Nora Flynn and Siobhán Hickey can be seen displaying a banner labelled “Araglen Abú”. They made the trip to Tralee, Co Kerry, with the motive of cheering on Shauna O’Sullivan, the Cork Rose hailing from their village. Hickey tells us out of the 400 residents of Araglen, no less than 300 are here to support Shauna. The remaining 100, as quipped by Shauna’s mother Ena, are back home attending to the dairy.
Excitement fills the air in Tralee as they await the grand parade of this year’s Roses. As they wait, children can be seen swinging in lampposts, families cheerfully line-dancing to the tune of ‘Uptown Girl’, and a man styled as a Keystone cop humorously patrols the area brandishing a plastic truncheon.
A three-month-old named Alicia is not feeling particularly chatty, but her father Jake, who is also her spokesperson, shares that she is the goddaughter and niece of Derry Rose Darcy Taylor. He’s hopeful that she’ll take part in the Rose pageant in the coming decades.
Meanwhile, a troop dressed in Australian cork hats and bearing banners reading “G’day Ashling” is none other than the Mayo family, showing their support for Sydney Rose Ashling Heneghan. The squad includes Stephanie, Ashling’s twin sister, their brother Stephen, their mother, also named Stephanie, and her partner, you guessed it, Stephen. Stephen chuckles as he admits that his wife believes they might have exhausted the utility of the name.
The following day, Ashling and Stephanie decide to dress identically to test if the other Roses and their escorts could tell them apart. Interestingly, there are four Roses with twin siblings, including New York’s Billie Cooper, whose twin Lucy has put off attending the Democratic National Convention to support her sister. Lucy will soon begin her master’s in politics at UCD, but being as introverted as she is, she doubts she’d manage the spotlight of participating in the Rose of Tralee like her more extroverted sister Billie.
A surprisingly large number of marching bands for an alleged impartial nation led Daithi Ó Sé into the scene as he arrived on a float, squished next to the previous year’s Rose of Tralee Róisín Wiley, Maggie Flaherty, the Rose of Tralee of 1974 who was totally oblivious of the Rose of Tralee before she competed in it, only got spotted from her name on a modelling agency’s list in New York, and the Tralee Mayor, Mikey Sheehy.
These 32 ‘Roses’ ride atop floats of diverse themes, waving to the onlookers. The array of floats ranges from a rainbow-themed float to a disco one, a Fireman Sam-themed chariot, one that has Frozen’s Olaf the snowman which draws out cheers and cries from a young lad, and a peculiar one with mushrooms, in case you missed the psychedelic.
The escorts would remind you of all types of men struggling to fit into a suit a size smaller. Their stroll alongside these floats resembles those of secret-service agents, albeit these agents are more prone to catch hold of a beer pint than a flying bullet.
The procession concludes at a massive stage located at the Ashe Memorial House. Cast members line up on the stage. Escorts, and ‘rosebuds’ (young girls prepped as Roses) queue up in front of it. Tenor Noel Pearson serenades the outgoing Rose, Róisín Wiley, with The Rose of Tralee. A nearby teenager cheers, expressing her love for the song. Afterwards, the Roses, their escorts, the rosebuds and Daithi Ó Sé all jive to the widely cherished YMCA, just as they have been doing since times of hardship. The event is relived the next day as well.
Sunday morning saw nine Roses being approached by little girls for their autographs after the Mass at St John’s Church. Anthony O’Gara’s daughter, Susan O’Gara, who is in charge of the event, guides the Roses and escorts to the parish hall for a little social gathering over tea and cake, recalling her childhood memories. “We used to enact being Roses in our backyard, taking turns to role-play as Gay Byrne,” she shares. (Anthony O’Gara could not make it to the festival due to recent heart surgery).
Ódhran Heelan, an escort who is also a financial worker, is seen fondly clutching the golden clutch-bag of the New York Rose. “I reckon I’ll get one for myself, it complements me,” he shared.
Long-standing volunteer at Rose, Paul O’Donnell, displays his affection for Rose stating that he particularly likes it because it holds on to its traditional characteristics. He describes it as a timeless experience, with Roses at Mass and on merry-go-rounds.
A ride back to the central hub of Roses, the Meadowlands Hotel, is led by bus driver John O’Shea. He’s been transporting Roses since 2004 and mentions that sometimes he fails to recognise returnees. He jestingly suggests they should continue wearing the distinctive sashes to aid in recognition.
Inside the bus, activities vary from singing ‘Dirty Old Town’ to indulging in relaxing conversations. Some even snatch a few moments of sleep. Darcy Taylor, the Rose from Derry, eases her sore foot commenting on the extensive walking involved. Darcy also works as an assistant producer with BBC Foyle.
Reflecting on the experience, she finds it unusual to hear the same comforting words from others that she uses to pacify people during her interviews. She admires the community spirit involved but is also conscious of the potentially overwhelming nature of the experience. She lightheartedly concedes, that the position she finds herself in, is far from regular circumstances.