By NiallO’Dowd

IT was a beautiful New York evening last Friday night, and the view from Harbour Lights restaurant, nestling over the East River in the South Street Seaport was spectacular.

Over head “the pale moon was rising,” which was fitting given that we were celebrating the New York Rose of Tralee competition. Those lines begin “The Rose of Tralee,” one of the most famous songs in the Irish experience.

It was written by William Mulchinock, a prosperous 19th century businessman from the Kerry town of Tralee who fell in love with his family’s maid as a young man. His family refused to agree to a marriage and he left Ireland heartbroken.

Years later he came back and found that his “Rose of Tralee” Mary O’Connor had passed away. He wrote the song in her memory.

In 1959 a group of local businessmen in Tralee came together to launch the Rose of Tralee festival with the aim of attracting young Irish women from all over the world back to Ireland and crowning one as Mary O’Connor’s successor. It is now Ireland’s biggest festival.

The New York event had fallen on hard times in recent years but it is now back to its best. Certainly, the setting on Friday night was superb.

The three lower Manhattan bridges, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg, sparkled in the distance, while underneath the East River was thronged with cruise boats and barges, all going on their merry way. The New York skyline formed a spectacular backdrop as the girls all went through their paces with expert emcee, Irish Voice advertising director Ronan Creaney, to guide them.

The view was no less spectacular in the function room at Harbour Lights as the 14 outstanding young Irish women were vying for the title of New York Rose of Tralee.

They came from all over New York State and included children of recent emigrants, and those to whom Ireland is a long distant family connection. Wherever they came from or how far back their heritage was, however, they were all immensely proud to be seeking the honor to represent their city in August in Tralee.

The New York Rose of Tralee, hosted by the Irish Voice for the past two years, is a unique competition that is hard to quantify.

It is not a beauty competition, though good looks certainly help. It is not a fashion contest, though beautiful clothes certainly help. It is not a personality test, though having a pleasant and sparkling presence is certainly a plus.

It is really a unique Irish event which puts together many of those elements and more.

The 200 or so guests on Friday night were witnessing an event that has no parallel anywhere else.

The Rose of Tralee is the greatest advertisement for the Irish diaspora that can be found. From every part of the world, young women gather every year in Tralee, Co. Kerry to demonstrate once again that unshakeable bond between Ireland and the far flung empire of 70 million who also lay claim to Irish allegiance.

That is why you will find Roses in August in Ireland from Australia, South Africa, many countries in Europe, Asia, and North America including from Boston, New York, Philadelphia New Orleans, Texas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and many other locations.

The sojourn in Tralee is a unique opportunity for them to touch base with those roots only distantly remembered by many. As last year’s winner Caitlin Burke remembers, “From the 12 of us from New York who flew over, two from London and the 35 cousins from Mayo and Clare, I almost didn’t remember who I was representing.”

Caitlin was on hand to crown this year’s Rose, Melissa Marie Teelin, a 20-year-old fashion student whose lively and vivacious manner helped win her the crown in a very close contest.

We wish her all the luck in the world in Tralee next month and know she will be a great representative from New York. Either way it will afford her, like the scores of other girls, a once in a lifetime opportunity to touch base with those Irish roots her family are so proud of.