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Kansas City Irish Festivals, Music, Pubs, & Events by an Artist in Ireland

For those looking for photos, videos and reactions to the 2008 Irish Festival that took place in Kansas City’s Crown Center area, I’ve put together a few links for you.

It’s much quieter online this year than it was for 2007 or 2006.

There’s always a chance that I will add to this list. If I don’t have anything better to do.

But you should know that there is some big news coming for IrishKC.

• Shelly of Fragmented Writers Group debated if the Irish fest was the most American festival to go to:

Since I’m Irish, I have gone to this before. What I got out of it was a pretty good performance by The Elders, lots of beer that I didn’t drink, and green popcorn balls that would’ve pulled out my root canals if I had anys. Or, for FREE… You can drape Ol’ Glory or a Confederate flag around your body and safely slide to Independence to attend the Santa-Cali-Gon Days festival.

• Áine came 2nd in the writing contest to KC-based Irish/English novelist Carrie Kabak:

The theme was “My Irish History”. A couple caveats: the first-place entry was announced as having won by a “landslide” and there may have only been three entries…(continue >>)

• Rockey from One Day At a Time enjoyed Gaelic Storm:

As usual the concert was great and I think that the fiddle player has gotten better than the last time I heard her play. The first time I saw Gaelic Storm they had a different Fiddle Player and she was amazing and then a year ago Memorial day when notdefined, mh58 and mightyrunt were visiting me from SF and NY I find that they had a new fiddle player. She was good but tonight she really kicked ass.

• Sarah from My So Called Junky Life enjoyed The Elders but not the crowds:

On Sunday we took Dillon and Colton to the the Kansas City Irish Fest to see the The Elders play. For those who don’t know who The Elders are, they are an Irish/Celtic Rock band and are truly superb. They put on a great show every time we see them and Sunday was no exception. However, we left early because there were just too many drunk people there with little regard for children (yes this was a family event) and I don’t think we will be going back again anytime again.

• q-pig from Pigs in a Blanket liked the food:

All of us purposefully did not eat dinner at home so that we could gorge on expensive-and-fatty-but-oh-so-delicious festival food. I was seeking out the Italian sausage stand, but I saw this sign for fried pickles and thought “Is that such a good idea?” No, I did not try one. The idea of a fried pickle does not perk my food palette. I was very close to getting a corn dog though.

• Meltamum enjoyed the festival but missed some regional and some trad acts:

With the move to rock comes a continuation of the “crank the speakers and the sound systems as loud as they will go” mentality. I left the Gaelic Storm concert after 15 min Friday night because even with ear plugs in, it was extremely loud, and when you added the feedback and squeals into the mix I had a dreadful headache. I was really worried, especially after the extensive sound problems last year, but after Friday night, the sound was bearable (although still not great). And trying to participate in anything at the Heritage stage was all but a lost cause.

• The lights man had a lot less time to work the usual magic for The Elders:

The Powers that be are only allowing me 90 minutes to create the lighting programs Saturday night for Sunday’s show at KCIF!!! So the usual programming marathon till 6 AM will not be happening this ear.

• Princess Ren enjoyed watching Enter The Haggis from the sponsor area:

Went to the Irish Fest yesterday, it was completely amazing. Danny had Sponsor Area tickets, because KCUR was a festival sponsor this year. It’s basically a balcony overlooking the main stage, and free drinks and food and all that.
OH my goodness, we pretty much were there to see Enter the Haggis, and they did NOT disappoint. I got a ton of neat videos of them onstage with my camera, including the entirety of One More Drink :D!

• Terri of Knitting/Spinning Hussy was a judge in the knitting contest on Sunday:

There were only THREE items entered for today’s competition, and the theme was cabling. Three afghans, and not my favorite knitted object by a long shot - but I did my best to judge fairly. Two were done in ivory, and one in a blue-green. One afghan was covered in dog hair, one was a little worse for wear around the edges, and that only left the blue-green to be the winner - what happened to only submitting pristine items in contests???

• Spilled Ink of WriteBrainIt met Patrick Murphy of Gaelic Storm:

Jimmy Crowley (whom had just performed) was who he had heard when he was a child and made him want sing as well - he said had it not been for Jimmy, his path might have been completely different. He referred to Jimmy as a legend in his eyes and had teared up, he said, on at least 6 of the 10-12 songs he had performed. The opening song of the concert they would be performing that evening was the one that he had heard Jimmy play when he was 10 or 11 and it was the start of his desire to play music.

• Priscilla Howe tells us on Storytelling Notes that she performed but it wasn’t ideal:

My favorites are storytelling festivals, because the sponsors usually understand what the deal is. They realize that storytelling isn’t background music. They know that it’s counterproductive to have the storytellers next to the petting zoo, or the fountains where children are allowed to play.
At the KCIF, I was facing the main music stage, next to these fountains, with my back to a wall shared by the children’s facepainting and crafts. My sound system was good, so the audience could hear me, but the sound bleed from the music stage was so overpowering I could barely hear myself. I’m usually fine with distractions, but in this case I felt like I did a mediocre job. Sigh.

• Happy in Bag gives his usual quality and detailed review of much of the music from Friday evening:

The night’s most memorable music was provided by Millish, a relatively unheralded instrumental act from Ann Arbor, Michigan. From their base in Celtic music, Millish quickly strays into the progressive acoustic bluegrass associated with Nickel Creek and the zany world music explorations of Brave Combo.

• Timothy Finn in the KC Star’s Back to Rockville reviews Damien Dempsey:

For me, he was an ideal inclusion in this festival, which rightly emphasizes traditional music and its contemporary offspring. Dempsey has managed to tap into both and create a sound and a style of his own.

• dandelionpixie never made it to Irish Fest:

We just weren’t as interested in the festivities they had mentioned in the pamplet. It’s not that I don’t like Irish, I am part Irish and would love to go to Ireland someday (esp after Angel’s pics), but the festival had more “fair” type of stuff than culture type of stuff. We ended up going to Zoo A La Cart instead.

• Kathy of My Little Fortune Cookie had soooo much fun:

Wonderscope had a tent with MANY things for kids to do. The weather was beautiful! The only caveat we ran into was at the end of our day, when Kayli said she needed to go potty, and the nearest potty was nowhere near the “kid section”, hmmm, guess nobody on this planning committee thought about a port-a-potty for the designated children’s area.

• Mallory of S & C Family enjoyed Mr Stinky feet:

it’s been 5 years since we last went. We had a great time! We got to see Mr. Stinky Feet. Not sure how he managed to play at an Irish fest….but we like him. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he’s a local kid’s performer.

• Maria of KCMaria posted a bunch of photos and few words:

Irish Fest was fabulous!

• Gail in Tales of Homeschool thought the feis was well laid out, and wasn’t tempted to pop next door:

This is our second year to attend the Kansas City Feis. It’s a fun weekend. Several families from our dance school go to this feis. Most also attend the Kansas City Irish Fest, of which the feis is actually part. We didn’t set foot in the Irish Fest, though, preferring to hang out at the hotel pool. The weather was gorgeous, and who can resist a roof top pool?

• Catherine took baby Mary Ryan O’Sullivan and from the sponsor VIP area enjoyed some band or other:

Today we went to our first KC Irish Fest where we saw a great band (who knew??). Thanks to State Street we had great seats (and free drinks !).

• Food reviewer Owen Morris’ in the Pitch sought out authentic ethnic dishes:

I use the term authentic loosely, because some of the ethnic dishes were Scottish and not Irish, such as haggis. I really wanted to try the haggis, but the folks working at Hamish’s Kitchen informed me that it was sold-out. I settled for a Scotch egg, which is a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage and bread crumbs and then deep fried. Yes, it’s as delicious as it sounds.

• Harpersbizarre bumped into the Kansas City Feis and some Feis Fathers:

We were in KC for the American Idol concert and a huge convention/ competition of dancing girls was taking place in our hotel. My daughters were fascinated. I was more than intrigued. Interestingly enough, cameras are strictly prohibited, even for parents. After I snapped this, a couple of dads nearly “tackled” me!!!

• Maria was reminded of the poster she did for the last year, for which her starling was used as the basis for the Irish musical/dancing group of birds:

Starlinka likes to sit on my shoulder while I type on the computer but if it gets too late and she doesn’t like the brightness of the screen, she will hop to my knee under the table and try to sleep there. Starlings like to get as close as they can to you but you are never allowed to touch them. Those are the starling rules.

• MMB tells us on Just Think she couldn’t go with Molly to the Feis but…

Molly won a first place in her Single Jig and also medaled in her light jig and slip jig. She, to say the very least, was on cloud nine. Upon seeing her name go on the board as a first place winner, she started to bounce like Tigger … a bystander was heard saying, “watching her reaction is better than watching the dances!”

• Janelle of A Tasty Morsel was O’Saddened by her attempts to see The Elders :

There it was on the schedule - 9pm The Elders… on a different stage!!!
So we got up, headed to the other stage and found 2,ooo people rocking out to the Celtic fun. For the 2nd year in a row, I was in a spot where I could not see nor hear The Elders… so we left.

• According to Google Translator from German, Vera tried a “video with the great music upload” and noticed green dye in the fountains:

joa that I would then still before the green wells, they must really love the Irish …

• And from Portugese the Google Translator gives you the essence of the experience of Renata, a Brazilian au pair:

everything Irish end of a festival LORD he should have some 50 years and has placed a golden necklace, plastico even in my neck and said it was q pq I was very beautiful … ahh ok …. tnks dai after he came again and put a green and spoke the same thing and then I was told q sexi …. . so I with everyone from my friends ….. q give the bag … Andrew, namo of Bella, opaaaaaaaaaa correcting: bridegroom, eh American and he told me the guy puts q qdo paste in women eh pq q he wants to show her the breasts for him !!!!!!!

• Dobieks posted 5 remarkable photos of The Elders on Flickr.

• Pete Maher of the Midwest Irish Focus posted almost 200 over 550 photos on MySpace.

• NightlifeKC posted pictures of the much-touted Irish Fest After-Party at Raglan Road. It’s 3 pages of mostly group portraits, groups in a pub that is.

• The Celtic Crossings radio show special, live from Irish Fest, is available as a podcast.

• Irish Fest Director Ed Follis makes great use of less than 2 minutes on NBC News.

• They’re not great quality, but blux6 has posted a few videos such as this one of the Young Wolfe Tones

• Kathy Murphy of the Harp & Shamrock, the Bob Reeder Fanclub, tells me that they had their best year ever at the Fest - which is great news for the kids.

And that’s all I have for you.

Related Posts:
   • Biggest Irish Festivals in America
   • Top Ten Irish Fest Memories pre-2006
   • No More KC Irish Festival on Irish KC
   • Labor Day Weekend Entertainment Recommendation

This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 9:12 am and is filed under Festivals, Harp & Shamrock, blogs. You can follow responses via my RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your site.