Rose of Tralee 2014, Maria Walsh, in the Rose Garden in the Town Park on Wednesday morning. Photo by Dermot Crean
THE new Rose of Tralee said she is looking forward to getting to know the town better over the course of her reign.
Maria Walsh, who was representing Philadelphia in the competition, was speaking in the Town Park for the annual Rose Garden photoshoot.
The 27 year old explained that she had never been to Tralee before coming to the Festival on Friday.
“I had never visited Tralee before this week and I’m secretly delighted that I didn’t, because now I have such a great memory of it. It’s amazing to think that 200,000 people visit here this week just for the Festival and there’s so many families who come down and treat it as a holiday before going back to school.
“I look forward to getting to know it more over the next year and I just want to thank them. They’ve been very kind and genuine in welcoming us all,” she said.
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Maria moved to Shrule in Co Mayo with her family 20 years ago.
Following her graduation in Journalism and Visual Media at Griffith College, she moved to New York and later to Philadelphia.
So how is she feeling this morning?
“I’m still very surprised by it all and still on Cloud 99, never mind Cloud 9! I’m just really excited. I can’t believe it is about the best sentence to say. I went back and met some of the girls last night and said ‘this is ridiculous, what am I doing here’. Everybody was so excited for me,” she said.
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Is she planning on going to Croke Park on Sunday to see her native county take on the Kingdom?
“I’m working on it. If Dáithí ó Sé hadn’t shouted out ‘Kerry for Sam’ on the big screen I probably might have not, but I want to see his face when Mayo beat them!” she said.
And what are her plans for the coming year?
“I’m really excited to visit as many Rose centres as I can and the Irish communities abroad. I have a new car so that’s always handy-dandy. So really it’s just roll up my sleeves and see what happens,” she said.
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Billy, Evie and Rosie Giles with Rose of Tralee, Maria Walsh in the Town Park this morning. Photo by Dermot Crean
Rose of Tralee 2014, Maria Walsh, with Olivia Crean and Jerry Crean in the Town Park on Wednesday morning. Photo by Dermot Crean
Rose of Tralee 2014, Maria Walsh, in the Town Park with Aine Sweeney, Donegal, on Wednesday morning. Photo by Dermot Crean
Rose of Tralee 2014, Maria Walsh, in the Rose Garden in the Town Park on Wednesday morning. Photo by Dermot Crean
