A Stoughton woman will represent Boston and New England this month at the international Rose of Tralee Festival in Co Kerry, Ireland. Tanya Stanley was named to represent the six-state New England region at a May 27 competition at the Irish Cultural Centre of New England.
The festival is celebrated each year in the month of August in Tralee, Co. Kerry. It has become an annual International event and is held to choose and crown the Rose each year. The judges look for a representative with a great personality, a person who will be a role model as the winner will travel during her year as the Rose to many places and events.
In recent years the festival’s master of ceremonies has been Daithi O’ Se and prior to that Gay Byrne was the presenter for 17 years. The event will be televised by Irish Television and written up in all major Irish papers.
Theresa (Tanya) Stanley will travel to Tralee later this month for the week-long festival. In an online biography on the website roseoftralee.ie, she wrote, “I am a 22 year old living in the beautiful and historical Boston, Massachusetts. Although I was born in the United States, I spent the majority of my childhood living in Ireland. Both of my parents were born and raised in Ireland, my father being from Dublin, and my mother from Donegal.
“I am currently studying at Bridgewater State University where I am majoring in psychology in hopes to become a clinical psychologist or a therapist. This field requires a lot of empathy and patience to help those that are struggling with a mental disorder, something that I want to make sure they can overcome. I plan on furthering my education to obtain my master’s degree to broaden my knowledge as much as possible.
“I am very bubbly, outgoing and kind hearted. I enjoy spending time with friends and family and making memories that will last a lifetime. I am truly honored to be representing as the 2019 Boston & New England Rose in Tralee and I am excited for the rest of the year and what it has in store.”
As legend has it, the Rose of Tralee is named after a ballad entitled “The Rose of Tralee” written by William Pembroke Mulchinock because of his love for a young Catholic girl named Mary O’Connor. The “Rose of Tralee” originated in 1959. At the start it was confined to ladies from Tralee. Later it was opened up to residents of County Kerry and finally extended to any woman of Irish birth or ancestry.
In 2018, Kirstin Mate Maher from County Waterford, a student and part time model who played with the Waterford hockey club, was crowned. She was the first African-Irish person to win this event. In 1985 Helena Rafferty who hails from Canton, Mass., won the event as the Boston Rose. The last American girl to win the trophy was Maggie McEldowney from Chicago in 2016.
Tanya will spend approximately ten days in Ireland. The selection and ultimate winner will be made on Aug. 27.
Deirdre and Bob Leger along with Jim, Myrum, and Grainne Lanagan, members of the Rose of Tralee committee, are hopeful that this year Tanya Stanley will return to Boston as the international Rose of Tralee.