I think I've seen the Festival from all sides.
I've been a spectator, a local lad from Tralee, on the outside looking in, enjoying the occasion but slightly bewildered by it all. I've been a family member (my sister was Kerry Rose in 2007) getting into some of the official events and seeing the craic everyone is having, enjoying the banter with other families and the Roses and Escorts... and I've been an Escort for the past two years, really at the core of the Festival playing a central (and very privileged) role in it, experiencing what an absolute rollercoaster of a week it is!
One thing that became clear the more I saw of the Festival - the Roses, quite simply, have the week of their lives. You are treated like royalty everywhere you go, signing autographs, posing for countless numbers of photos, being pampered to an inch of your life, sing-songs galore, dressing glamorously, eating fine food and at the same time you've an Escort on your arm to help you through the week, your very own chaperone. It is like nothing you have ever experienced or will experience!
And that's just the start of it, when it's all over you'll have reunion after reunion, because you're after making friends for life - my sister still regularly meets up with her gang three years later - there's always a birthday or a match which a group decide to meet for, or just a random Saturday night! In my own year, there have been reunions all across Ireland and in Paris, Las Vegas, London, New York... any excuse!
The best advice I could offer is speak to someone who was a Rose or Escort and just watch their faces as they recount their time in Tralee and since... or try to. They'll probably struggle to explain it, how unique and exhilarating it is, and say something along the lines of "you've just got to experience it to know what it is I'm talking about"... so go and do it!!
Robbie Costelloe
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