Southern rose blooms in Irish comp
For Queenstown’s Maggie Fea there was never a question of if she would enter the Rose of Tralee, the question was when.
The University of Otago student secured the New Zealand Rose of Tralee title after competing against five other finalists at the competition in Wellington at the weekend.
Fea’s grandmother had been telling the 21-year-old about the competition since she was 10, and this year she decided it was time to give it a go, she said.
"My main motivation was for my family, I knew they would be so proud."
Fea’s great-great-great grandmother, 16-year-old Mary Clifford left Ireland for Southland in the 1870s. "My family really embraces our Irish heritage."
Each generation of
Clifford’s female descendents has been tasked with keeping in touch with their Irish cousins – a tradition which could come in handy at the world Rose of Tralee competition in Ireland this August.
During the national competition, Fea performed an original poem called The Irish Kiwi about the mixture of Kiwi and Irish culture. She wanted to relate to the audience as they would have seen the same mixture of cultures, she said.
A self-proclaimed extrovert, Fea said she was excited to head to Ireland for the international competition and predicted she would be in her element.
Fellow southern finalist Caitlin Salter may have missed out on the New Zealand Rose of Tralee crown, but The Southland Times’ reporter said seeing her own smile beaming down from her late great-aunt’s wall was the only prize she needed.
Salter won the Southland title in April and said
she would always cherish sharing the competition journey with her late great-aunt. ‘‘We were quite close and unfortunately she passed away two weeks after I won the Southland Rose of Tralee,’’ Salter said.
‘‘She had a photo of me on her wall from after I won. I’m really glad I got to share that with her.’’
Salter said the finalists arrived in Wellington on Thursday for a ‘‘full-on’’ few days that included a charity fundraiser, cocktail party and the rose selection ball.
Contestants were interviewed by judges and also performed on stage, with Salter playing guitar and singing A Life That’s Good in front of about 170 people.
Entering the Rose of Tralee had been a good opportunity to celebrate her Irish heritage, Salter said.
The event is named after the 19th century Irish ballad about a woman named Mary, who, because of her beauty, was called the Rose of Tralee.
The winning rose is the woman deemed to best match the attributes of the rose.