Oh, Canada

My favorite month of the year starts with a bang this week as Kansas City Irish Fest directors Ed Scanlon, Patti Aylward and myself along with our executive Keli O'Neill Wenzel head to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia for the annual conference of Irish Festival directors. This year, as I've mentioned, the conference is being held in conjunction with the Celtic Colours Festival, and thanks to that marriage we've got a lot of great music in our immediate future, some of which I'm sure will appear on the KCIF stages in 2008 and beyond.

The conference is in its fourth year now and this time around for the first time representatives of the Kansas City Irish Fest will be making a presentation. Keli will be eloquently sharing her vast experience in effectively using public relations to promote a festival, and I'll be rambling nonsensically about something or other. Festival graphics, or the designated hitter rule, or how my new pants don't fit right, or whatever pops into my head right at the moment. I'm sure it'll be memorable.

Assuming that they have internet tubes up there in Canadia, I'll be posting reports from the conference and festival and letting you know what's happening at this gathering of distinguished, capable and talented festival leaders, and me. Stay tuned.