Planning Your Experience at Kansas City Irish Fest
Last weekend, from Friday, September 1st to Sunday, September 3rd (2023), KCMO held its 20th annual Irish Fest outside Crown Center. The mission of Irish Fest is to celebrate Irish culture and heritage with music, food, art, and more.
My family attended for the first ever time on September 2nd. We spent about five hours there and saw a lot of what Irish Fest has to offer. In this article, I will describe my experiences to help you plan a visit next year!
Tickets
If you plan an Irish Fest excursion very far in advance, you will have the cheapest ticket prices. General Admission tickets go on sale starting on March 28th, and cost $15 if purchased before April 1st. From April 1st to July 31st, ticket prices go up to $20. If you’re like most people - and like my family was - you won’t be buying tickets that much ahead of time. After July 31st and up until the day before the festival, tickets cost $30. Finally, if you purchase a ticket once the festival starts, the price goes up to $35.
Children under 3 are free, and ages 3-12 cost $10. Some activities require an additional cost, such as the Irish Breakfast and Whiskey Tastings.
Food
On Saturday and Sunday, the festival is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. On my visit, we arrived shortly after it opened, meaning our first order of business was to get some lunch. In the spirit of Irish Fest, I wanted to eat a traditional Irish dish. I ordered a Shepherd’s Pie from Scotsfare Heritage Meat Pies, one of the food trucks there.
Some of the many other food vendors there included The Food Spot, Twisted Taters, and Kona Ice.
Later in the afternoon, I got some vanilla custard with strawberries and hot fudge from a pop-up Sheridan’s Frozen Custard vendor.
Travel Info
If you’ve always wanted to take a trip to the Emerald Isle, you can speak to travel agents at Irish Fest and learn all about lodging, airfare, and general tips for Ireland. While I’m not planning to go to Ireland any time soon, it’s been a bucket-list destination for a while, so it was still interesting to learn some information.
Irish Marketplace
The Irish Marketplace is the place for all things Irish! You can find dozens of vendors selling handmade sculptures, beautiful art, and more. There is also Ireland-themed clothing, including adorable items for babies. One interesting thing I found in the Marketplace was a set of papers that detailed the history of different Irish last names and showed the family crests. I found one for my own family name, Thompson, and learned that it dates back to around the 13th century!
Music
There was a lot of live music happening at multiple stages throughout the entire festival. If you’re ever waiting for a different activity to start or you just want to take a break from walking in the heat, you can always sit down and enjoy some Irish music. There were stages at every area of the festival, and there was always someone performing.
As we were walking around, we could hear the performers in the background, but we only sat down to listen to part of the sets of six different performers. Those performers were: Eddie Delahunt, The Canterberries, Shane Hennessy, Tullamora, the Ashley Davis Band, and the Nashville Celts.
Other Activities
Besides music, art, and food, there were a few other activities that didn’t fit into those categories. For younger visitors, there’s a Children’s Area at Washinton Park. There, kids can play bingo, do a scavenger hunt, get some balloon art, do a craft, and more.
Even though I’m not a kid, I did participate in one thing in the Children’s Area. There were inflatable trampolines, where I got harnessed in and could freely jump and flip as much as I wanted for a few minutes. There was no age limit to this activity.
There was a Silent Disco listed on the schedule, but they didn’t actually have it the day we were there. We guessed that was due to the heat. Next year, though, that might be available.
The other thing we actively participated in was a Pub Trivia all about Ireland. I was happy to find out that you didn’t have to be 21 to participate, unlike typical “pub” trivia. There were ten questions related to Ireland and Irish culture, and my family got nine of them right!
Hopefully, this article provided a good overview of what to expect at Irish Fest if you plan to go next Labor Day weekend.