ENGINEERING irish fest

Irish Fest, held over Labor Day weekend on the beautiful campus of Hallmark Cards and adjacent Washington Square Park, is considered the largest community festival in Kansas City, and the third largest Irish Festival in the United States. KC Irish Fest offers nine stages featuring international, national and local bands, dancers, storytellers and other performers.

O’Neill oversees a 10-member Board of Directors, a dozen committees and 1,200 volunteers to produce every aspect of the event, from site layout, securing sponsorships, booking, logistics, merchandise, food vendors and a full-scale marketing campaign. O’Neill directs sub-events within the festival, as well as managing full event set-up over the course of one week and full event tear down in just one night.

More than $135,000 in sponsorship revenue is raised each year, and sponsors have included: Crown Center, NTDF, Boulevard Brewing Company, Guinness, Miller Light, Kelly’s Westport Inn, Fox 4 News, James B. Nutter, Magners and individual donors.