For one week in August the small town of Tralee in the wilds of The Kingdom of Kerry is host to a multi-million dollar International Festival that attracts tens of thousands of expatriate visitors from every corner of the world. They are all drawn by an inalienable, sometimes extremely tenuous, link to the land of their ancestors. Pride, emotionalism and a sense of belonging are the intoxicants that bring them to this rich fountain of annual enjoyment and renewal.
Story and photographs by Oistín McBride.
Peggy O’Sullivan, an 80-year-old Cork lady who was married to a “thoroughbred Kerry-man” for 58 years, speaks with reverence of her departed soul mate with whom she shared a life for over half a century.
For 30 years she and he came, pilgrim-like, to the “Capital City of Kerry” for the Rose of Tralee Festival. She has come this last four years with her friend Mary and will be back again next year “Please God” to support her niece from Wales who is “so beautiful” and should make it through.
Her twinkling eyes and lovesong narrative to a man who had “barely a wrinkle on his face and a full head of hair when he died,” paints a wonderful picture of love and devotion that is paralleled in a simpler way by her continued attendance at the International Rose of Tralee Festival.
In another way it epitomizes the lure and loyalty felt the world over by Irish communities who each year select their own Rose as an affirmation of their unbreakable link with a country and an ideal that cynics would say only exists in the romantic ether swirling over Kerry’s Lakes.
Peggy’s is not the only eye that twinkles as the 32 Roses gather in the town of Tralee (population 18,000 and falling) in North Кеrrу.
Proud parents, regional organizers, 32 male escorts and every local dignitary, all with badges to confirm their status, have a twinkle that lasts for a week. To say nothing of the 100,000 plus visitors, and the only man in Kerry who can upstage 32 beautiful Roses, Gaybo (Gay Byme), the ever buoyant host of what is widely accepted as one of the premier festivals in Europe.
“She was lovely and fair like the rose of the summer, Yet t’was not her beauty alone that won me.”
It is the second line of the famous song that provides the basis for the unique selection process. Personality, carriage, diplomacy, and a degree of beauty that will make the Rose an ambassador for Ireland all over the world. Last year’s Rose, Corkwoman Denise Murphy, attended some 300 functions in half a dozen countries.
“This is not a beauty contest,” was the line repeated by all concerned and emphasized by most of the Roses. They spoke rather of immigrant relatives that give them their Irish heritage and of the pride their families were experiencing by their selection.
“There is nothing I could have done to make my mother happier,” said Chicago Rose Tamara McDonough.
San Francisco’s Rose Jennifer Doyle Lopez got only a few hours notice that she was going to Ireland, her first ever visit, when she was asked to replace the original entrant who took ill in Dublin. A fluent Spanish speaker, she traces her Irish roots through her great-grandfather who was one of 13 children, the only one to emigrate to the United States, and the only one to have a family.
As the week’s events unfold leading to two nights of live television coverage in the Dome, where all the contestants are interviewed at length by Gay Byrne, it emerges just how unique the Rose of Tralee Festival is.
This year there are eight Roses (they are never called contestants) from the United States, and all competitive feelings evaporate, naturally it seems, within hours of their meeting.
“It’s like a bunch of giris from school getting together,” says Mary Connaughton, import show-owner and daughter of restaurateur Terry Connaughton, who is representing New York. With the exception of one who is still studying, they all have degrees in subjects as diverse as Fine Arts and Political Science and several are currently working towards their Masters.
Most, though not all, Roses during their live TV slot, which lasts up to 10 minutes, not only talk about their lives, family history, and aspirations but also perform in one way or another.
Some sang while others played the piano or clarinet, danced or recited poems or self-written monologues. Toronto Rose Maura Matesic capped it all with a performance of a Middle Eastern belly dance. The talent element we are told does not figure in the judges’ final decision although one wonders how they could forget belly dancing!
The judging panel of three men and two women, headed by Terry Challenor, Managing Director of Guinness Group Sales, spend countless hours during the week assessing the qualities of each Rose and make a final decision after the end of the two nights of performances in the 2,500 seat Dome.
Each Rose is assigned a male escort, undoubtedly the most enviable job, if it could be called that. This group of young men are selected from international applications, the requirements being that they must be complete gentlemen at all times, have a good personality, patience, stamina, a full wardrobe, and if all is to be believed be able to accept refusal gracefully. And on average, spend £400-500 of their own money for what is in essence a week-long blind date. In spite of all this, there are many more applications than places, and there is a very long waiting list. They are there to ensure that people look but don’t touch, that the conversation never stops, and that the glasses are always full. Many buy the Roses presents and present them with flowers (roses of course).
Everyone wants to know if there is “any jizz” between Escorts and Roses, especially since this is the first year that boyfriends can no longer be Escorts. There are many. many stories and some talk of disasters, which vary considerably depending on who’s telling it, the location and the time of night and like all such tales they have to be taken with the proverbial pinch of salt. There is common agreement. However, that come the last night, bowties and bouquets are definitely set aside for a night of craic.
Headlines in many of the national papers for the week of the Festival spoke of this, the 34th Rose of Tralee, as being Gay Byrne’s penultimate appearance.
Such is the stature and institutionalized nature of Ireland’s premier TV personality that the possibility of his leaving rated like the passing of a government or elder statesman.
He was quoted as saying that because of the non-stop schedule, “I don’t have time to enjoy myself or the Festival.”
He is a miniscule minority among Roses and the tens of thousands of visitors who all say they are having the time of their lives.
Cathleen Naftger, the Texas Rose, who was nearly upstaged by her family entourage in tuxedos and matching Stetsons said, “It is like being a queen for a week, we are made to feel like stars.” Headline and picture of the week also belongs to the Texas Rose who dressed like Annie Oakley and with two six guns aloft was pictured on the front page of The Kerryman under the title “Guns N’ Roses.”
The tears were flowing like buttermilk as the 1992 Rose was announced to the ecstatic gathering in the Dome. No one was more surprised than the Rose herself, Niamh Grogan, who represented Galway.
She was mobbed instantly by 31 other Roses, many overcome with emotion, and genuinely delighted at her success.
She was thrust center stage, crying, to receive her tiara, a Waterford Crystal trophy, a check for 12,000, and several other prizes.
Within moments the proud parents of the veterinary nurse and the oldest of the Roses at 25, were on the packed stage to join in the celebration. The serenading of the new Rose is as emotion-filled as any anthem ceremony in Barcelona and swelled the “Proud to be Irish” feeling deep in the hearts of those with even the most tenuous link to Ireland.
In spite of torrential late night rain she is presented within minutes to the waiting thousands on the stage outside the Ashe Memorial Hall as volleys of fireworks fill the night sky. Many hours later after countless hugs, kisses, flowers, congratulations and photographs, she finally gets to bed at the end of a day that has changed her life forever, and will guarantee the return of exiles for the 35th International Rose of Tralee.
Behind every headline and success such as the International Rose of Tralee there is always another story. In the Kingdom of Kerry it is the hundreds of people working all year round in preparation for a week in August. Teachers, farmers, and civil servants take vacation time from their jobs to spend a week working, from dawn ’til dusk, laying out seating, erecting stages, organizing hundreds of entertainers, car parks and rubbish collections, and doing it all for free. That they can do it in a hugely successful manner with such genuine warmth and friendliness is a living testimony to the words of John B. Keane inscribed on the walls of the Kerry County Museum: “The people of Kerry are larger than life. It is imperative that this be made clear at the outset.”
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the October 1992 issue of Irish America. ♦
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