The weather isn’t the only thing sizzling in Kansas City. These 26 people, places and things are hot right now, too.

Hot ticket: Screenland at Grinders

This summer, Grinders started projecting movies out back on Sunday nights and letting people in for free. The makeshift theater under the stars, officially called Screenland at Grinders, doesn’t have any seats, so you have to bring your own lawn chairs and blankets. But it’s worth it to see movies like “Office Space,” “Kill Bill” and “Fight Club” outside on a summer night with a cold beer in hand. See for yourself at 9:30 p.m. Sunday, when Screenland at Grinders shows “Office Space.”

Hot prospect: Bubba Starling

In June, the Royals spent their overall No. 5 pick in the draft on Bubba Starling, a Gardner Edgerton High School grad who could very well be one of the greatest high school athletes in Kansas City history. Starling, named the No. 1 high school baseball prospect in the nation by Baseball America, also happens to be a football superstar: He was selected along with the nation’s other top high school players for the U.S. Army All-America Bowl. Now Starling has a tough decision to make: Accept a scholarship and play football and baseball at the University of Nebraska or sign a multimillion dollar contract with the Royals, a team he has been a fan of since birth. Either way, expect to hear about this rising Starling for years to come.

Hot venue: Livestrong Sporting Park

This $200 million state-of-the-art soccer stadium in Kansas City, Kan., which opened in June, was dubbed “the best stadium of its size on earth” by Sunil Gulati, head of U.S. Soccer. The pimped-out stadium fits 18,000 people and features cushy locker rooms, a velvety swath of natural grass for a field, free high-speed wireless Internet and a dynamic video system that sends customized video streams to 300 screens in the stadium. It also has barbecue stands that smoke meat on-site and let customers choose from 10 or more of Kansas City’s most beloved sauces. And the stadium isn’t just for watching Sporting KC score GOOAAALLLLS. It also hosts mega-concerts such as Aug. 13’s Farm Aid, a benefit for farmers featuring performances by Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews. The best part: A portion of the stadium’s ticket and concessions profits helps fund Livestrong’s fight against cancer.

Hot band: Minden

Late last year, singer/songwriter Casey Burge returned home to Kansas City and formed Minden, a pop quartet that inspired lots of hype with a performance at Ink’s Middle of the Map Fest in April and a single, “Swift Way On,” that was featured in a national ad campaign by Free People. So far, the band has released just one 7-inch single (“Swift Way On,” available at therecordmachine.net). Watch the band’s Facebook page for info on new music and upcoming shows.

Hot festival: Kanrocksas

Ignore the clunky name: Kanrocksas could be the hottest thing to hit Kansas City, Kan., since Google.

No, really: Temperatures in the upper 90s are forecast for Friday and Saturday, when Kanrocksas transforms the Kansas Speedway into a full-blown musical wonderland with concerts, fireworks, laser light shows, campgrounds, local food trucks plus a water slide and Ferris wheel.

Friday’s lineup includes Kid Cudi, Arctic Monkeys, Primus, Ween, The Flaming Lips and headliner Eminem, who performs only at huge festivals such as Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza these days. So, like him or not, the fact he’s playing Kanrocksas is kind of a big deal.

On Saturday, Best Coast, OK Go, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Flogging Molly, Girl Talk, The Black Keys and headliner Muse perform, among others. Concertgoers can cool off between sets by plunging down a 40-foot high, 200-foot long water slide.

If you buy them in advance, tickets cost $99 for a single-day pass or $179 for both days. Parking and camping are free, but if you camp, you’ll probably pay in sweat. See this story for more on the fest.

Hot cocktail ingredient: Pisco

This strong, clear grape brandy produced in Peru and Chile is popping up on cocktail menus this summer. The Chilean version is in Birdie’s Country Fair Punch ($9), a bright lemon-pineapple-apple cider concoction at the Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange at 1924 Main St. The cocktail bar downstairs, Manifesto, puts the same stuff in its Ode to San Francisco ($11). At Story, 3931 W. 69th Terrace in Prairie Village, Peruvian pisco is the surprising secret ingredient in the Pineapple Mojito ($9). Bartender Kasey Knefelkamp says pisco tastes like a light brandy and “really makes the pineapple pop.”

Hot Kickstarter project: Wilderness Brewing Co.

Wilderness Brewing Co. may not have topped Boulevard as Kansas City’s hottest brewery this year, but at presstime it had 209 backers pledging more than $26,200 on Kickstarter to help get the brewery on its feet. Kickstarter.com, a popular social site, allows entrepreneurs to post a project and pitch it to other users who can choose whether to invest their hard-earned dollars. Other projects in Kansas City include documentaries, music and novels, but none has come close to raising the amount of money Wilderness has. The company’s owners, who originally met in seminary school, currently brew their beers in 5-gallon amounts on a stove at home. The funds will help them buy all the necessary equipment and obtain licensing to begin brewing beer in 60-gallon amounts. Their Kickstarter campaign ends Thursday, and if they fail to meet their $40,000 goal, they walk away with nothing.

Hot brew: Tallgrass Halcyon Unfiltered Wheat

Since this easy-drinking yet flavorful brew debuted in the spring, Tallgrass, the Manhattan, Kan., brewery that makes it, has had a hard time meeting demand.

The beer is made from raw Kansas white wheat and has a refreshing hoppy edge that’s tempered by a hint of creamy banana flavor (sounds weird, tastes awesome). It was originally intended to be a summers-only release, but Tallgrass spokeswoman Barb Saverino says it has sold so well that it has been promoted to a year-round beer.

The beer is popular among customers and critics: It recently took silver in the American Specialty Wheat category at the U.S. Open Beer Championship. Look for it in cans at local liquor stores (a six-pack costs around $6.99) or on tap at Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in the Power & Light District, Barley’s Brewhaus in Shawnee or Westport Flea Market in Westport.

Hot startup: Zaarly

For a five-month-old company, Zaarly has caught a lot of buzz.

The online marketplace, whose CEO is Kansas City entrepreneur Bo Fishback, connects buyers and sellers, sort of like a real-time Craigslist. Before it even launched, Zaarly was featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. And it has an impressive list of backers that includes Ashton Kutcher.

Last we checked, someone in Lawrence was willing to pay someone else $400 to paint one side of a house, and another person in KC was willing to pay $5 for a tutorial in Spotify, that new music streaming service all your tech- and music-obsessed friends have been gushing over.

According to zaarly.com, San Francisco is the most active Zaarly-using city, but Kansas City is second, followed by New York and Chicago.

Hot trend: Urban farming

Farms in the country are so 2010. This year, more and more urban farms are sprouting in empty lots across Kansas City. Among them:

• Urbavore, a 13.5-acre farm on undeveloped land at 5500 Bennington Ave., is the agricultural oasis of Dan Heryer and Brooke Salvaggio, who also operate the Fridays-only Bad Seed Market at 1909 McGee St. The couple’s organic farm features chickens, veggie plots, apple and pear trees, and a farm stand that’s open from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturdays.

• The Art Farm, a sculpture garden and farm plot next to the DeLaSalle Education Center at 3740 Forest Ave., has been around for almost two years. But thanks to farm creator and volunteer (and former Kansas City Art Institute student) Theo Bunch, the farm is more fruitful than ever. Last year, DeLaSalle hired a chef that uses the fresh produce to make meals for students, who also help tend the plots. And this summer, the Art Farm opened up space for neighbors in Squire Park to grow their own food. Community relations coordinator Anne Harper says the community response was so enthusiastic that Art Farm volunteers had to till an extra plot to meet demand.

• About 20 families uprooted from the suburbs to move to the Lykins Neighborhood in inner Kansas City. The families, who live within a five-block radius of one another, work together at the Lykins Neighborhood Farm. For more info on the gutsy project, or to tour the farm, go to theurbanfarmingguys.com.

Hot place to shop: One Nineteen

This five-year-old center at 119th and Roe in Leawood became one of the metro’s hottest shopping destinations this summer when it snagged a Trader Joe’s. One Nineteen, which is also home to the only Crate & Barrel store in the metro, recently announced several more new tenants. Among them: Glace Artisan Ice Cream, Fo Thai Modern Fusion Cuisine and a flagship store for Baldwin, a store that sells high-end denim designed by Matt Baldwin, co-owner of Standard Style.

Hot store: Trader Joe’s

This California-based chain of specialty grocery stores finally opened outposts in the Kansas City area last month. One’s at 8600 Ward Parkway in Ward Parkway Center, the other is at 119th and Roe in Leawood. Both sell natural organic foods at affordable prices, but only the Ward Parkway location sells Two Buck Chuck (which costs $3 in Missouri).

Hot fashion news: Bargain shopping

Last month, we found out Kansas City is finally getting an H&M. The trendy (and cheap!) retail chain should open next to The Gap on the Plaza by the holidays. In other discount fashion news: The Legends Outlets in Kansas City, Kan., has added a Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th and two factory stores (J. Crew and Under Armour) will open before the summer is out. And next month, a Nordstrom Rack opens at 9540 Quivira Road in Lenexa, across the street from Oak Park Mall.

Hottest trend that’s almost over: Planking

It won’t be long until people get bored of planking.

The bizarre game, which involves lying face-down on an unassuming object, has been around since the early ’90s. But it really blew up over the past few months as planking photos permeated Facebook and other social networking sites. Even celebrities such as Ellen Page, Chris Brown, Rosario Dawson and Richard Simmons posted photos of themselves planking.

But the phenomenon could soon be replaced by one of these new animal-inspired posing games, which we’re seriously not making up:

• Owling: Perch on any object and crouch down like an owl.

• Batting: Hang upside-down from something while holding your hands on your hips.

• Armadilloing: Curl up in a ball, face-down.

• Gargoyling: Crouch down like an owl, curl your hands into claws and glare at the camera.

Hot host: Jabulani Leffall

It can’t have been easy to take over for Walt Bodine, the beloved Kansas City radio personality who previously occupied the 10 a.m. time slot on KCUR-FM. But last fall, when 90-year-old Bodine scaled back his long-running show to one day a week, 35-year-old journalist Jabulani Leffall inherited the time slot and seamlessly made it his own. Leffall’s pleasantly deep voice, quick wit and cool-as-a-cucumber personality aren’t the only reasons Kansas City is tuning in to “Central Standard.” Leffall is also willing to experiment with the format. On April 20 (which coincidentally is a holiday for pot smokers) he turned the show over to Whoop Dee Doo artists Jaimie Warren and Matt Roche, who made a trippy, psychedelic audio collage of NPR sound bites. Leffall also has a knack for making a wide variety of topics interesting. Recent shows covered the cultural significance of “The Wiz” and a researcher’s work in fetal hemoglobin production in mouse models. How he managed to make that second topic interesting, we’ll never know.

Hot bugs: Cicadas

The buzz over these bugs, which some call locusts, began in June when an ice cream shop in Columbia debuted cicada ice cream. The first batch sold out within hours and was made from dead cicadas covered in brown sugar and chocolate, then folded into brown sugar and butter-flavored ice cream. But like the bugs in it, the ice cream was short-lived: When health officials caught wind of the cicada ice cream, they bugged and squashed Sparky’s Homemade Ice Cream’s plans to make another batch. But if you really want to try one — the nutty-flavored bugs are a delicacy in many parts of the world — this is your year. The Great Southern Brood of cicadas emerged this spring after 13 years underground. The black bugs, which have red eyes and orange veins through their wings, come out to mate, lay eggs, die and (if they happen to hatch near Columbia) become ice cream.

Hot opening: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

This shell-shaped addition to the Kansas City skyline officially opens Sept. 16 and 17 with concerts by Placido Domingo and Itzhak Perlman, respectively. Tickets to the Perlman show are sold out, but there are still some tickets available for Domingo. Those tickets start at $1,000 and benefit Kauffman Center programming. If that’s out of your budget, just wait for the free open house on Sept. 18, when everyone is allowed to peek inside the brand new performing arts center. And don’t forget to check kauffmancenter.org for updated info about performances over the next year by comedian Lily Tomlin, gospel singer Mavis Staples, soul singer Aretha Franklin and composers Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass.

Hot art: Project Reclamation

For weeks, a group of 90 Kansas City artists has been working to find beauty and meaning in debris collected from Joplin, the town that was devastated on May 22 by one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history.

Each artist incorporated debris collected after that disaster in his or her work. The resulting art will be unveiled and auctioned off from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 27 at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, 2012 Baltimore Ave. The show, called “Twist and Shout,” is Part 2 of “Project Reclamation,” a benefit spearheaded by artist Matt Dehaemers to raise money for Joplin’s Spiva Arts Center. One hundred percent of profits will help Joplin artists rebuild their studios, replace lost art supplies and hold therapeutic workshops for residents.

Admission to “Twist and Shout” requires a $5 minimum donation or one new art supply item. For more info, go to kcartists4joplin.com.

Hot charity: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City

The Kansas City branch of this organization — which pairs adult volunteers called “Bigs” with 8- to 18-year-old kids called “Littles” — was recently dubbed the top Big Brothers Big Sisters agency in the nation. That’s a huge accomplishment, considering there are 400 BBBS agencies across the U.S.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City has upped the number of children served by 70 percent over the past three years, while raising the budget by 30 percent. Around 1,200 “Littles” meet up with “Bigs” each week in Kansas City. Those “Bigs” often form meaningful and long-lasting relationships with their “Littles,” which helps the kids succeed in school and avoid drugs, alcohol and violence. To find out how you can become a “Big,” go to bbbskc.org.

Hot food trend: Deep-fried everything

Last week, The Star reported that deep-fried foods were making a major comeback in Kansas City, despite their unhealthy fat and calorie counts. The idea: If you’re going to indulge every so often, you might as well go for something truly decadent. Here are some of the restaurants greasing up the deep-fried free-for-all:

• Swagger Fine Spirits & Food, 8431 Wornall Road in Waldo, dips a 1/3 -pound hamburger into tempura batter, then deep-fries it and tops it off with wasabi coleslaw. The Suribachi Burger was featured on an episode of the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”

• Hickok’s Bar & Grill, 528 Walnut St. in the River Market, smothers its Boulevard beer-battered, deep-fried Angus burgers in jalapeno cheese sauce and guacamole. Chorizo and onion rings top off the behemoth burger.

•The Brick, 1733 McGee St., makes a bacon-wrapped beef hot dog dipped in Boulevard beer batter, deep-fried, and wedged in between a poppy seed bun with mustard and onions. The Oklahoma Dog was also featured on “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”

• Smashburger, with locations in Overland Park, Olathe and Lawrence, serves its burgers with fries, deep-fried pickles or veggie frites: fried carrot sticks, green beans and asparagus spears flavored with garlic salt.

• R.J.’s Bob-Be-Que Shack, 5835 Lamar in Mission, deep-fries its corn on the cob.

• Chaz on the Plaza Restaurant and Lounge inside the Raphael Hotel at 325 Ward Parkway serves a deep-fried crabcake sandwich on a challah bun, as well as fried green tomatoes.

Hot restaurant: Urban Table

Prairie Village has become a destination for foodies over the past year.

It started in March 2010, when BRGR Kitchen & Bar, a popular gourmet burger joint, opened at 4038 W. 83rd. This spring saw the opening of Story, a chef-driven restaurant with an extensive wine list at 3931 W. 69th Terrace. This week, a new corner café and wine bar called Urban Table opens at 8232 Mission Road.

Urban Table is owned by Bread & Butter Concepts, the same group behind BRGR. But the restaurants’ concepts are very different: BRGR sells heavy comfort food such as burgers, fries and macaroni and cheese. Urban Table peddles small plates at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Think fresh-baked pastries in the morning, gourmet salads and sandwiches for lunch, and charcuterie or bruschetta with wine after work.

The vibe at Urban Table is casual, and the average meal costs between $8 and $20 per person.