News At The Top

A lot of big things happen here at Irish Fest HQ at the end of the year: the closing of the books on the festival year, booking bands for the next, the ceremonial slaughtering and barbecuing of the previous year's Irish Fest cow, the ceremonial slaughtering and barbecuing of the previous year's Irish Fest president. But no bigger event than the election of new members to our board of directors. We had two vacancies to fill this year and fill them we did, and well. Both of this year's additions come from within our staff ranks. You'll be hearing a lot from these two boys in year's to come.


Dan O'Boyle comes to the board from our finance committee and is a former PJ Cullinan Volunteer Of The Year award winner. He's been a familiar face at Irish events and in Irish organizations around Kansas City for years, including notably The Celtic Fringe and has been, along with his entire family, a part of the Irish Fest family since it's early days. Dan brings not only his keen financial skills to the table, but also a business savvy and civic connectedness that are invaluable to an organization like ours.  Look for Dan to take over the duties of Fest treasurer when Carrie Slattery's term ends.

Kevin Bundy joins the directors by way of our Gates and Admissions committee where he has served a long stint as co-chair. But getting people in and out of Irish Fest efficiently is only the beginning of Kevin's prowess. He's one of those rare people who will see a problem and leap at the chance to solve it, regardless of what part of the festival he finds it. Few people know the site and its workings better than Kevin and he never shies away from a job. It's that work ethic that earned Kevin an Irish Fest MVP award a couple years ago.

Perhaps most importantly for their new jobs, like Dan and Kevin are innovators and out-of-the-box thinkers. People who understand and respect why we've done things a certain way in the past but are never shy about suggesting ways to do them in the future.They will be immediate impact players on their new team and Irish Fest is better off for their addition.

These two well-deserving men were selected after much discussion, debate and arm wrestling in an incredibly close vote of 5 qualified nominees by the current board. Please join us in welcoming them to the board. Their 5 year terms begin on January 1st, 2011.