The annual Rose of Tralee International festival will take place next week in County Kerry from August 16-20.
The heart of the festival is the selection of the Rose of Tralee which brings women of Irish descent from around the world to Co Kerry, Ireland for a global celebration of Irish culture.
32 women will compete with hopes of being crowned the Rose of Tralee for 2024.
All Connacht counties will have a Rose representing them in this year’s festival, apart from Mayo who have not qualified.
Megan McCormack represents Sligo and is among the front runners to be this year’s winner, while Roscommon’s Rachel Hastings, Leitrim’s Shauna Murtagh and Deirdre Jennings of Galway will all be hoping for top prize.
A Mayo native, however, will be competing this year – Westport’s Ashling Heneghan is the Sydney Rose.
While the main competition concerns the Rose of Tralee itself, the competition for Best Escort has generated some local interest.
Ardagh native James Burke is among this year’s escorts and the 27 year old actuary and musician has been enjoying the journey so far.
He has been speaking to Midwest Radio’s Rian Bailey about how he got involved in this year’s festival in the first place:
