WICKLOW ROSE ABBY MCKENNA IS HEADING OFF TO TRALEE
Our Rose is setting out from Wicklow Brewery in Redcross to the international festival. Good luck, Abby! WICKLOW ROSE ABBY IS HEADING TO TRALEE
WHEN Redcross woman Abby McKenna looked ahead to summer 2017 she never envisaged representing her county as the Wicklow Rose – yet here she is.
The 22-year-old, who is on the brink of a return to college, has resigned herself to a season of hard work in the hospitality industry and preparing for her Digital Marketing course in Bray Institute of Further Education.
‘I am going back to college in September and I didn’t really have any plans like festivals or going on holidays. I suppose I always would have liked to enter the Rose of Tralee but never had the opportunity. When I was approached this year, the time could not have been more perfect so I just went for it,’ Abby explained.
Thanks to the sponsorship of her employers Wicklow Brewery in Redcross, Abby was soon in the running for the Wicklow Rose title and following a tough audition and selection night at the Arklow Bay Hotel, Abby was crowned the 2017 Wicklow Rose – and has the tiara and sash to prove it.
As a young girl growing up in Redcross, Abby was a fan of the Rose of Tralee and, like many others, watched it every year on the television.
This week, Abby is at the heart of the action as she travels around Ireland on the famed ‘Rose Tour’.
‘For the full week we are travelling all around Ireland to visit different attractions and communities. It’s a great experience for all of us, particularly the Roses who live outside Ireland,’ she said. Abby will certainly be dressed to impress following generous sponsorship from a number of boutiques including Buy Design in Athy, McMullan’s in Arklow and Liz Collins in Gorey. She has been paired up with the Texas Rose, Lydian Lawler Lopez, for the week and said that meeting her fellow contestants has been the high point so far. ‘Everyone says it every year but it really is true – all the girls are so lovely. I have met them all and we are getting on very well. It’s so interesting to meet girls from other countries and backgrounds. I haven’t met my escort yet but I can’t wait to see what he is like,’ Abby added. On Friday, Abby and her soonto-be-revealed escort will attend the Rose Ball in the Dome and on Monday and Tuesday, the televised interviews will be broadcast live on RTÉ One.
However, not even Abby herself knows if she will yet be taking part in these.
‘We don’t find out until later it the week, and possibly the weekend, if we are through. To be honest I am having such a wonderful time that I don’t mind one way or the other. It would be lovely to get through but I feel that I have already had such a great experience and met so many lovely people,’ she said.
Whether she makes it through to the final or not, Abby won’t be short of support in Tralee as her mum Grace, brother Adam, sister Kelly and grandmother Patricia Wilson and colleagues from Wicklow Brewery will be travelling down to cheer her on.
It’s certain that the county of Wicklow will be rooting for their very own Rose to take the prestigious title.