photo by: Sam Zeff, KCUR

Irish Mass at the 21st annual Kansas City Irish Fest at Crown Center on Sept. 1, 2024.

The annual Irish Fest Mass on Sunday morning wasn’t all about Shaun Brady, but his memory wasn’t far from any part of the service.

“A special friend to the Irish Fest and all of Kansas City” is how long-time Irish Fest organizer Mike Casey opened the Mass, which was held at Crown Center.

Brady was “the living room where everybody came,” Irish Fest board member Kelli O’Neill Wenzel said.

Brady was shot Wednesday as he was taking out trash from his restaurant Brady & Fox on 63rd Street in Brookside. Two teen boys have been charged as juveniles with second-degree murder, in addition to other felonies, in Jackson County Family Court.

It was packed Sunday around the stage on the east edge of Crown Center, with about 1,000 people under the tent and 500 more in the bright sunshine in the rear. The weather was perfect. Still, there was clearly a sadness at Brady’s loss.

“There is a cloud upon us,” said Father Don Farnan, pastor at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, St. James, and St. Therese Little Flower. “We offer our Mass for him today.”

photo by: Brady & Fox

Brady & Fox chef Shaun Brady is seen with a pile of scones.

After communion, a moment of silence for Brady was held while the bagpipes played “Amazing Grace.”

Farnan said he didn’t know Brady well, except he knew what the chef, a married 44-year-old father of two, meant to the community. The mass took care of itself. “You just trust the Holy Spirit,” he said after the service.

Organizers said the crowd for the Irish mass wasn’t any bigger than in the past, but there was a little more security. Normally there would be an Irish breakfast for everyone after Mass — cooked in large part by Brady himself — but this year, as a way to remember the beloved chef, it was canceled.

A GoFundMe campaign to benefit Brady’s family, organized by the Irish Fest, had raised more than $150,000 from 1,900 donations by Monday evening.