About Us

Festival Network Online (FestivalNet®) publishes the most extensive and comprehensive database of festivals and fairs in North America. We wrap this data around technologically current tools and resources relevant to the professional exhibiting artist, craftperson, musician, band, service provider, booking agent, vendor, promoter, and festival goer. FNO is a leader in the festivals and special events industry. We generate over 750,000+ monthly visitors and publish detailed event data on 24,000+ festivals, art shows, art and craft shows, music festivals, and other events. The newly added FNO Community and FNO Marketplace greatly expand our reach and presence in this market.

Nestled in the mountains of Western North Carolina, FestivalNet® is staffed by eight genuine individuals with a combined 50+ years of experience in the music business, the festival/art & craft market and data technology. Real people you can call and talk to on the phone! Most importantly, we provide our customers with personal and rapid attention in order to aid them in their quest for success in the festival market.

FNO's Giving Tree ...reinvesting in a better world.
Here at FNO, we believe that money is most valuable when it flows. We created the FNO Giving Tree to help keep it flowing to the people and organizations that work so hard to make the world a better, more peaceful and compassionate place. Each month, we choose 2 organizations to receive a percentage of our gross revenues. So thank you for your support, your advertising and membership dollars that allow us to pass it on.

Learn more about our staff below.  For further info, Contact FNO, view our Privacy policy or visit our Press Page.

Festival Network Online Offers

Meet the FNO Staff
Kurt Irmiter Partner Owner
	When Kurt was about 10 years old, he met a man his Dad was purchasing a travel trailer from. For some reason Kurt found this man to be very interesting and liked something about him.  Later he asked his Dad what the man did, he said "he owns a couple of different businesses, he is a real entrepreneur." Kurt told his Dad, "That's what I want to be!"  Kurt's Mom & Dad told Kurt he could be whatever he wanted to be.  Forty something years later after starting a lawn cutting business at 12, Kurt has owned: an entertainment booking agency, video taping service, festival food concession, college corner bar, ice cream/sandwich shop, web development & hosting company, and FNO. Along the way he managed a movie theater, delivered news papers, pumped gas, picked peaches, sold news papers door to door, worked as an insurance claims adjuster, boarded horses, ran a ball park concession, managed his singer/comedian brother, Kier and managed a rock band... Currently Kurt is co-owner of FNO and owner of BFDNet.net, (web hosting & development) and he is involved with a new non-profit Musicforhumanity.org. He has a BS in Financial Management from Clemson University and has 20+ years of experience in the festival business and the entertainment business. He is on a mission to revive the word "groovy", much to the amusement and sometimes embarrassment of his friends and wife.  He and Connie have lived in Asheville for 14 years.  Kurt plans to be an entrepreneur the rest of his life.
Connie Morris Partner Owner
	Connie is co-owner of FNO and the CFO of the company. She is a major animal enthusiast and passionate about animal welfare. She created and manages Lost Pets of Western NC, a free lost/found animal web site. Connie has lived in the Asheville area for 14 years with her husband and business partner, Kurt and their 2 cats. She has a degree in Urban Planning that she, thankfully hasn't used in a long time. She was in the special events business with Kurt for many years. She is an avid list-maker which keeps her from wandering around trying to remember what she was going to do next. She loves living in Asheville and is very grateful for the wonderful people (and animals) she has met here, especially the amazing team at FNO. Her other fun past-times are planning special events and doing house renovations.
Shawn Kilby Research
	Shawn started with Festival Network Online in 1997. Those were the early days when the office was in the basement of Connie and Kurt's home. Shawn lived right around the corner from the office, so the morning commute could be done by bicycle. Shawn started out working in the office a couple of days a week, eventually was away from the company for a year or so, and now does research work from home part-time. Her full-time job, along with her husband Wesley, is raising their young son Tanner. They share their home with four furry family members, Chloe & Daisy (dogs) and Coco & Bitsie (cats).  Shawn enjoys gardening, camping with her family, and helping out at Tanner's school.
Judith Richardson Advertising
	For most of her career Judith has dealt in the visual arts. She has represented artists to the international level. Judith enjoys working in advertising because it enables her to work with diverse people across North America. She enjoys the give and take of working with clients in order to discover their individual advertising needs. Judith has developed a loyal customer base and approaches each prospect with a long-term relationship in mind.
Julie Cochrane   Social Networking
	Julie has been happily working with FestivalNet since December 2004. She loves live music, breweries, traveling, getting crafty, and FestivalNet's annual holiday party. She attended Dreyfoos School of the Arts and the University of Central Florida, backpacked Europe, studied in Madrid, and exhibited mostly portrait photography in shows and competitions. Then she performed in a couple theater troupes and began shooting live performance photography. Of late, she's raising an awesome kid named Fable in beautiful Asheville, NC.
Richard Cepas Programmer
	Richard was born in Vilnius, Lithuania and studied at Vilnius University for some time. A computer programmer since the end of the last century, Richard has been programming for FNO since 2005. In 2009 Richard moved to the US and is now a resident of Florida's Gulf Coast. We are happy to now have him in our time zone!
Sara   Research and Database Management
	Sara has been working for FNO since 2006. She was introduced to Kurt and Connie through her sister Shawn who just happens to work for FNO also. She enjoys spending time with her family, playing Thomas the Train with her 5 year old son Tyler and ball with her playful Boxer, Lola.
Jackie Bagwell Customer Service
	Jackie is the newest addition to FNO. She is an artist, a nerd-of-all trades, and is professionally friendly. She has a penchant for technology, art, fun events, and Batman. Jackie organizes events of her own in Asheville, NC, including a large-scale horror-themed festival Ashtoberfest. She also loves getting creative, taking on fun projects, and staying on top of the newest web-based features and applications.
Smoothy Groundskeeper
	Smoothy works very hard at distracting the humans at the office and gets paid in doggy treats. She loves coming to work and her tasks include napping, playing with her toys, running around and messing up the rugs, begging for lunch scraps, and making sure squirrels don't get too close to the office.  She also is a big activist for Connie's website Lost Pets of Western North Carolina. When she is not at work, her hobbies include creek-swimming, sitting on the front porch, following mom (Julie) around the house, walks around the block, snow-flake-catching, and tug o' war.
Lola Watch Dog
	Lola is a major love-bucket, full of energy and happiness, though she prefers humans of the female variety.
Cada (aka Wild Thing) & Rascal Office Therapists
	Our sweet rescued sister kitties when they first joined our motley crew.
Cada (aka Wild Thing) Massage Therapist
	Cada (aka Wild Thing) is always looking for adventure. Will settle for unrolling an entire roll of toilet paper if nothing more interesting comes along. Will chase anything you throw for as long as your arm holds out.
Rascal In Loving Memory
	We said farewell to our little moon-eyed, zen kitty Rascal at the beginning of 2013. She was feline luke positive and had a wonderful, fun life for over 3 years.
Roxie In Loving Memory
	Roxie was an avid believer in labor laws, so as not to break them, she only worked about two 15 minute shifts a day. Which included, patrolling the premises for any unknown beings to greet and searching for food that had been dropped. She then rested the other 7 1/2 hours. =) As you can tell in her picture she was laid back and always out for a good time. Her favorite things to do were playing frisbee, fetch, and being the welcome wagon wherever she was. Roxie, we miss you so much! Find us in other places around the web here: