Reprinted from Midwest Irish Focus
To say Kyle Kelly is ready to be Grand Marshal of this year's parade is an understatement. It is something you might say he has been working toward the past 19 years, ever since his father, the late and very beloved Randal Kelly, was named Grand Marshal of the very same event.

"Ever since I was informed I was being considered, I've been telling my own kids they might have a pretty big act to follow if I got named as Grand Marshal," Kelly said. "But my 19-year-old daughter seemed more concerned about what she would wear on parade day than keeping up any silly tradition."

Yet the Kelly family is very strong on tradition, beginning with the patriarch Randal Kelly who went from a mere night barman at the Westport Inn to eventually taking over the business, renaming it Kelly's Westport Inn, and handing it down to his sons, first to Randall and then on to Pat and Kyle.

"The three of us pretty much grew up not only here in Kansas City but in this business," Kelly said.

And it has been through Kelly's Westport Inn, arguably one of the most popular nightspots in the Westport entertainment district, that the entire Kelly family has grown and strengthened their ties to Kansas City's Irish-American community.

Kyle Kelly, active in business, civic and social groups, has a long and impressive resume of accomplishments as a businessman and civic leader. In addition to his work with other Westport businesses and property owners to bring improvements to the district, Kelly was instrumental in organizing an Irish music festival that ran for four Memorial Day weekends before being combined with a similar Brookside effort to become the very successful Kansas City Irish Fest.

"The Westport Irish Fest came about really as a way to promote Westport as a Memorial Day destination," Kelly said. "We got a lot of help from Ed Follis, who was organizing a similar effort for Labor Day in Brookside, and from Bob Sullivan Jr. of Boulevard Brewing Company who helped us create and execute an incredible marketing plan."

With the Westport Festival kicking off in the spring of 1999 and Brookside close behind, Kelly soon figured there was no way to avoid combining both festivals into one.

"It wasn't even two years before people started telling us we should combine the festivals," he said. "Combining gave us a better footing with sponsors and really helped us rope in even better acts for the festival," he said.

Ironically, the merging of Westport and Brookside Irish festivals put Kelly out of the festival business.

"When the K.C. Irish Fest came along, I just figured it might be a good time to start directing my energies in other directions," he said.

Not that Kelly has ever been at a loss for giving back to the community. For more than two decades, Kelly's Westport Inn has been a key supporter of Welcome House, a halfway house for recovering alcoholics. Each winter, they host a Christmas party that, through the donations of those attending, has helped provide clothing for any number of Welcome House residents who, according to Kelly, "often start over with nothing more than the clothes on their backs."

In addition to Welcome House, where Kelly is a member of the board, Kelly is also a member of two different Community Improvement District boards for the Westport district as well as a docent for his Visitation Catholic Church. All this while working with his brother Pat to maintain the family business.

"I am extremely fortunate to be in business with my brother Pat," Kelly siad. "Not only have we been in this for so long, but it's good to know he will be there for me as I take a little time in the coming weeks to help support the parade as Grand Marshal."

It's been 19 years since a member of the Kelly family has been heralded as Grand Marshal in the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, but for Kyle Kelly it might have been just yesterday.

"I still remember how proud we all were when Dad was named Grand Marshal of the parade," he said. "It showed how much he was respected and loved in the Kansas City Irish-American community. And I am very proud to be following in his footsteps."