Wasn't that fun?
Okay, yeah, the weather on Friday sucked. But even on Friday lots of soaked, soggy, silly diehards braved the rain and danced and splashed and got their Irish on. And Saturday and Sunday were huge.
I could go on and on, but honestly, I'm still too tired. I'll share some of my favorite moments* in the next few posts. And besides, I'd rather here from you. What did you love? What didn't you? What worked, what not so much?
It's in these few weeks immediately post-fest where we look to you to help us improve and make next year's Kansas City Irish Fest better than this year's. SO do this for me, will you? Click on the comments button below and sound of. Or drop a line to info@kcirishfest.com. And here's what will happen. ALL of your comments, complaints and kudos will be assembled and taken to our festival board retreat in January and everybody in a festival leadership position will be given a copy. And then we'll go through them one by one. We do listen, I promise you, and we do take your feedback into account when planning next year's event.
So come on, festies. Your turn. How was your weekend?
*One hint: were you at the Gaelic Storm show Saturday night on the Miller Lite Stage? My son Tommy and I were two of the boxing chickens on stage.
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6 comments:
Two things I disliked. One, the set up at the Boulevard stage, with the barrier down the middle of the audience all the way to the front. Two, that time wasn't managed better at the Boulevard stage on Saturday after the schedule got delayed due to the rain early in the day. Pogey, who's other show got cancelled, had less than two hours for set up and playing combined, at their only show, when recording for a live album. They should have gotten longer, and with better planning, setting a new schedule and keeping to it, they could have got longer. After set up, they had barely over an hour to play.
Otherwise, another great Irish Fest. I go for the music, and the line up was great. Friday was somewhat disappointing with only one of the three music stages (that had been scheduled that night) running, and thus a lack of choice in music, but you all can't control the weather. Scythian put on their usual fun show and made the drive out (I'm a local) more than worth while. And it was fun splashing in the water, dancing up front.
Best: Gaelic Storm Beach Balls
Worst: Rained out Boulevard Stage on Friday
All in all: Another fantastic Fest!!
I was very impressed you guys kept the Miller Lite stage open Friday night. It takes real teammwork behind the scenes to keep that going in such weather!
I appreciated the move of the Children's stage to the upper berm opposite Miller Lite stage this year. It really opened up the lower vendor areas.
The phone app was a great touch; I got too hot for a bit on Sunday, and still got to watch the rest of the Chilli Pipers' set from the coolness of my hotel room! Please take a look at the coding of the app schedule, though; I think the time is set wrong because it would remove upcoming sets and only show ones 3+ hours in advance. I would recommend just having the schedule stay in its entirety, so people can refer back if desired without having to go grab a paper program. On that note; I'd also suggest replacing the Google Map portion of the app with a copy of the one printed in the program; it was much more informative. All of my friends used the app to help keep us coordinated as a group and plan our days; it was SO handy!! If it wasn't for the above mentioned items we wouldn't have needed programs at all!
All in all, another great year. THANK YOU to everyone who helped make this year's KCIF the best one yet!!
Overall I think this was a great festival! Despite the rain, we had a great time Friday night. The weather was beautiful Saturday and the shows were great throughout the weekend.
The increased number of bathrooms was greatly appreciated!
The children's areas had a lot to do. The kids really liked the rock wall and bungee jump. However, there really needed to be at least one adult supervising the bungee jump. The line there (and moving kids back and forth between the lines) was really frustrating for parents and kids on Sunday.
I agree with "ek said" on managing Saturday evening. I REALLY would have liked for Pogey to have more time on stage. It seems like all of the shows preceding that could have been slightly shortened so they all had a similar amount of time to play. I also wonder if there isn't a better way to manage rain outs rather than just cancelling the ones that are unfortunate to occur during bad weather? Could some be rescheduled to the next morning? Or moved inside? Or shorter sets to accommodate rescheduling some of the cancelled shows?
This is our third year. And for the last two years, it seemed like we were able to see most/all of our favorite bands because they were scheduled at different times. This year it seemed like a lot of the bands that would appeal to the same audience (Pogey and Scythian and Pogey and Gaelic Storm) were scheduled at the same time.
I really appreciate all of the time and energy that all of you put into Irish Fest! It is a great weekend! Thanks.
Saturday and Sunday in the Snug was fantastic! The crew in there makes it all the better. Great seats for the Boulevard stage and our very own bar, bathrooms and comfy seats. What more could you ask for while listening to some great Irish bands. We will absolutely be back to the festival and in the Snug next years! Thanks to all that made our weekend so much fun!
Roy & Deb Wright
I didn't like the rain, but I don't blame that on the festival organizers. I blame Barack Obama for the rain :)
My family and I had a great time at our 5th KC Irish Fest. We come down every year for the the Feis and the Irish Fest. I'm amazed that Kansas City has enough volunteers to put on both events at the same time. Great job!!!
Highlights for me were Eileen Ivers and her band, Young Dubs, Millish, Scythian on the Miller Lite state on Friday and Nebraska's own Ellis Island. I also appreciated Kelly's impromteau acoustic set in the Atrium during the hurricane on Friday night.
Congratulations on 10 great years and I look forward to next year!
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