writer, she strives to bring positivity into the world.

The Book

Step Up for Seconds, Kansas City! 

Mary Don Beachy

120 pages, 8.5” x 11”, Color

History, Cooking, Celebrities & Media Tie-In, Essays & Narratives

ISBN: 978-1-965278-92-5, $39.95 (Hardcover)

Mission Point Press, November 1, 2025

Available at Rainy Day Books and Made in Kansas City. For information or to arrange for signings and events, contact the author at mdbeachy47@gmail.com or visit stepuptotheplatekansascity.com. 

Upcoming Events

Mary Don Beachy will be featured on the following outlets in November. Exact dates to be announced.

• Live from Jasper’s Kitchen with Chef Jasper Mirabile, Jr., KCMO Talk Radio 95.7 FM and 710 AM

• There’s Just Something About Kansas City podcast with broadcaster and Missouri Sports Hall of Famer Frank Boal