Kansas City Irish Fest - Labor Day Weekend

[mayor_of_waldo]

I read yesterday on the Kansas City Irish Fest Blog- http://kcirishfest.blogspot.com/, that the hotels (the Westin Crown Center Hotel and the Hyatt Regency Crown Center) are starting to fill up. This event had over 70,000 people last year, and many of them came into town for this festival. 

[KCMax]

We had a blast last year. Good music and the fireworks show was awesome.

[KCMax]

Bump. This weekend at Crown Center.

http://www.kcirishfest.com/

[Beermo]

there's a lot of stuff going on this weekend.

goodguys car show at the speedway friday, saturday and sunday and the greaserama down at the blvd drive-in on sunday.

almost forgot. the black crowes at the crossroads venue saturday night.

[mayor_of_waldo]

there's a lot of stuff going on this weekend.

But, with more that 70,000 attending over the course of 3 days, Irish Fest will be the largest.

[taxi]

There's a Book Burning at Prospero's on Sun. at 4:00.

[DaveKCMO]

bus reroutes due to the irish fest:

From Thursday, August 30, 2 p.m. to Monday, September 3, 10 a.m., The Metro will reroute the following buses in the Crown Center area for the Irish Fest.

#27-27th St. Into downtown, buses will travel the regular route to 27th & Gillham, continue west to Main, north on Main, and west on Pershing to resume the regular route. Buses will travel the reverse route southbound from downtown.

#28-Blue Ridge, #53-Armour/Swope Park, #54-Armour/Paseo, #55-Rockhill: Buses will travel the regular northbound route to 27th & Grand, go west on 27th, north on Main, east on Pershing, and north on Grand to resume the regular route. Buses will travel the reverse route southbound from downtown.

MAX, #57-South Oak: Buses will travel the regular route to 29th & Main, continue north on Main to Pershing, and resume regular route. Southbound buses will travel the reverse route. If you are taking MAX to the Irish Fest, Union Station is the closest MAX stop.

#69-Liberty Express, #142-North Oak: Southbound buses will travel the regular route to Pershing & Grand, go west to Main, south on Main, east on 27th St., north on Warwick, west on 26th St., and south on Grand to resume the regular route.

#123-23rd St.: Westbound buses will travel the regular route to Pershing & Main, go south on Main, east on 27th St., north on Warwick, west on 26th St., and south on Grand to resume regular route.

#173-Casino Cruiser: Southbound buses will travel the regular route to Pershing & Grand. From Pershing and Grand, buses will travel north on Grand, west on 20th St., and resume regular route. Buses will pick up passengers at the shelter on Grand just north of Pershing.

[QueSi2Opie]

I'll just walk there...stumble back.

[scooterj]

I got the impression that this was more successful than they had counted on.  When I was there last night it as complete gridlock trying to get to the main stage.  I waited in line for half an hour for beer at one of thee beer tents while only 3 or 4 people worked the 6 taps plus collected money, and every beer ran out mutiple times and even the gas ran out.    At one point at the tent I picked everything ran out except Stout, as a result by the time I got to the counter and everything else had been restored, Stout (which is what I actually wanted) was gone. 

When we left they were actually turning away people at the entrance because the fire marshall had determined there were too many people inside.

The music was good as was the food, and everyone was seeming to have a good time and be in a good mood despite the lines and crowds.   

[AllThingsKC]

Things looked great when I was there, and I was able to park right on Grand, just a few spots away from where they had the road blocked.

[KCMax]

Sorry to hear they were overwhelmed Saturday. We had a great time Friday night and everything ran really well. It seems for the most part to be one of the most well organized and well run festivals in Kansas City.

[dangerboy]

I was there Saturday night as well, and it was insane.  It was kindof a letdown to spend $10 to wait 30 minutes for food/beer and then squeeze onto a scrap of curb space along Grand.  I love the Irish Fest, but it has outgrown Crown Center already. And Crown Center is an awkward layout for this event to begin with. 

They could use twice the space, four times the tables and chairs, and five times the food and beer tents.  This kindof festival really ought to be somewhere like the riverfront or Penn Valley park.

[Beermo]

they need a stage with a roof and some cover for the patrons against the sun and inclement weather. berkley is a good spot, but they seemed to have lost it when their first year down there they got rained out and lost so much money. i think it will work itself out in the future. tweak the organization skills and planning for the crowds and it should be awesome.

[KCTigerFan]

P&L District could be a great location.  Close the streets, use the Live! stage... 

[DaveKCMO]

we didn't partake in the actual festival, but we were inside crown center for a bit saturday and had drinks at skies later that night... a perfect place to view the fireworks!

[scooterj]

Yeah, it looked like a good festival...   but I felt like my $10 admission was spent just for the right to spend 20 minutes trying to push my way through to a beer tent, a total of 45 minutes waiting in two lines to spend $18 on beer and $15 on food, then the rest of my time forcing my way slowly through the crowds for a quick glance at each booth  before it was time to go.   There was no way at all to get to the main stage, and it was so crowded that even the golf carts hauling beer kegs were running into people.    (One even hit the door of an occupied port-a-potty, creating quite a laugh from everyone standing nearby.)

[DaveKCMO]

was o'malley's of weston serving anything?

[mayor_of_waldo]

was o'malley's of weston serving anything?

• O’Malley’s Pub: beef and stout stew, bangers & mash/bun, ham and cheese pie, chicken salad sandwich

[DaveKCMO]

• O’Malley’s Pub: beef and stout stew, bangers & mash/bun, ham and cheese pie, chicken salad sandwich

so no brew again, eh?

[hawkgolfer]

If you have VIP tickets which are given out to all the sponsors, then you can overlook the stage with no big crowds and get three free beers and food.  Thats the way to go and the admission is free too