{"id":6031,"date":"2025-08-18T00:33:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T00:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/6031\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T00:33:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T00:33:11","slug":"families-of-2025-roses-share-pride-at-tralee-event-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/6031\/","title":{"rendered":"Families of 2025 Roses share pride at Tralee event \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thunderstorms that earlier raged in the town of Tralee<\/a> had subsided by the time D\u00e1ith\u00ed \u00d3 S\u00e9<\/a> and the 2024 Rose were towed into view.<\/p>\n

Waving from a glittering makeshift balcony on wheels, \u00d3 S\u00e9 and Kiwi Keely O\u2019Grady<\/a> sat next to the Sam MaGuire Cup, which Kerry claimed last month as All-Ireland winners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to President of Ireland Da\u00edth\u00ed \u00d3 S\u00e9 … Oh wait, that will be next year,\u201d said MC Brian Hurley.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s Moonlight Parade event featured performances from Minnesota\u2019s Govenaires Drum and Bugle corps, circus members on stilts and, of course, elevated platforms for the Roses to wave from. They were surrounded by dancing escorts.<\/p>\n

The parade is a highlight of the festivities of the Rose of Tralee<\/a>, with thousands attending every year.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the event, the mother of Ottawa Rose Aidan Russell was feeling positive about her daughter\u2019s prospects in the contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cA bird pooped on my head; I think that\u2019s good luck. I swear it,\u201d said Tracy Woodcock Russell, who arrived early to make sure she had a place at the front of the barricade ahead of the parade. <\/p>\n

\u201cAidan\u2019s father passed in December of last year and that\u2019s probably his idea of a joke,\u201d she added, showing a four-leaf clover and a key chain with a finger print of her late husband as good luck charms. <\/p>\n

\"TaylorTaylor Woodcock Russell and Rhonda Barone, mother and aunt of Ottawa rose Aidan Russell. On her daughter\u2019s participation in the Kerry contest, Ms Woodcock Russell says: \u201cProud doesn\u2019t even cover it.\u201d \"TracyTracy Woodcock Russell shows her good luck charms as well as her sign for her daughter Aidan Russell <\/p>\n

On her daughter\u2019s participation in the Kerry contest, she said: \u201cProud doesn\u2019t even cover it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Her daughter, who has been accepted to work in the Canadian Foreign Service as a diplomat, would make the perfect Rose, Ms Woodcock Russell added, as she considers the competition to be \u201clike a pageant but more of a cultural ambassador role\u201d. <\/p>\n

Also flying in from Canada are Kieron and Lorraine Hoare, parents of the Toronto Rose, Rachel Hoare. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a festival, not a pageant,\u201d said Mr Hoare. <\/p>\n

\"KieronKieron Hoare and Lorraine Hoare, parents of Toronto Rose Rachel Hoare, says the festival is magnificent <\/p>\n

He said he has been showing his daughter Ireland, but the Rose of Tralee teaches a \u201ccultural perspective of all the counties and the different jigsaw puzzle pieces of Irish culture around the world\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about coming together and celebrating it. It\u2019s magnificent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Evie Lynn Kelly, cousin of Fermanagh Rose Caoimhe Connolly, said the festival is \u201cjust tremendous for the county\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ms Connolly should be crowned the Rose because is a \u201clovely girl\u201d and \u201cit would be great if Fermanagh won something like this\u201d, said Ms Kelly, adding: \u201cWe never win anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selena Greene said her sister, Longford Rose Sara-Lee Greene, should be the Rose of Tralee because \u201cshe\u2019s a bit of craic\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"SelenaSelena Greene, sister her sister, Longford Rose Sara-Lee Green, is a bit of craic <\/p>\n

In the nearby Tralee town park, by the rose garden, two middle-aged Australians are giddy as teenagers, recreating the pose of the Rose of Tralee statue. <\/p>\n

Former Rose Nyomi Horgan, from Perth, and her partner Alex Blain are attending the festival 30 years on from her win. <\/p>\n

\u201cBack in 1995, I was a uni student and I wanted to see the world. For a long time family had talked about the Rose of Tralee and I thought: \u2018Well if I enter this thing and become the Perth Rose, I get to go to Ireland. Wouldn\u2019t that be fantastic!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cNext minute I have a sash and a crown and I am really seeing the world as the Rose of Tralee.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"NyomiNyomi Horgan, a 1995 Rose, says authenticity is the secret to winning <\/p>\n

Being the Rose of Tralee is a \u201cgreat privilege\u201d, said Ms Horgan.<\/p>\n

When describing what the Rose of Tralee is, the Perth native said the contest is a \u201cspecial sorority of accomplished and purposeful women\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that\u2019s feminism, I will leave that definition to you, but there\u2019s power in women being supported by each other and going out there and doing what they are called to do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Has she any tips for the women competing this year? Authenticity, she said, is \u201cthe secret to winning\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thunderstorms that earlier raged in the town of Tralee had subsided by the time D\u00e1ith\u00ed \u00d3 S\u00e9 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[6054,6055,6056,6057,18,117,4893,6058,6059,6060,6061,6062,6063,19,17,6064,5,6065,6066,6067,551,6068,6069,6070,5445,2267,6071],"class_list":{"0":"post-6031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-actor","9":"tag-belgium","10":"tag-comedian","11":"tag-diplomacy","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-eu","15":"tag-eu-commission-president","16":"tag-female","17":"tag-german","18":"tag-group","19":"tag-half-length","20":"tag-handshake","21":"tag-ie","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-male","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-personality","26":"tag-politician","27":"tag-treaties-and-organisations","28":"tag-ukraine","29":"tag-ukraine-european-union-relations","30":"tag-ukrainian-president","31":"tag-vladimir-zelensky","32":"tag-volodymyr-zelensky","33":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskiy","34":"tag-with-others"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}