Philadelphia Rose of Tralee
Celebrating 10 Years
2002-2012

December zipped by! It was a month jammed packed with Christmas parties, and I was honored to be invited to attend each party as the Philadelphia Rose.  

The Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Annual Christmas Party was the first on the agenda. On December 10^th, the Philly Rose Centre and I hosted a very successful Christmas celebration and fundraiser for PAWS at The Willows Mansion. The Rose family enjoyed great food, crafts, live music by Declan McLaughlin and a visit from Santa!

There were many prizes to be won at the Rose Christmas party, as well! A Christmas wreath decorated to the brim with lottery tickets had many eyes on it. We still haven’t heard from the wreath winner. We’d love to know how many of those lotto tickets were winners! There was also a fabulous raffle prize table with raffle ticket proceeds benefiting the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society. Tons of attendees left the party with prizes in hand, and I know my Uncle Gerry was very pleased with himself for buying so many raffle tickets, as he won a signed Claude Giroux hockey stick.

It was great to see so many new faces at the party, including potential Rose candidates and even a few listeners of Vince Gallagher’s radio show. All in all, the Rose family collected hundreds of cans of pet food, toys, blankets and cleaning supplies for PAWS and an additional $300 was also raised for the shelter. A big thank you to everyone who donated!

The Christmas parties continued, and the next day I was at the Irish Center for the Mayo/Donegal holiday party. The ballroom was set up for the occasion, with poinsettias and decorations everywhere. I got some last minute Christmas shopping done at the Newbridge table, and shared a great meal with Stephanie Miller, the current Miss Mayo, and Meghan Davis, the current Philadelphia Mary from Dungloe.

 Rose duties continued the following weekend. On Saturday, December 17^th, the Philly Rose Centre and I played Santa and made an early Christmas delivery to PAWS on 2^nd and Arch Streets downtown. We dropped off boxes and bags overflowing with donations for the animals, along with the $300 raised at the party, all to be used for life-saving endeavors at the shelter. We received word that the PAWS animals were enjoying their new toys before we were barely out the door. This couldn’t have happened without you, our Rose family, so thank you again!

The next day, I was back at the Irish Center for the Derry Society’s Christmas party. I was particularly excited to go as I had just discovered that my Nana’s family has Derry roots. I was greeted by Bill Donahue, the Derry Society’s President, who is also the father of Noreen (Donahue) McAleer, Philadelphia’s first ever Rose. It took Bill very little time to convince me to join the Derry Society, and I spent the rest of the party chatting with members and enjoying snacks.

All of the Christmas shopping I got done at the Newbridge party in October really paid off. With so many holiday events in December, Christmas completely snuck up on me! This year all of the Keeley’s received a Newbridge gift, from both me and my mother, which everyone was pleased with.

 With the new year upon us, the search is now on for the new Philadelphia Rose! The Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Centre is now taking applications for the 2012 Philly Rose. To learn more about the great experience I had, check out our Philly Rose promo or email the Rose Centre  for more information. It has been an experience that I cannot speak more highly about, so spread the word to anyone who may be interested!

And we hope you will join us on Sunday, April 1st at 6pm at the Radnor Hotel to crown the 2012 Philadelphia Rose of Tralee!

The last weekend of October was hectic one! I had the PAWS Mutt Strut and a Newbridge party at my parent's house penned down for Saturday, October 29th, but Philadelphia's first snow storm of the year altered my plans a bit. The Mutt Strut was postponed, but the few brave ones of Philly still made it out to my parent's house for a great Newbridge party. Despite the small crowd, we enjoyed great company as family and my mom's friends flipped through my work-in-progress Philadelphia Rose scrapbook. Everyone left with full orders made out to Newbridge and I got all of my Christmas shopping done!

The following weekend was full of Rose duties. On Saturday, November 5, I attended my first ever Philadelphia Mayo Ball at the Irish Center. It was the 106th Ball for the Mayo Association of Philadelphia and I must say that they do know how to throw a party! The night was full of live music, Irish dancers and, of course, the Miss Mayo competition. The Irish dancers were absolutely amazing and I must admit that I admired their costumes. I spent the night chatting (and dancing!) away with the 2011 Philadelphia Mary from Dungloe, Stephanie Lennon, and the 2011 Miss Mayo, Kathleen Paulson (photo on left). The first runner up, second runner up, and new 2012 Miss Mayo were crowned around 11pm amid many applause. Bright and early the next morning, I attended the postponed PAWS Mutt Strut with some dedicated Philly Rose supporters, including my younger sister Rose. The weather was gorgeous and Philly Rose team member Mary Curran brought her dog Angus along for the mile and a half walk. There were tons of vendors, tents, food carts and dogs in costumes. The Philadelphia Rose of Tralee team raised over $215 dollars, all which went to a very worth cause.

On the 12th of November,  Sarah Conaghan and I made a trip down to Baltimore for the annual Maryland Irish Festival. We caught a little bit of Vince Gallagher's Irish radio program on WNJC and heard his lovely Philly Rose of Tralee Christmas party promotion before we lost the station signal on 95.

I had never been to the Maryland Irish Festival before and was extremely impressed. There was so much going on in the three buildings that were set up. The first thing that caught my eye were the Irish Wolfhounds that were available for adoption (they even had Celtic collars on!). After greeting the friendly pooches, we headed for lunch where I ate the best corned beef sandwich I've ever had and listened to a live band perform "The Son Never Shines (On Closed Doors)", a song one of my favorite bands Flogging Molly is known for playing. After that is was off to visiting the vendors whom were all selling genuine Irish products, some of which I could not resist buying.

Later in the afternoon, we listened to a very moving and powerful speech from Mary Lou McDonald T.D., Deputy Leader of Sinn Fein. The several rounds of applause she was given throughout her talk were all very well deserved and I was honored to meet her afterwards. Ms. McDonald told me her daughter had been annoyed with her over for the summer for booking a family trip during the Rose of Tralee televised interviews, resulting in her daughter missing the show. We had a good laugh about it and she was kind enough to take a photo with me.

I also met Father Sean McManus, activist and author of My American Struggle for Justice in Northern Ireland, at the festival. As soon as Father McManus saw my sash, his eyes lit up. It's such an indescribable feeling to be an American Rose and meet an Irish citizen in the United States. To the Irish in the States, meeting a Rose is a strong reminder of home. It's an honor to bring that kind of joy to a stranger. Fr. McManus and I took a few photos together, and as his publicist promised to add our photo to his blog, I promised to add the photo to my scrapbook.

As the day came to a close, Sarah and I thanked AOH member Jack O'Brien, who graciously hosted us and kept a close eye on us for the afternoon. He made sure we had a great location for our Philly Rose Centre table and was a laugh for conversation. I wish him the best of luck as the Coordinator of the Commodore John Barry Memorial Project. Originally asking for a statue of Commodore John Barry to be placed at the U.S. Naval Academy, Jack and his Hibernian brothers were approved for much more. A Memorial, Gate and Plaza are in the works to be erected in Barry's name.

I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! Stay safe and I'll see you in December for the Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Christmas party on December 10! It will be from 1-5pm at The Willows, 490 Darby-Paoli Rd, Villanova, PA 19085.

Before I left for the International Rose of Tralee Festival, I heard a past Rose say that attending the International Festival is like getting married every day for ten days straight. I didn’t fully understand what that meant until I returned home and reflected on all of my Tralee memories.

 The Roses were the focus of everyone’s attention everywhere we went. We were treated like celebrities. We smiled for photos, signed autographs, shared hugs and shook hands. We ate three course meals every day and each night there were gifts waiting for us on our hotel beds. We were paired with escorts who assisted us with anything we needed. No Rose was left feeling as if she was any less important than any of the other girls. Each of the 32 Roses had her own wedding every day, with 31 other girls who had become her new and dear friends.

 One of my favorite memories was being selected as the first International Rose to be interviewed on television. The sense of pride that I felt for myself, my family and my city was overwhelming as I walked on to the stage in the Dome as the introductory Rose. I’ll never forget it.

Throughout the experience we were told to just be ourselves. That is, after all, what being a Rose is all about. Growing up I was always encouraged by my parents to be true to myself. I grew to understand that being honest with who you are leads to good things, but never in my wildest dreams had I ever imaged that it would have led me toTraleeas an International Rose, and for that I couldn’t be more grateful.

 Now that I’m back and settled into the daily routine again it’s time to host a few more Philly Rose events! On Saturday, October 29, please join myself and the Philadelphia Rose of Tralee team at the PAWS Mutt Strut at FDRPark in Philadelphia. Plus, mark December 10 on your calendar for the annual Rose of Tralee Christmas Celebration. We will have refreshments, arts and crafts, a visit from Santa, plus tons of great raffle prizes, including a hockey stick signed by Philadelphia Flyer Claude Giroux! For more information check out www.philadelphiarose.com.