“She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer
Yet, ’twas not her beauty alone that won me.
Oh no! ‘Twas the truth in her eye ever beaming
That made me love Sheila, the Rose of Tralee.”
A twenty-three-year old, Miss Sheila Ryan from Tomevara, here in North Tipperary, has been unanimously crowned the 2017 Rose to represent Tipperary in the upcoming Rose of Tralee Festival.
The Rose of Tralee International Festival is one of Ireland’s largest and longest running festivals. This year the festival celebrates its 58th successful year, with the celebrations kicking off on Wednesday, August 16th, and ending on Tuesday, August 22nd 2017.
Of course, the heart of this festival is the selecting each year of a ‘Rose of Tralee’, which attracts young ladies of Irish descent from across the globe to the Kingdom of Kerry, here in the south-west of Ireland, for a global celebration of all that is Irish.
This festival also includes quality street entertainment as in:- Carnivals; Live Concerts, Theatre and Circus Performances, Street Markets, Funfairs, Fireworks and Rose Parades.
Back here in Thurles Miss Ryan was crowned the 2017 Tipperary Rose in front of a packed audience in the Anner Hotel, Thurles on last Friday night. A nurse by profession, Miss Ryan outshone some 23 other beautiful roses, to procure the top prize and that much sought after golden ticket to the Rose of Tralee festival this summer.
Leave a Reply