The Rose of Tralee International Festival is an international event which is celebrated among Irish communities all over the world. The festival, held annually in the town of

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in County ...

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

, takes its inspiration from a 19th-century

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

of the same name about a woman called Mary, who because of her beauty was called "The Rose of Tralee". The words of the song are credited to C. (or E.) Mordaunt Spencer and the music to

Charles William Glover Charles William Glover (Feb. 1806– 23 March 1863) was an English violinist and composer. He was the elder brother of Stephen Glover. Glover played the violin in the orchestras of Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres, and was appointed mus ...

, but a story circulated in connection with the festival claims that the song was written by William Pembroke Mulchinock, a wealthy

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, out of love for Mary O'Connor, a poor

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

maid in service to his parents.

History

The festival has its origins in the local Carnival Queen, once an annual town event, fallen by the wayside due to post-war emigration. In 1957, the Race Week Carnival was resurrected in Tralee, and it featured a Carnival Queen. The idea for the Rose of Tralee International Festival came when a group of local business people met in Harty's bar, Tralee to come up with ideas to bring more tourists to the town during the horse racing meeting and to encourage expats to return to their native Tralee. Led by Dan Nolan, then Managing Director of ''

The Kerryman ''The Kerryman'' is a weekly local newspaper published in County Kerry in Ireland by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper was founded in 1904 by Maurice Griffin and cousins Thomas and Daniel Nolan. Independen ...

'' newspaper, they hit on the idea of the Rose of Tralee Festival. The event started in 1959 on a budget of just £750. The founders of the organisation were Billy Clifford, an accountant with the Rank Organisation, who was one of the first recipients of the Golden Rose award (which was inaugurated to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Festival of Kerry); Dan Nolan, involved with the Tralee Races; Jo Hussey, a shopkeeper in Tralee; and Ted Keane Snr, a local restaurateur. Originally, only women from Tralee were eligible to take part; in the early 1960s it was extended to include any women from Kerry, and in 1967 it was further extended to include any women of Irish birth or ancestry. Recent winners have included three women of mixed heritage, namely Mindy O'Sullivan (Filipina-Irish), Tara Talbot (Filipina-Irish), Clare Kambamettu (Indian-Irish) and Kirsten Mate Maher (Zambian-Irish). On winning the title in 2018 Maher said "There is no 'typical Irish woman'. We're all different and we all come in all shapes and sizes and skin colours... We're such a diverse community, and we need to embrace that". In 2004 the Rose of Tralee Regional Finals were introduced to offer more people an opportunity to participate in the Rose of Tralee International Festival. It was held every year until 2015 in

Portlaoise Portlaoise ( ), or Port Laoise (), is the county town of County Laois, Ireland. It is located in the Midland Region, Ireland, South Midlands in the province of Leinster. The 2016 census shows that the town's population increased by 9.5% to 22,050 ...

, Co. Laois on the June Bank Holiday weekend. In the inaugural Regional Final, 14 girls competed for 3 places in the Rose of Tralee International Festival in August. It became bigger each year and in 2015 the Regional Finals brought together 56 Roses from the United States, Ireland, Britain, Europe, Canada and the United Arab Emirates. Over three selection nights, seven Irish Roses and sixteen International Roses were then selected to progress and join the other 9 Roses at the Rose of Tralee International Festival in August. From 2004 to 2015, the number of Rose Centres grew to more than 65. The Regional Finals became well-established and was a prestigious part of the process to finding the next Rose of Tralee. In 2014 it was announced that the 2015 Regional Finals would be the last, in favour of a revamped selection process held in Tralee. The 2020 and 2021 events were cancelled due to the restrictions in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. In December 2021, it was announced that the festival would return in 2022. In December 2021, it was announced by Anthony O'Gara, that married women and transgender women can enter for the Rose of Tralee. It was also announced, that the maximum age limit had increased to 29 years of age.

Modern practice

The Rose of Tralee festival is held every August in

, to choose a young woman to be crowned the Rose. The winner is the woman deemed best to match the attributes relayed in the song: "lovely and fair". She is selected on the basis of personality and should be a good role-model for the festival and ambassador for Ireland during her travels around the world. It is not a beauty pageant and the participants (Roses) are not judged on their appearances but on their personality and suitability to serve as ambassadors for the festival. The festival bills itself as a celebration of the "aspirations, ambitions, intellect, social responsibility and Irish heritage" of modern young women. Each of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland selects a Rose, and the international Roses, chosen from around the world, also participate in the qualifying rounds now staged in the Festival Dome in Tralee. Ultimately, 32 Roses are selected to appear in the televised selection finals on

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís � ...

, out of whom one is crowned the Rose of Tralee. The selection, which is broadcast over two nights by RTÉ, has been hosted by

Dáithí Ó Sé Dáithí Mícheál Ó Sé (; born 2 June 1976) is an Irish television presenter. He currently hosts RTÉ One's ''Today'', alongside Maura Derrane. He is also the current host of the Rose of Tralee and hosts a chat show on TG4 every Thursday nigh ...

since 2010. It was previously presented for 17 years by

Gay Byrne Gabriel Mary "Gay" Byrne (5 August 1934 – 4 November 2019) was an Irish presenter and host of radio and television. His most notable role was first host of '' The Late Late Show'' over a 37-year period spanning 1962 until 1999. ''The Late Lat ...

. Other previous presenters include

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekd ...

Brendan O'Reilly Brendan O'Reilly (14 May 1929 – 1 April 2001) was an Irish Selected Olympic high jumper, broadcaster, journalist, actor, singer and songwriter (best known for the 'Ballad of Michael Collins' and the Olympic song, 'Let the Nations Play'. He i ...

, Michael Twomey,

Kathleen Watkins Kathleen Watkins (born 17 October 1934) is an Irish broadcaster, harpist, actress, singer and author. She is the widow of Gay Byrne. She played Grace Gifford in the 1966 docudrama ''Insurrection Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a re ...

Ray D'Arcy Raymond Michael D'Arcy (born 1 September 1964) is an Irish television and radio presenter currently on his second stint at state broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). He once presented a self-titled weekday morning radio programme on th ...

Ryan Tubridy Ryan Tubridy (born 28 May 1973), nicknamed 'Tubs ' is an Irish broadcaster. He presents ''The Ryan Tubridy Show'' and '' The Late Late Show''. Tubridy previously presented RTÉ 2fm breakfast radio show ''The Full Irish'', which at its end was ...

Marty Whelan Marty may refer to: Names * Marty (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters, also includes stage names * Marty (surname), a list of people Places in the United States * Marty, California, a former settlement * Marty, Min ...

and

Derek Davis Derek Davis (26 April 1948 – 13 May 2015) was an Irish broadcaster. On television, he co-hosted '' Live at 3'', presented '' Davis at Large'' and '' Out of the Blue'' and won ''Celebrity Bainisteoir''. Early life Davis was born in Bangor, ...

. The first presenter of The Rose of Tralee (before it was televised) was Kevin Hilton. The festival overcame financial difficulties in 2004, and has strengthened with growing visitor numbers and maintaining strong viewer figures. The maximum age for women is 29 years of age. Married women are also eligible to enter as of December 2021. Until the year 2008, unmarried mothers were not allowed to enter the contest. Men also participate in the show in the form of Rose Escorts, who assist the Roses during their time in the festival. The escort who works hardest is named "Escort of the Year", and is invited back to the festival the following year.

Media portrayals

The

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

comedy ''

Father Ted ''Father Ted'' is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews (writer), Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4. It aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until ...

'' parodied the festival in the episode "

Rock-a-Hula Ted "Rock a Hula Ted" is the seventh episode of the second series of Channel 4 sitcom ''Father Ted'', and the thirteenth episode overall. Synopsis Ted and Dougal see feminist musician Niamh Connolly – a thinly veiled parody of Sinéad O'Connor ...

" where the eponymous character is asked to host the local "Lovely Girls" competition. Will Scally produced and directed a Channel Four documentary called ''Rose of Tralee''.

Commemoration

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the festival in 2009, 50 Roses took part in the 2009 competition; usually there are around 30. In 2014, Maria Walsh revealed that she was gay after winning. Michele McCormack (1985 Chicago Rose) has gone on to win an Edward R. Murrow Award in her chosen profession of broadcast journalism. She hosts selection contests in Philadelphia and in the Midwest of the USA. (She credits her interview technique to Gay Byrne, who hosted the contest when she was in Tralee.) Other notable Roses include

Aoife Mulholland Aoife Mulholland ( , ; born 29 May 1978) is an Irish actress and musical theatre performer from Salthill, Galway. Aoife is a successful leading lady in London's West End. She has starred as Roxie Hart (twice) in ''Chicago'', at the Cambridge ...

of Galway (2003) who went on to achieve acclaim as an actor, and

Noreen Culhane Noreen M. Culhane is an American businesswoman and current executive vice president of the New York Stock Exchange, directing their Global Corporate Client Group. Culhane also manages the Exchange's initial public offering process and their worl ...

(New York Rose 1970) now Executive Vice-President of the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

Gabby Logan Gabrielle Nicole Logan (''née'' Yorath; born 24 April 1973) is a Welsh presenter and a former international rhythmic gymnast who represented Wales and Great Britain. She hosted ''Final Score'' for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She has also p ...

, the BBC TV sports presenter, was the Leeds Rose in 1991.

Winners 1959–present

References

Channel Four Television, Rose of Tralee, featuring Gay Byrne, narrator Henry Kelly, directed by Will Scally, correction to previous notification.

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rose of Tralee, The Annual events in Ireland Beauty pageants in Ireland Recurring events established in 1959