The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Biggest competition in Rose history
THIS year’s Rose of Tralee will – in terms of contestants – be the biggest in the festival’s storied 57 year history.
Crowds may not reach the levels they did in the Rose’s 1970s and 1980s heyday but we can expect to see much bigger crowds enjoying this year’s festivities than we have seen in many years.
That the festival is also three days longer will also provide a huge boost to the town.
With the contest’s provincial finals returning to Tralee after years in Portlaoise the number of Roses coming to town has more than doubled to 65.
That may not seem all that significant in itself but remember each Rose – especially those from Ireland and the UK - typically arrive with a large entourage of friends, family and supporters from their respective centres.
There will also be more escorts and Rosebuds who will also have family and friends in tow.
Without even factoring in the visitors who will arrive in town for the festivities the additional Roses, centres and supporters will likely be enough to fill the towns hotels and B&B’s for the duration of the extended seven day event.
Indeed finding a somewhere to stay in Tralee and its surrounding areas during the festival is nigh on impossible with many Rose fans forced to stay in Killarney and commute in and out of Tralee.
All this of course will also be great news for the bars, cafés restaurants and, to a lesser extent, the shops who should be expecting a successful and lucrative week.
Tralee has a chance to show itself off to whole new audience this year and no doubt the town will do itself proud and our visitors will leave with very happy memories.
It will be year to remember but few many realise just how much work goes into organising such a huge event.
Preparing for the Rose of Tralee is always a massive task with the festival team starting work on the following year’s event about two week’s after the festival draws to a close.
This task – which involves everything from helping the reigning Rose with her day to day duties to managing transport and hospitality and keeping in touch with the 70 plus Rose centres worldwide – is undertaken by a core team of about 40 led by Festival General Manager Oliver Hurley.
Aside from the main Rose Team there are also a huge number of volunteers who keep everything running smoothly during the festival itself. Led by Street Festival co-ordinator Bryan Carr this team typically involves around 400 people including 150 to 200 locals from Tralee and hundreds more from the various Rose Centres.
It is a truly mammoth undertaking and this year it is even more complicated.
With 33 additional Roses, escorts and centres as well as the Roses’ families, friends and supporters the organisers will have to look after many hundreds more people.
Simply finding accommodation for them all has proved to be a massive task. Oliver Hurley said that at one point there were even doubts that all 65 Roses could be accommodated in the Rose Hotel.
However, that problem was quickly overcome and every one of the Roses will indeed be put up in the Hotel that is now the Festival’s spiritual Home.
Transport too has proven to be a tricky issue with an extra coach need to whisk the Roses around Ireland on their pre festival tour.
To help with the additional numbers a large number of extra volunteers and chaperones have been drafted in to look after the Roses and the families, the centres and the supporters during the festival.
Work on The Dome – which has been increased in size this year with a bigger main hall and a much larger reception area – also had to start earlier a fact Oliver Hurley said many people in the town had remarked on.
“A lot of people see the Dome going up and think that’s it summer’s over, so we had a ,lot of people commenting when work started on it earlier than usual,” Oliver said.
Mr Hurley said organising this year’s festival had been an enormous undertaking.
“People don’t understand how much work goes into it. It’s always a big task but we have had a lot more to deal with this year. Let’s just say we’ve spent an awful lot of time looking at Excel spreadsheets. Long lists have become a very big part of our lives,” Oliver Hurley said.
With all the preparatory work now over it’s time to enjoy the festival and Oliver Hurley said he expects this year’s event to be one of the best and busiest for many years.