In Review

Thirteen hours of sleep later, I'm starting to feel almost normal again. I love our site at Crown Center, I truly do. But you go up and down those stairs a few hundreds times a day and it starts to get to you. And of course celebrating until 6:00 AM on Monday morning can wear you out a little too...though there were certain Irish Fest staffers who shall remain nameless who were up later than I was.

I'm still trying to digest the weekend. So much happened, so much to think about, so much that went right, a few things that went wrong. Keep in mind, the opinions below are mine alone and don't necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Irish Fest or its management.

Highlights:

The weather. Could we have asked for anything better? No heat, some clouds some sun, and blessedly no rain though nearly every forecast I saw called for a chance. It's a worrying thing to plan a big outdoor event like we do, knowing that it could all be ruined, in spite of your best efforts, by something you have absolutely no control over. Best Irish Fest weather ever in KC.

The crowd. Well behaved, courteous, friendly and fun with very few exceptions. We'll get to those in "lowlights". An Irish Fest is nothing if nobody shows up, and it's ruined if the wrong people show up. You guys were great. And I loved meeting as many of you as I did.

The music. I think our best and most varied selection ever. Well done on the choices, Shocko. The frustrating thing about the job that myself and all the staff do is that you don't get to hear the music, except in little chunks here and there. I was able to sit and listen to about half of John Spillane's Saturday set before the cell phone starting ringing, calling me away. What a performer. I wasn't able to see more than a minute of one of my other great favorites, Hothouse Flowers, unfortunately. I heard raves about Millish and wish I could have see them. I did happen to be at the Pub stage to hear Mairtin of the workhorse Fuchsia Band do an impersonation of me on stage that I hope isn't accurate. Seriously, didn't you get the feeling that were three or four Fuchsia Bands running around? How could they have been everywhere they were all weekend? Gaelic Storm...what a band and some of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. The Elders continued their tradition of putting on their best shows of the year on the home stage. I became a big Seamus Kennedy fan, as much for his personality as for his music. Whether you were into trad or rock or something in between, you had to have found something you liked. I'd love to hear from people who heard more of the music than I was able to.

The children's area. Festivals like ours live or die by whether or not we keep kids happy. And Shawn and her crew did that so well, in spite of some bumps in the road along the weekend. Did you know that overnight on Friday the sprinkler system came on inside her tent, and soaked everything? But that great group down there soldiered on and I saw a lot smiling kids all weekend.

The workers. Where do I begin? So many people working so hard, for so long, for so little and still being friendly, funny, warm and kind. From top to bottom, the best group of people anybody could hope to surround themselves with when there are jobs to be done.

Lowlights:

The bad apples. In any crowd that size, there are always going to a few. Mercifully for us, there were very few. But to those few...those who sneaked in while honest people paid at the gate the reasonable ticket price that lets us put this festival on, those few who thought that if they saw something they wanted, it was perfectly fine to take it regardless of who it belonged to, those who took advantage of the kindness and trusting nature of better people and those few who forgot the common courtesy and decent manner that I'm sure their mothers taught them, I hope you all get poison ivy where you can't scratch.

I'm struggling to think of more. You may have others. I hope not, and I hope if you do, you'll let us know so we can try to make sure they don't happen again next year. The only other lowlight for me is that it's over.

So with 2006 in the books, I sure hope you enjoyed the Kansas City Irish Fest as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. If you weren't able to come, I hope you can join us next year. I'll keep plugging away here in blogland...maybe with a little less frequency, but keep checking in with me. We'll begin planning for 2007 in about a month and major act signings will start probably in November. In the meantime, if there's something that comes to mind...a suggestion as to how we can improve, an idea for a band you'd like to see, even a complaint, don't hestiate to contact us. Use either info@kcirishfest.com, or if you'd rather you can e-mail me directly at danny@kcirishfest.com. Either way, we'll take anything thoughts you have to heart, I promise. We do this for you, after all.

Now, let's see...where did I leave that real life?