Alumna Recalls Hosting “Holiday Touchdown” Crew at Family Antique Store

The Plaza Lights, the crisp winter air, Crown Center Santa — Kansas City has long had some great holiday traditions. It’s about to get one more.

“Holiday Touchdown: a Chiefs Love Story” is an all-new Hallmark Channel feature film that, as the title implies, is set in and around Kansas City and revolves around the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s set to premiere Nov. 30, complete with a red-carpet premiere, and features familiar locations in the city. Among them is an antique store on the Independence, Missouri, Square called The Keeping Room that has a connection to Rockhurst.

The shop is special to Annie, ’11, ’22 Ed.D., and Tess, ’13, Hart, along with their father, Bill, ’72, ’83 MBA, events and equipment manager for Rockhurst University Athletics. Annie and Tess’s late mother, Barbara, started The Keeping Room with Bill in their garage almost 40 years ago. Eventually, it became an institution on the Square, a place where the community would go for more than a shopping trip.

“The Keeping Room was a special place where people loved to shop for antiques, gifts, and unique treasures. Sometimes people came in to shop just so they could visit with our mom, too,” Annie said.

That warmth must have been obvious to the “Holiday Touchdown” crew, who found the shop when they were walking on the Square and asked to use it as a location. Annie said they were happy to host the cast and crew for a day of shooting and get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film that had Kansas City buzzing.

“We are excited for The Keeping Room to have a very small part in ‘Holiday Touchdown,’” Annie said. “It’s always fun to have a connection with something meaningful! ‘Holiday Touchdown’ will be extra special for us to watch knowing that our family and our hometown are part of something that so many other families will enjoy during the Christmas season.”

Barbara passed away in July 2022. But Annie said her family felt her memory on the day of shooting.

“The Hallmark movie was filmed in The Keeping Room almost exactly two years to the day that she passed away. It was a very bittersweet day,” Annie said. “We thought of Mom often during the filming and what she would have been saying or doing at various moments. It was nice to be able to share the memories of her, but we really missed her presence there that day.”