Meet the Roses - stage set for Rose of Castlerea selection night
Katelyn Drury - sponsored by Josie's Cafe.
It’s no surprise that the Castlerea Rose Festival, now in its 38th year, scooped a major national award earlier this year.
In February, the festival won the ‘Best Irish Festival’ award at the LAMA All-Ireland Community Awards in Dublin.
The seven-day festival was nominated by the tourism section of Roscommon County Council as one of the county’s premier tourism attractions.
That national award is due recognition for a festival which continues to gain wider acclaim each year.
One of the major highlights of the event is the selection of the Rose of Castlerea. The Rose selection gets underway at 8 p.m. in the Trinity Arts Centre this evening Sunday, August 4th with compere Gerry Glennon, Mid-West Radio. The evening is sponsored this year by Josie’s Café.
The nine Roses taking part this year are: Katelyn Drury - sponsored by Josie's Café; Kelis Curran - sponsored by Manson Electric; Sarah Winston - sponsored by Cahill's SuperValu; Jo Keely - sponsored by Frenchys; Mia Doyle - sponsored by Kearney's Chemist; Tara Keane - sponsored by Market Fresh; Cora Sharkey - sponsored by Happy Feet Childcare; Maureen Quinn - sponsored by Hester’s Golden Eagle Bar & Restaurant and Ciara Gallagher, sponsored by Castlerea Musical Society.
Rose Festival Secretary Susan Gaynor is keen to pay tribute to the many people who have given of their time selflessly to ensure the continued success of the event each year.
That includes those who volunteer their time freely and willingly travelling to parades all over the country in all weathers to assemble and display the committee’s own inflatables to help fund the Castlerea Rose Festival.
“We have managed to do a lot of fundraising ourselves through the hiring of inflatables which raises money to help us improve our festival, and allow it get bigger and better every year,” explains Susan.
She points out that all money raised during the festival goes straight back into the festival funds, which allows the committee to put on as many free events as possible.
“And now we've come to the stage where we've been able to put on six nights of music, three of them are free. The funds raised allows us to attract some of the biggest bands currently in Ireland while still maintaining our community focus with our free events.”
