- Maybe the most popular festival celebrating female "Irishness".
- A Kerry institution, on par with Fungi and Peig.
- The one occasion when all prejudices about "Irish colleens" are cherished to the max.
- It is not really politically correct, of course.
- Irish "diaspora" communities can buy into the franchise and elect a "Rose" - from Dublin to Dubai.
- The "Rose of Tralee", crowned for a year, is the most likeable and somehow "Irish" of them all.
- Actual prize monies are quite moderate and being a "Rose of Tralee" is no guarantee of attaining celebrity status.
Generally speaking, the "Rose of Tralee" is a beauty, talent and personality contest. Only here the expected answer is not just "World Peace", a convincing "Erin go Bragh" has to follow. The panel is not only looking for the fairest of them all, she has to be the Irishest as well.
Every Irish community, at home or in the so-called "diaspora", can send a "Rose" (the official title of the contestants), provided they bought into the franchise. Then annually in Tralee the "Rose of Tralee" is selected and crowned. After a few grueling days (for the viewer) of the young women trying to convince everyone of their respective merits. Which does not extend to posing in a bikini. But might well include a "Riverdance" routine, reading from the books of Peig Sayers or behaving like Fungi (i.e. totally at home in an alien environment).
When the "Rose of Tralee" is on, the town descends into several days of merrymaking and in-your-face Irishness. Actually it sometimes seems as if the Kerry metropolis feels not Irish enough for the Roses from such Irish-tinged places as Boston and Dubai. So they ham it up. Which can be either a bit of fun or simply nauseating, depending on your personal point of view and tolerance levels to shillelaghs, leprechauns and begorrahs.
Go there? At your own peril!
