Labor Day Weekend in Kansas City brings one of the best festival to kick off the season! KC Irish Fest at Crown Center brings seven stages packed with music, entertainment, and fun! At 13, Irish Fest is now officially a teenager, and she’s ready to dance. The Music and Dance scheduled for the fest is off the charts. The party kicks off on Sept. 4, and runs through the 6th at Crown Center, with more than 300 traditional musicians, dancers and rock and rollers from Ireland and across the Celtic world.
Tickets to the three-day extravaganza are on sale on the festival’s website, kcirishfest.com
New this year is a children’s ticket that will provide even more activities for the younger festival-goers, and less trouble for the parents. According to Keli O’Neill Wenzel, the fest’s executive director, this was definitely something parents in the community wanted.
“Our new kids’ ticket means that children can bounce, slide, climb and play to their hearts’ content…and mom and dad can leave their wallets in their pockets.”
The Music & Dance is a main attraction to the festival and there are so many bands and performances to see this year. Mundy, the Irish troubadour who greeted and performed for President Obama when America’s Chief Executive made his first official visit to Ireland, will be performing Mundy’s resume includes gigs with Emmy Lou Harris and Imelda Mae, and he’s responsible for introducing Steve Earle to “Galway Girl.” He will be playing on The Boulevard Stage on Saturday at 5:00pm.
Another band creating a lot of buzz is Baile an Salsa, a band from Galway that fuses a passion for hot Latin salsa music with the softer sounds of the green island. Detailed performance schedule is on-line at www.kcirishfest.com
Of course, another huge attraction of the Fest is the food! Vendor’s will be on hand and along with some really good Irish fare, you will also popular Kansas City restaurants and food trucks! A few of our favorites are:
- Hereford House
- Minskey’s
- O’Dowds Little Dublin
- Oz Highland Foods
- Poppin Joes
- Scimeca’s Italian Sausage & Lemonade
- Sheridan’s
- The Dubliner
- Street Wings
- Plantain District
- Stroud’s
Boulevard Brewery (voted best craft brewery in the US today!!) will be providing tastings on Friday-Sunday as well as Whiskey tastings and special performances under the tasting tents. Art in the Park will showcase local and national artists in near by Washington Park.
The Kansas City Irish Fest did not forget the kids- bounce houses, art projects, costume contests, games, dancing and much more makes this festival something the whole family will enjoy! Don’t leave it to the luck of the Irish, check out and by tickets today!
