For the past six years Dubai’s Irish Society has been electing a beautiful, talented lady to send to the country town of Tralee, County Kerry to represent Dubai in the world- famous Rose of Tralee Festival.

This coming Friday one lucky lady out of eleven will be chosen to attend the event in what promises to be the greatest festival yet. The 49 year old Tralee Rose Festival is a major event in Ireland’s social calendar and gives a platform to young women of Irish birth or descent from areas including not only Ireland itself but: the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Dubai. The two day festival turns the town of Tralee upside down as the world’s media focuses its attention on the contest but local residents would not have it any other way. Entertainment is laid on in abundance with a street carnival, fireworks and the Rose Ball being some of the main attractions. Everyone gets into the spirit of the occasion with local pubs “adopting” one of the finalists and championing their cause by plastering the bar in pictures of their twinned girl and memorabilia of the festival.

The festival in its present form stems from the previous “Tralee’s Carnival Queen” event. This event was originally based on the lyrics of a song written in Tralee and the story behind it. The story goes thus; William Mulchinock was a 19th century business man who fell in love with his maid Mary O’Connor who was known as the Rose of Tralee due to her fair beauty. The two were forbidden to marry because of the difference in social class and William was forced to leave for India. Before he left William wrote Mary a song which he titled ‘The Rose of Tralee.’ Years later he returned to his hometown to discover Mary had tragically died of consumption. Although William did eventually marry and move to New York he never forgot his one true love. Much older he once again returned to Tralee and on his death bed asked to be buried next to his ‘Rose.’ The Festival is therefore a perpetual search for a new Rose to match Mary O’Connor’s beauty.

Read more by David Light from the Khaleej Times