The third weekend in May marks the greatly anticipated selection of the 2022 Rose who will go forward to represent New York in the International Rose of Tralee Festival in Co Kerry, Ireland this August 19 – August 23.
Steeped in tradition, the International Rose of Tralee Festival connects the global Irish community. Rose contestants are ambassadors for their local community and provide a focal point for the city, county, or country they represent to join in on celebrating and promoting Irish heritage and culture globally.
The New York Rose Center has been hosting its selection events and sending a Rose to Ireland for 63 years and after a challenging couple of years, the New York Rose Center returns in full force with its selection events this weekend.
The events kick off this Friday, May 20 with a Meet & Greet for the 2022 New York Rose Applicants at Keane's Bar & Restaurant on Katonah Avenue in the Woodlawn section of The Bronx. This event is open to everyone to come to meet the candidates for this year's New York Rose.
The 2022 Rose Ball, the signature event of the weekend, will be hosted the following evening, Saturday, May 21 at Rosie O’Grady’s on 7th Avenue in New York City. Doors open at 7 pm for a night of dinner, dancing, and drinks with emcee Sophie Colgan, the 2015 New York Rose.
Irish fashion designer Don O’Neill is this year’s special guest of honor at the Rose Ball. Unateresa Gormley, Cultural Director at the NY Rose of Tralee, speaks warmly of Don, saying he "is a celebrated and successful designer of fashion on the world stage.
“In a career which brings him from Ballyheigue to Cork, to Dublin to London, to Paris to New York, Don is a role model for aspiring young designers and his life achievements signify what a combination of hard work and creativity can achieve.
“An inspiration for young men and women, Don and his beloved husband Pascal are a couple who through their love, work and altruism make the lives of those they encounter better. Don’s is a story of creativity, talent, courage, humor, exuberance, perseverance, and independence.
“Don is a great ambassador for Ireland and America, a person who through his art celebrates the inspiration that Ireland offers, a fashion designer of the highest level but more than this, he is a dear friend to many, whose deepest wish is to enable people feel good about themselves and using his talent for design simply as the conduit for this greater energy. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, is a saying which first featured in ancient Greece in the 3rd century. On reflecting on the life and work of Don O’Neill, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and in the heart and mind of the beheld.”
Tickets for the black-tie optional Rose Ball on Saturday, May 21 are available here via Eventbrite or by contacting [email protected].
The final dress for Tralee has been picked up! What an honor it has been to have met you Don. You are simply the best....
Posted by New York Rose of Tralee on Thursday, August 8, 2019
The final event of the weekend will be the much-anticipated New York Rose Selection, which will take place on Sunday, May 22 at The Kerry Hall on McLean Avenue in Yonkers. Doors open at 2 pm with the event, presented by Seamus Keane and emceed by Sean Ruane, officially kicking off at 3 pm. Attendees will get to know each Rose candidate before the official 2022 New York Rose is selected on Sunday night.
To learn more about the New York Rose of Tralee center, visit its website, Facebook page, or email [email protected].
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