The Blue Jean County Queen is a festival run by Meath Macra na Feirme that has taken place over the June Bank Holiday weekend in

Athboy Athboy () is a small agricultural town located in County Meath. The town is located on the ''Yellow Ford River'', in wooded country near the County Westmeath border. Local Clubs are Clann Na nGael and Athboy Celtic. History In medieval time ...

Co. Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the s ...

since 1987.

History

In 1987, Patrick Farrelly a member of

Macra na Feirme Macra na Feirme (; officially meaning "Stalwarts of the land") is an Irish voluntary rural youth organisation. The organisation provides a social outlet for members in sport, travel, public speaking, performing arts, community involvement and agr ...

from Carnaross was inspired the song "Blue Jean Country Queen" by

Linda Hargrove Linda Hargrove (married name Bartholomew, born Tallahassee, Florida February 3, 1949 – October 24, 2010, Tallahassee, Florida) was an American country songwriter and musician. She wrote many country music hits for a variety of artists and h ...

to create the festival. Since its inception, it has been run by Meath Macra na Feirme taken place in the town of Athboy, Co. Meath. Although in 2001 the festival was postponed due to the outbreak of

foot and mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six days, follow ...

. The closure of The Old Darnley Lodge Hotel in 2013, which was the venue for much of the weekends activity, resulted in the festival organizers having to put together alternative arrangements for housing many of the events. The hotel re-opened under new management the festival returned there the following year. The festival verged on moving to the nearby town of

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town of County Meath, Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 30,173, making it the tenth largest settlement in Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Blackwater, around 50&nb ...

in 2014. However a set of lucrative sponsorship offers from local businesses as well as Athboy Credit Union was enough to guarantee the festival remained in Athboy. The 2020 Festival was due to be headlined by

The Blizzards The Blizzards are an Irish band from Mullingar in County Westmeath. They were formed by Niall Breslin in late 2004, and also feature Dec Murphy (drums), Justin Ryan, Anthony Doran, Louize Carroll (bass) and Aidan Lynch (keyboards). They have ...

and Jake Carter. However, the event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The organizing committee chose to mark the June Bank Holiday weekend with "The Blue Jean Country Stream" a nostalgic look back at previous festivals featuring clips from through the festival's 30-year history was broadcast over social media. In 2021, with the festival again postponed due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, Blue Jean Country Queen Aoife Scanlon embarked on a fundraising campaign in aid of the

Irish Cancer Society The Irish Cancer Society (formerly known as the Conquer Cancer Campaign) is the national charity in the Republic of Ireland dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem, and improving the lives of those who have cancer. History Fo ...

. The festival is set to return in June 2023.https://www.facebook.com/BlueJeanFest/posts/pfbid0ungtD79Bb71bxrdJD9zdteAmwsUgSUM6LH1AjqZK59q5ESbH2i7umUqwkNk8MBK9l

Contestants

The girls who participate in the competition are either members of

, or a similar rural youth organisation in the case of overseas contestants. There is also a contestant from the Autonne Villages in France whom Athboy are twinned with. Each contestant will have gone through an interview at their own county/regional level in order to be chosen to compete at the festival. Over the weekend the girls are interviewed on stage by a celebrity and also by a panel of judges. Celebrity interviewers have included Ray D'Arcy,

Brendan Grace Brendan Grace (1 April 1951 – 11 July 2019) was an Irish comedian and singer. He was best known for his comedy schoolboy character 'Bottler', the 1995 film '' Moondance'', and his 1996 appearance in the Irish TV sitcom ''Father Ted'' as Fath ...

, Darragh McCullough and

Hector Ó hEochagáin Shane Ó hEochagáin (; born 17 August 1969), known mononymously as Hector, is an Irish television and radio presenter born in Drogheda, County Louth, and raised in Navan, Co. Meath. He currently presents ''The Tommy and Hector Podcast with La ...

Events

The festival is made up of several events that run from the Friday before the June Bank Holiday to the Bank Holiday Monday itself. The events include:

Friday

The Queens arrive and are interviewed on stage. In 2023 the interviews were not held on Friday, instead, a music session was held in a local pub.

Saturday

Saturday has featured a street carnival, craft fairs, children's art competition, karaoke and live music. Since 2017, the festival's main sponsor Athboy Credit Union has held a BBQ and fun day in their car park on main street as part of the festival. The evening's events would begin with a Pub Crawl throughout the town led by the Queens and committee. In 2023, the pub crawl did not take place. Instead, the Queens' on-stage interviews were held on Saturday evening followed by live music.

Sunday

The Fair Green in Athboy plays host to family entertainment including music, entertainment, sideshows and the Queens engaging in a game of Fancy Dress Football. For many years the Queens were required to take part in a fashion show. This element of the festival was removed in 2023. That evening a banquet takes place in the Darnley Lodge Hotel, followed by live music and the announcement of the winning Queen at midnight.

Monday

A music session usually place in the Darnley Lodge Hotel along with lunch for committee, Queens and their host families.

Previous Winners

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://bluejeancountryqueen.com/
Blue Jean Country Queen Festival on Facebook
Festivals in Ireland Entertainment events in Ireland Beauty pageants in Ireland County Meath Leinster Summer events in the Republic of Ireland 1987 establishments in Ireland